FORESTRY ON THE COUNTRY 



ESTATE 



By WARREN H. MILLER, M. F. 

 vi. GETTING ACQUAINTED; THE MAPLES AND BIRCHES 



"^ VERY forest owner should know 

 -H at sight his four maple and birch 



j species. It may have been a 



surprise to some that so many 

 species of oaks were to be found in 

 almost any forest of twenty acres and 

 over, located anywhere in the area 

 under consideration in these articles, 

 viz., north to the Canadian line, west 

 to the Mississippi, south to the Gulf 

 States and east to the Atlantic. It is no 

 less true that at least four species of 

 maples are common in this area with 

 two others rather more infrequent ; that 

 one may look for at least four species 

 of birches and the same number of 

 hickories and ash trees, and the forest 

 owner should not only be able to tell 

 these trees at sight but also know their 

 soil preferences, insect and fungus dis- 

 eases, their light requirements, and uses 

 in the arts commercially. Also one 

 should never forget their aesthetic value 

 as to spring and autumn coloration, and 

 their fruit and flower display in sum- 

 mer. In fact, a whole chapter could be 

 written on the tree flowers alone and 

 let us hope will be before this series is 

 concluded ! 



THE SUGAR MAFLE. 



Beginning with the four maples with 

 an exotic fifth which cannot pass un- 

 mentioned, undoubtedly the head of the 

 family in our country is the rock or 

 sugar maple, easily distinguished from 

 the others by its five-lobed pointed leaf, 

 characteristic and not easily forgotten 

 when once seen and identified. No other 

 maple has it except the exotic Norway 

 maple which has the five lobes but 

 broadly notched and not at all like the 

 sugar maple. The Norway has found 

 great vogue among us as a shade and 

 street tree, but it is in no way to be 

 compared to our own glorious sugar 



maple, as its leaves turn a dull brown 

 in autumn (which at once lets it out of 

 the beauty class to which all our maples 

 belong), and its juice is acrid and 

 worthless for "sugaring off." Its prin- 

 cipal value in city planting is this same 

 juice, which is exceedingly distasteful 



THE SUGAR MAP^E. 



to the chewers and crawlers which in- 

 fest city trees, leaving the Norway 

 maple immune from their attacks. 



The sugar maple, to the writer's 

 mind, is best in forest stands forming a 

 veritable "sugar bush" or at salient 

 points or else featured on your land- 

 scape along the edge of the forest ; also 

 as a shade tree in pasturage. At all 

 these points its gorgeous autumn color- 

 ation is a pure joy to look at, and it 



501 



