FORESTRY ON THE COUNTRY ESTATE 



three-lobed, the two lower lobes, so 

 prominent in the sugar maple, being 

 aborted and absorbed into the contour 

 of the leaf base, and in addition the 

 entire periphery of the leaf is notched 

 while that of the sugar maple is smooth. 

 The red maple grows all over the 

 area considered in these articles, and 

 while it will do well in swampy locali- 

 ties where the other maples cannot 



THE MOOSEWOOD OR STRIPED MAPLE. 



exist, it is glad to get a moist, not too 

 swampy, soil to grow on. In such loca- 

 tions its autumn leaves will be yellow 

 and the trunk yield a good lumber, 

 while in wet or extra-dry soils its leaves 

 turn a uniform deep red and the trunk 

 persists in growing crooked and branch- 

 ing, the phenomenon of the red leaves 

 seeming to be due to the insufficient 

 root nourishment of both swampy and 

 barren soils. The seedlings endure 

 shade well but later the tree must have 

 sunlight, which it usually manages to 

 get by running up a ridiculously slender 

 sapling twenty feet high and two 

 inches in diameter ! Seedlings trans- 

 plant easily, and 8-foot nursery saplings 



cost about 75 cents each. As its lumber 

 is poor, cordwood value low, and syrup 

 thin and scanty, the red maple should 

 not be encouraged except for aesthetic 

 considerations and in swampy spots 

 where it is the only maple that will 

 grow. 



THE SILVER MAPLE. 

 The silver or soft maple is familiar 



THE GRAY BIRCH. A VERY FEW OF THEM WILL 

 TONE UP ANY THICKET. 



to us all because it has long been a 

 favorite street tree owing to the fact 

 that its foliage crisps up and disap- 

 pears very soon after falling. You 

 will recognize it by its feathery, five- 

 lobed leaf, silvery underneath and 

 turning yellow in autumn before fall- 

 ing. Its yellow flowers are out as 

 soon as those of the red maple and 



