6 THE FOREST TREE CULIURIST. 
Maples; will often grow twenty feet high in three or four 
years from seed ; succeeds well in a great variety of soils, 
but prefers a rich, moist one. Its wood is fine-grained, and 
used for a variety of purposes; it is not so hard or valu- 
able as the Sugar Maple, but the tree is of more rapid 
growth. The sap is sweet, but not sufficiently so to pay 
for gathering and boiling for sugar. 
Some of the finest specimens of Curl and Birds’-eye 
Maple are obtained from this species. It is found more 
abundant at the West and South than at the East. Many 
thousands of this tree are annually planted in the parks 
and streets of New York and other Eastern cities. If the 
seeds are sown as soon as ripe, they will make a growth 
of one to two feet the first season. This tree deserves par- 
ticular attention by those who are desirous of obtaining 
wood for fuel; although it is not quite as valuable for that 
purpose as some others, still it is good, and the rapidity 
of its growth more than compensates the deficiency in 
quality. When at maturity it is often sixty to seventy 
feet high. 
Acer ruBRUM (ted Maple). — Leaves three to five 
lobed—the center one the longest; whitish underneath, 
but not so white as the Silver Maple; flowers usually deep 
scarlet. or crimson, but sometimes pale yellow, appearing ~ 
very early in spring before the leaves; seeds ripen early, 
about the same time as the Silver Maple, but are not quite 
as large. The small branches are also deep red in win- 
ter. Its wood is rather soft, and decays rapidly if exposed 
to the weather; sometimes used for cabinet-work, as occa- 
sionally fine specimens of Curl Maple are found among 
