278 THE MAPLES 



straight-grained, and quite tough. The heartwood is usually 

 a grayish brown, tinged with red. The sapwood is white 

 and may have from twenty-five to even fifty or sixty an- 

 nual rings. It is not unusual for a thrifty tree to reach the 

 age of fifty years before any sapwood is formed. There is 

 little distinction between spring and summer wood; the 

 medullary rays are numerous, but small and inconspicuous. 

 For some unknown cause the grain is sometimes contorted 

 and mottled with little spots or knots, possibly undeveloped 

 or adventitious buds. Such wood is known as " Bird's-Eye 

 Maple." When the grain is contorted into waves it consti- 

 tutes what is known as " Curled Maple." In the latter the 

 waves are quite uniform and evenly repeated. Both these 

 features especially the former add much to its value 

 for cabinet and interior finish. Even when the fibre is 

 plain, it is largely used for these purposes, and, fortunately, 

 fashion does not dictate that it shall be tarnished with 

 stain. It takes glue well and when well seasoned is little 

 affected by moderate changes of humidity in the surround- 

 ing atmosphere. Flooring manufactured from it has no 

 superior if an equal for hardness and durability, and it is 

 largely used for halls and other public rooms. It is also 

 used for shoe-lasts, turnery, handles, and many other pur- 

 poses where hardness and fine finish are demanded. It is 

 not durable when exposed to the weather or soil. It is an 

 excellent fuel and the resultant ash is rich in potash. When 

 the forests were cut down to clear the land for farms, it 

 was a common practice to save the ashes, where the logs 

 were burned, from Maple and a few other hardwoods, leach 

 them and boil down and calcine the lye in large cast-iron 

 vessels called "potash kettles," when the product would 

 be an impure carbonate of potash commercially known as 

 *' pearlash." 



Only from the Birches is there so copious a flow of sap 

 as from the Sugar Maple of the Northern States. If the 

 sapwood is wounded in late autumn the flow sometimes 

 manifests itself after a cold night that is succeeded by a 



