SILVER MAPLE 281 



lands. It is an early and prolific seed-bearer and the seeds 

 are readily scattered by the winds. Being a rapid grower 

 when young, it shuts out or suppresses more valuable spe- 

 cies. If injured in any way it is liable to throw up sprouts 

 which never attain a large size. All this, however, gives it 

 a value for the farmer's woodlot, and it is quite extensively 

 planted in the prairie states, and farther west, for that 

 purpose. 



The wood is moderately hard, but by no means as hard 

 as that of Hard Maple. It is strong, close-grained, easily 

 worked, but rather brittle. The heartwood is generally a 

 dark brown sometimes an umber color and the sap- 

 wood is nearly white and very thick. A tree seldom devel- 

 ops heartwood before the age of fifty or sixty years. The 

 sapwood is sometimes used for flooring when combined 

 with some darker wood. Lumber cut from the tree is used 

 for cheap furniture and many other purposes where not ex- 

 posed to the ground or weather. It is especially adapted 

 to turnery and is used for paper pulp. It is not a first-class 

 fuel, but answers a fairly good purpose if well seasoned. 



It blooms in early spring and before the appearance of 

 the leaves. The seeds, as soon as ripe, should be promptly 

 planted, and in fairly good ground may be expected to 

 make a growth of a foot or more the first year. The stam- 

 inate blossoms may be on one tree and pistillate ones on 

 another, or both on the same tree. If the latter is not the 

 case, there is great danger that the seeds will be infertile. 

 It is not a difficult tree to grow in the nursery or transplant 

 into the forest. It may be set in the forest when one year 

 old, but would better be left in the nursery another year. 

 Its flow of sap is abundant, but it is low in saccharine 

 matter. The trees should be planted from five to six feet 

 apart. 



