TREES OF AMERICA. 75 



" Yes, three more, that grow in this country, 

 the striped maple or moose-wood, the box 

 elder or ash-leaved maple, and the mountain 

 maple." 



Why do they call striped maple moose- 

 wood, Uncle Philip?" 



" The name was given by the first settlers 

 in Nova Scotia, and the most northern parts 

 of the United States, from observing that the 

 moose, which, you know, is a very large 

 animal of the deer kind, fed upon the young 

 twigs in the winter. It is not very common 

 in any part of the United States except Maine ; 

 but still, it is found all along the Alleghany 

 Mountains as far south as Georgia. The bark is 

 smooth and green, with black stripes ; and 

 this gives it the name of striped maple, by 

 which it is known in Pennsylvania and New- 

 Jersey." 



" Oh, then I have seen some of the trees, 

 Uncle Philip ; the leaves are rose-coloured." 



" Yes, in the spring, when they first come 

 out ; but they soon change to green." 



" And is it as valuable as the sugar maple ?" 



"Oh no ; not by any means : the trees are too 

 small to allow of the wood being much used ; 

 and the greatest use that is made of the moose- 



