142 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



confounded together in the eastern and middle states, where 

 it grows but sparingly. West of the Alleghany mountains 

 it is seen in perfection, and is well known as the White ma- 

 ple. Its flowers are very pale in colour, and much smaller 

 than those of the foregoing sorts. The leaves are divided 

 into four lobes, and have a beautiful white under surface. 

 Michaux, speaking of this tree, says : " In no part of the 

 United States is it more multiplied than in the western coun- 

 try, and nowhere is its vegetation more luxuriant than on the 

 banks of the Ohio. There, sometimes alone and sometimes 

 mingled with the willow, which is found along these waters, 

 it contributes singularly by its magnificent foliage to the em- 

 bellishment of the scene. The brilliant white of the leaves 

 beneath, forms a striking contrast with the bright green above, 

 and the alternate reflection of the two surfaces in the water, 

 heightening the beauty of this wonderful moving mirror, 

 aids in forming an enchanting picture, which, during my 

 long excursions in a canoe in these regions of solitude and 

 silence, I contemplated with unwearied admiration."* There, 

 on those fine deep alluvial soils, the White maple often 

 attains twelve or fifteen feet in circumference. 



The Moose wood, or Striped maple, {A. striatum,) is a 

 small tree with beautifully striped bark. It is often seen on 

 the mountains which border the Hudson, but abounds most 

 profusely in the north of the continent. Acer nigrum, is the 

 Black sugar tree of Genesee. A. Negiindo,-\ the Ash-leaved 

 maple, has handsome pinnated foliage of a light green hue ; 

 it forms a pleasing tree of medium size. These are our 

 principal native species. J 



The finest foreign sorts are the Norway maple, [A. plata- 

 noideSj) with leaves intermediate in appearance between those 

 of the plane tree and Sugar maple. The bark of the trunk is 

 brown, and rougher in appearance than our maples, and the tree 

 is more loose and spreading in its growth ; it also grows more 



* N. A. Sylva, 1. 214. -f Jfegundo fraxinijolium. 



\ Mr. Douglas has discovered a very superb maple, (.4. macrophyllum,) on 

 the Columbia river, with very large leaves, and fine fragrant yellow blossoms. 



