SILVICULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS 53 



reproduction is plentiful under old hardwood trees and along 

 fence lines. 



The wood is very durable and in great demand for posts and 

 lumber for chests, but on account of its slow growth it is not a 

 tree to be particularly favored. 



Sugar Maple {Acer saccharum). 



The sugar maple extends throughout the eastern part of the 

 country from the Atlantic to the great plains of Dakota and 

 Oklahoma and south to the Gulf of Mexico. It occurs every- 

 where in New England, but is more abundant in the northern 

 portion and is especially associated with spruce. However, 

 the sugar maple is never mixed with the spruce in the swamps 

 or the higher mountain slopes, but on the lower slopes and 

 gently rolhng land where the soil is neither very wet nor dry. 

 It seldom occurs on sand, and is an unmistakably lime-loving 

 species. The maple prefers a well-drained, deep loam soil. It 

 is one of the most tolerant trees as regards shade, and young 

 seedhngs do well even where they receive no direct sunhght. 

 Although large-topped and ornamental trees on well-fertilized 

 lands often make a conspicuously good growth, it is on the 

 whole a slow-growing species. In the sugar bushes of Ver- 

 mont and the virgin forests of Maine it is not infrequent to 

 find trees from three to four centuries old. Although like most 

 deciduous trees it is able to reproduce by sprouts from the stump, 

 as a matter of fact it seldom does so in New England except 

 in the southern portion. It more than makes up for this, how- 

 ever, by being a very prolific seeder. The seed matures in the 

 fall and is often thickly scattered over the ground near old trees. 

 It germinates well in pasture grass or on bare mineral soil. The 

 result is that our northern forests often have dense thickets of 

 maple saplings. On account of the thickness of the bark it 

 sufifers comparatively little from fire. It sometimes suffers 

 severely from defoliation by the forest tent caterpillar. An 

 injury to the sap is caused and often ends in the death of the 



