AUGUST. 



369 



periority of the tree as a conductor of the electric fluid, 

 causing it to pass down through tlie sap, without injuring the 

 tree. This is more or less the case with all trees ; as it is 

 well known that they serve the useful purpose of silently 

 drawing down the electric fluid from the clouds, without 

 any explosion. The beech may be endowed, in. a superior 

 degree, with this conducting quality, enabling it to receive a 

 charge of almost any power, and allowing it to pass down 

 without injury, as down a lightning rod. 



OUR ORNAMENTAL TREES. 



by the editok. 



0. The Striped-Barked Maple. (Acer striatum, L.) 



All our native Maples, as well as the exotic species, are 

 beautiful trees ; indeed, it is doubtful if there is a more 

 splendid street tree than the Rock Maple. They combine 

 all the desirable qualities for street or shade trees, and it is 

 to be regretted that the Elm has so long occupied the place 

 which should, at least, have been shared with the Maples. 

 When we consider the variety of their forms — the magnifi- 

 cence of their autumnal foliage — the ease with which they 

 are transplanted — the rapidity with which some of them 

 grow — and their general clean and neat habit, — it is surprising 

 that they are so slightly appreciated, and so sparingly intro- 

 duced into ornamental plantations ; some of them are scarcely 

 known out of their native woods. 



Of the latter class arc the Black Maple and Striped Maple, 

 or Moose Wood, the last of which grows abundantly, ac- 

 cording to Michaux, throughout New England. It fills the 

 forests of Maine and Nova Scotia, and is scattered more or 

 less throughout the whole mountain range of the Alleghanies, 

 where it is found in cold and shaded exposures, to their ter- 

 mination in Georgia. It abounds in the woods in the west- 

 ern and middle part of Massachusetts, and in Essex County, 



VOL. XXIL NO. VIIL 47 



