The Maple Family 187 



colony, was the hard or sugar maple. It was the most prev- 

 alent on the eastern side of the continent, where it formed ex- 

 tensive forests. Its wood soon became regarded as the most 

 valuable fuel, and from its sap was made the maple sugar of 

 the pioneer days. In the fall its leaves became brilliant crim- 

 son or gold, giving color on a scale never furnished by any other 

 tree. No tree touched the lives of the people at so many 

 points, or was so likely to be regarded by the immigrant as 

 standing for the land cf his adoption. 



The leaf of the silver maple is more deeply lobed, and altc- 

 gether more beautiful in outline than that of the sugar maple, 

 and very often the leaf used as the Canadian emblem resembles 

 it more nearly than any other. This, however, does not make 

 the silver maple the Canadian national tree. 



The range of the maples is confined almost entirely to the 

 eastern forest region of the continent, a few species only rang- 

 ing farther west. 



The trees which have been the chief source of maple sugar 

 are the sugar maple, acer saccharum, and the black maple, 

 acer nigrum. These are closely related and occur mixed over 

 the same range. They are also the hard maples, the wood 

 being hard and durable and much used for flooring, furniture, 

 decorative work and tool handles. Trees with a peculiarly 

 twisted grain furnish the highly prized " bird's-eye maple." 



The term "soft maple" is variously used to designate the 

 wood of several other members of the family but is most fre- 

 quently applied to the red maple, acer rubrum, and the silver 

 maple, acer saccharinum. 



i. MANITOBA MAPLE. Acer Negundo. Linnaeus. 



This belongs to the group known as the ash-leaved maples, 

 and is often called box elder. It is a rather small tree, al- 

 though it sometimes reaches a height of sixty feet and a di- 

 ameter of about three feet. 



