110 



MAPLE SEED 



can usually find maple seeds and young maples along fences 

 and hedgerows near the parent trees. The seeds of Norway 

 maples and sugar maples ripen in the autumn, and, as they fall, 

 are scattered by the wind. They lie on the ground all winter 

 and sprout when they are soaked by the warm rains of spring. 

 Their stems sometimes lengthen so fast in a single night that 



,. . the whole seeds are 



lifted upright from the 

 ground, before their 

 coverings have fallen 

 off. Then you may see 

 the winged seeds stand- 

 ing upright around the 

 parent tree, and sway- 

 ing in the wind like 

 dancing children. 



The seeds of silver 

 maples ripen in early 

 summer and sprout al- 

 most as soon as they 

 fall. 



What becomes of Seed- 

 lings. A parent tree 

 sows great numbers of 



its seeds over the surrounding soil, but although most of them 

 may sprout, only a few that fall on the best places will become 

 large trees. Weeds and grass will choke many before they 

 get a start, and those that do grow will soon begin to crowd 

 one another. In a clump of seedlings that have grown for 

 three or four years a few trees will be large and strong, and 

 between them will be many that are slender whips, and others 

 still smaller that have been crowded to death. After twenty 

 years only a few of the largest trees will be left. Their trunks 

 will stand far apart, but their branches will meet in a canopy 

 overhead. 



SPROUTING SEEDS OP NORWAY MAPLE 



