The Maples 



orange and scarlet. The flowers are borne in terminal umbels, 

 and the samaras are smooth, with widely divergent wings. 



Sugar Maple, Rock, or Hard Maple (Acer Saccharum, 

 Marsh.; Acer saccharinum, Wangh.; Acer barbatum, Michx.) — A 

 large, handsome tree, 75 to 120 feet high, with many upright 

 limbs forming an oval or oblong head. Sap sugary. Bark grey, 

 deeply fissured. Wood reddish brown, close grained, tough, hard. 

 Leaves broad, 4 to 5 inches across, 3 to 5-lobed, each lobe with 

 straight sides and peaked apex, which has 3 to 5 prominent teeth 

 with curved sinuses between; thin, dark green above, paler 

 lining; turn to yellow, orange and red in the fall. Flowers, with 

 the leaves in late spring, on long stems, in hairy, thick clusters, 

 without petals, greenish; monoecious or polygamous. Fruits, 

 October, i to ij inches long, smooth, in pairs, on stems, i;^ to 2 

 inches long, with wings only slightly diverging. Preferred 

 habitat, rich, moist soil in valleys or uplands. Distribution, 

 Great Lakes to Newfoundland; south along mountains to Florida; 

 west to Nebraska and Texas. Uses: Best of all maples as 

 lumber and shade trees. Wood used for flooring, interior finish 

 of houses, saddles, furniture, boats, shoe lasts, all turned wares 

 and fuel. Shows occasionally curly grain. Sap makes maple sugar. 



The sugar maple is one of the most characteristic and valuable 

 trees in the eastern forests of America. It leads all the other 

 maples — it is the reliable, conservative member of the family, 

 slower than many of them, and less brilliant, but with staying 

 qualities — an absolutely dependable tree. Soft maples come and 

 go. These come and stay — standing always "proud and tall 

 under their leafy crowns." They are hardy, clean and vigorous. 

 They turn gradually to gold and reds in the fall, and drop their 

 burden of foliage without haste. 



Hard maple lumber outranks all other species, and as fuel 

 it is surpassed only by hickory. Its ashes yield potash and 

 alkali in large percentages. Fresh unleached hard maple ashes 

 are highly esteemed as fertiliser for orchards and vegetable 

 gardens. 



Wise men were they who set hard maples along the boundary 

 lines of their farms in earlier days. They now have avenues to 

 be proud of. And they have also a source of revenue, for these 

 low-branched, isolated trees give abundant flow of sap in the 

 early spring. 



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