t*he Mapled 



line and colour and texture can be revealed by "a common 

 maple that grows wild in our woods." 



The name, moosewood, calls attention to the fact that in 

 the north woods the green shoots are browsed by the deer and 

 moose, "Goose foot" is from the shape of the leaf; "whistle- 

 wood" from the easy slipping of the tough bark in early spring. 



This little tree is rare in cultivation, though it is more inter- 

 esting and beautiful even than many an expensive exotic. One 

 may easily transplant a seedling from the neighbouring woods, 

 and it thrives in good garden soil if not too dry. A shady corner 

 is best, but there is a good specimen growing in the sunniest 

 part of a garden I know. 



The Dwarf Maple (Acer glabrum, Torr.) is a shrub or low 

 tree of bushy habit which grows on the western mountains from 

 Canada to Arizona and New Mexico. The leaves are variable, 

 one type being a three-lobed, cut-toothed form not unlike the 

 red maple leaf; the other extreme is a compound leaf made of 

 three oval, coarsely toothed leaflets. They vary in diameter 

 from one to five inches. The flowers are usually on separate trees 

 as in the box elder. The fruits as well as the leaves are smooth 

 and small, with wings that spread but little. They are often 

 ruddy during the summer. 



Box Elder, Ash-leaved Maple (Acer Negundo, Linn.) — 

 A quick-growing, sturdy tree, 50 to 70 feet high, with irregular 

 spreading top. Bark greyish, regularly furrowed; twigs purple, 

 glaucous. JVood soft, white, weak, close grained. Buds opposite, 

 blunt, reddish. Leaves opposite, compound, of 3 to 5 pinnate 

 leaflets, irregularly toothed and lobed; smooth, pale beneath; 

 yellow in autumn. Flowers open with leaves on separate trees, 

 fertile, greenish, in drooping racemes, sterile, in clusters on pink, 

 silky pedicels. Fruits narrow, flat, winged samaras, i^ to 2 

 inches long, in pairs, clustered in drooping racemes; ripe in 

 September, but hanging until early spring. Preferred habitat, 

 rich, moist soil, by streams or along borders of swamps. Dis- 

 tribution, Vermont to Montana; south to Florida and west to 

 Colorado and Utah. Rare east of Appalachian Mountains. 

 Uses: Much planted for shade and ornament. Wood inferior; 

 used for cooperage and small woodenwares. 



There are two things remarkable about the box elder: its 

 geographical range, natural and acquired, and the variation of 



377 



