THE MAPLES 133 



concealed, and very thin and papery on the 

 upper. They do not fly very well because of 

 their uneven balance, and we often find quite 

 a large family of seedlings growing up around 

 the parent tree. 



Side by side with the oaks in the woodlands, 

 we find the red, or scarlet maple. It is often 

 spoken of as the "Queen of the Forest," and 

 surely no tree is more fitted to reign beside 

 King Oak. Few trees, if any, can surpass it in 

 general beauty of form and foliage. "It comes 

 forth in the spring like morning in the east, 

 arrayed in crimson and purple," says Wilson 

 Flagg, "bearing itself not proudly, but grace- 

 fully in modest green; and, ere it bids adieu to 

 the season, steps forth in robes of vermilion and 

 scarlet, the pride of all eyes. ' ' The tree grows 

 very rapidly, and is found from New Brunswick 

 southward to Florida, and westward to the Da- 

 kotas and Texas. Surely no tree was ever more 

 appropriately named! Indeed one could not 

 call it anything but "red maple," for its name 

 is printed on bud, twig, and leaf in varying 

 forms throughout the season. "Its first blos- 

 som flushes red in the April sunlight, its keys 

 ripen scarlet in early May, all summer long its 

 leaves swing on crimson or scarlet stems, its 

 young twigs flame in the same colors," and in 



