THE MAPLES 137 



in early spring and produces long stiff-winged 

 keys. The leaves come out of the bud pale 

 green and downy, and when full-grown are pale 

 green with a silvery lining.' In the fall they 

 turn a pale dull yellow. The wood is slightly 

 tinged with cream, and very strong and coarse- 

 grained, but rather brittle. The lumber is used 

 for cabinet work and house-finishing. A beau- 

 tiful cut-leaved, weeping variety of this species 

 is called Wier's maple. 



The Norway maple comes from Europe, as its 

 name indicates. It is very common along city 

 and village streets, and no doubt you are on 

 friendly terms with it. The tree greatly resem- 

 bles the sugar maple, but it does not grow so 

 tall and the leaves are thicker and darker in 

 color. They hang on the tree fully two weeks 

 longer, and turn a dull yellow, or, more often, 

 fall with scarcely any change in color. One 

 may always tell a Norway maple by breaking a 

 leaf stem, a bitter milky sap will leak out and 

 quickly thicken. 



Other quite well-known maples are the syca- 

 more maple, the great timber tree of Europe, 

 popular in our country as an avenue tree; the 

 striped maple, or moosewood, and the mountain 

 maple. The two last named maples are "the 

 Tom Thumbs of their family." They love the 



