238 The Maples. 



perior flavor and light color, but is not more than half as productive 

 from a given measure of sap as the sugar maple of that region. 



943. Red Maple {Acer rvhrum). This tree derives its name 

 from the color of its bright red blossoms, that appear early in the 

 spring, and before the leaves. It is sometimes called ' white maple," 

 from the color of its wood, and " swamp maple," from its favorite 

 place of growth. It does not generally grow to so large a size, nor 

 live to so great an age as the sugar maple. Its wood is lighter and 

 softer, but is often used in cabinet work. It is not durable when 

 exposed to the weather. When the grain is wavy it has, when fin- 

 ished up, a beautiful glossy luster, affording the variety of fine 

 ■woods known as the " curl maple." 



944. The red maple is found from Canada to Florida and Louis- 

 irna, and through the Western States to Nebraska. It does not, in 

 the regions further west, succeed under cultivation so well as the 

 " silver-leaf maple." The sap of the red maple is not so sweet as 

 that of the sugar maple, and is seldom used in making sugar. The 

 young bark affords, with copperas as a mordant, a purplish-black 

 dye, occasionally used in coloring wool and cotton. 



945. In North Carolina this tree is found from the coast to the 

 mountains, sometimes seventy feet high and three to four feet in 

 diameter. 



946. Steiped Maple {Acer Penrt^ylvanicuin). This is generally 

 a small slender tree, seldom growing in groves, but scattered here 

 and there among other woods, and never growing to a large size, or 

 living to so great an age as some other maples. The wood is white 

 and soft, and the bark smooth, greenish, and marked with stripes. 

 It is sometimes called " moosewood," "' dogwood," or " dogmaekie." 

 It may be cultivated for ornament, but is not generally successful 

 unless partly shaded by other trees. In North Carolina this tree is 

 found on the mountains as a shrub, rarely ten feet high. 



947. The Mountain Maple (Acer spicatum). This is a shrub, 

 generally growing in clumps from a common root, along rocky ra- 

 vines in the Northern and Eastern States. It is too small for use, 

 but will bear cultivation with other shrubs, in a rocky soil. 



948. The Oregon or Large-leaved Maple (Acer macro- 

 phyUum). This tree grows from fifty to ninety feet in height, and 

 from two to threefeet in diameter, and is distinguished by the size of 

 its leaves, which are occasionally a foot across, and usually from 6 to 10 



