CHAPTER XV. 
THE MAPLES. 
The Sugar Maple: its Productiveness, Peculiarities of Growth, Foli- 
age, and Manner of Culture.—A Proposition Worthy of Note.— 
Placing Maple-groves with Respect to Shelter—The Advantages 
of Regular Planting. — Thrift of Trees when Transplanted from 
Dense Thickets.—Preferable Transplants.—Timber and Fuel Qual- 
ities of Maple.—Its Ornamental Standard.—The Chief Uses of Ma- 
ple.—Peculiarity of its Seed.—Soil best Adapted to its Growth. 
—The Soft Maple: its Wild and Cultivated Thrift, Manner of 
Planting, and Uses.—The Red Maple: Range of Growth, Na- 
tive Home and Standard Timber, and other Qualities.—The Ash- 
leaved Maple: its Uses, Growth, and Ornamental Advantages.— 
The Striped Maple: Where Found, Growth, and Ornament.—The 
Norway Maple: its Advantages. —The Large and Round-leaved 
Maples generally Described. 
SUGAR MAPLE, 
Mr. Pryvey, an experienced tree-grower, says an acre 
of sugar maples at twenty-five years of age will average 
one foot in diameter and produce two thousand pounds 
of sugar annually. When the trees measure twenty 
inches they will give sixty thousand feet of lumber, 
worth $2500, besides a great deal of fuel. A peculiarity 
of this tree is, its body increases faster in size than its 
top. It can, therefore, be planted very closely. Two 
hundred trees will grow on an acre. Maple-seed ripens 
in October, and should be planted in rows the same as 
ash, but not so thickly. After planting, allow the tree 
to stand two years in the nursery, and then transplant 
to ground where it is to grow permanently. Old sugar 
orchards, with trees left scattering and thin, usually pay 
a good interest on the value of the land. Two or three 
