16 SHADE-TREES IN TOWNS AND CITIES 



Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.).— Hardy, erect, of 

 symmetrical habit and with a well-filled, rounded head, the 

 sugar maple is an ornament on any street. In the forest it 

 frequently rises to sixty or seventy feet without a branch. 

 When growing in the open or on a street it sends out stout, 

 upright branches ten or twelve feet from the ground, form- 

 ing, while the tree is young, a narrow, egg-shaped head, 

 which ultimately spreads into a broad, round-topped dome. 

 When set on a street the trees should be from forty to forty- 

 five feet apart, to allow for free development in growth and 

 non-interference when near maturity. 



The flowers of the sugar maple, which come out in early 

 May, are greenish-yellow and rather inconspicuous. The 

 staminate and the pistillate flowers are borne either on 

 different trees or on different flower stalks of the same 

 cluster on the same tree. The staminate flowers drop off in 

 the latter part of May, but the pistillate flowers mature into 

 the winged fruit called a samara, or key. 



Most of the splendor of our trees in the woods and on 

 the streets in the early autumn is due to the brilliant color- 

 ing of the sugar maple. It glows in yellow, orange, and red. 

 The beauty of the sugar maple in the summer and in the 

 fall is not lost after the falling of the leaves. During 

 the winter the erect, shapely, and symmetrical outline of 

 the tree is clearly brought out. The buds are narrow and 

 sharp-pointed, and the twigs and branches form a fine net- 

 work against the sky. The limbs of the trees are smooth 

 and clean. In the old trees the bark of the trunk breaks 

 away by long, shallow fissures, with curling ridges, giving 

 the trunk a plowed appearance. When properly pruned, 

 the trees make a low archway, giving the street a very 

 pleasing perspective. 



