FOREST TREES. 



89 



trees. Our native species have palmated-lobed leaves, with edges 

 variously toothed or notched. Flowers small in terminal ra- 

 cemes or umbel-like corymbs. 



Acer Saceharinum. — Sugar Maple, Eock Maple, Hard Maple. — 

 Leaves three to five-lobed, deep green above, and paler beneath. 

 Flowers greenish-yellow, appearing with leaves in spring. 

 Wings of seed quite broad, seed ripe in autumn. A well-known 

 tree of rapid growth, possessing many valuable qualities, one of 

 which is its sweet sap, from which large quantities of sugar are 

 made in regions where the tree is abundant. The wood is 

 hard, close grained, and susceptible of a fine polish, and exten- 

 sively use for hard- wood floors and inside finishing of houses, 

 also, for cabinet work, especially what are termed Bird's- 

 eye" and Curled Maple. Hard maple makes an excellent fuel, 

 and is highly valued for this purpose. A rapid growing tree 

 often reaching a hight of eighty to ninety feet, with a stem 

 three to four feet in diameter. Most common in the North, 

 from Maine to Minnesota, and also southward to Georgia in the 

 mountains. Succeeds best in rather strong, loamy soils, ap- 

 proaching a stiff clay, and on stony hill-sides and ridges where 

 the soil is moist, but not wet and swampy. A variety of the 

 Sugar Maple found in some of our Northern woods called the 

 Black Maple, has darker green leaves which appear a few 

 days later in the spring than this species. The Sugar Maple 

 has long been a favorite for planting in the streets of our cities 

 and villages, also as a roadside tree in the country. It is well 

 worthy of all the attention it has received, and should be more 

 extensively planted wherever forest trees of any kind are 

 needed. It is so abundant in the Northern woods that seedlings 

 of almost any convenient size for transplanting can be obtained 

 in unlimited quantities, and at a mere nominal price of those 

 who make a business of gathering them for sale. 



A. dasycarpum. — White Maple, Silver Maple. — Leaves deeply 

 five-lobed, silvery white underneath ; pale green above, lobes 

 coarsely cut and toothed. Flowers greenish yellow or reddish 

 without petals, appearing in early spring, succeeded by the 

 corymbs of winged seed, which are ripe about the time the 

 leaves are of full size. The seeds soon drop off, and where 

 they fall on moist soil in the shade they soon grow. They are 

 very delicate, however, and cannot be kept for many weeks 

 after they are ripe, but if sown immediatedly and in good soil 

 they will produce plants two feet or more in hight the first 



