FOEEST TREES. 



91 



White Maple may be readily propagated by budding or graft- 

 ing upon seedling stocks of the species. 



A. rubrum. — Red Maple, Scarlet Maple, Swamp Maple. — Leaves 

 usually three-lobed, as shown in fig. 25, but sometimes five, the 

 middle one the longest, all irregularly serrate. Flowers crim- 

 son-scarlet, and sometimes yellowish, appearing early in spring, 

 succeeded by smooth seeds with spreading wings, about an inch 

 long. Seeds ripen early, or by the time the leaves have fully 

 expanded, and then drop 

 off and soon decay, unless 

 placed in a favorable posi- 

 tion for growth. Wood 

 white, or slightly tinted 

 with red, close-grained, 

 and moderately fine ; a 

 little heavier than that of 

 the White Maple, and more 

 extensively employed for 

 cabinet-making and vari- 

 ous articles of wooden 

 ware. Valuable for fuel, 

 but not equal to the Sugar 

 Maple. This species also 

 furnishes Curled and 

 Bird's-eye Maple for cabi- 

 net work. A very large 

 tree, and common in near- 

 ly all swamps in the East- 

 ern States, and sparingly 

 in the Western, also oc- 

 casionally found as far 

 south as Florida. When 

 planted singly, it forms 

 a handsome round-headed tree, not as open and spreading as 

 the Silver Maple, neither is it of as rapid growth, but with age 

 it reaches fully as large a size. Although naturally found in 

 swamps, the Red Maple will thrive in moderately dry soils, and 

 is often planted along roadsides, in preference to other species, 

 on account of its brilliant-colored flowers in spring, and the 

 various colors of the foliage in autumn. The coloring of the 

 leaves of this species is a puzzle to the scientific naturalist, 

 for there appears to be no accounting for the many colors, or 



Fig. 25.— LEAE OF RED MAPLE. 



