CHAP. XXII. 



411 



Worcestershire, at Croome, a tree, 35 years planted, is 40 ft. higb. In Yorkshire, at Grimstone, a 

 tree, 13 years planted, is 30 ft. high. In Scotland, in Haddingtonshire, at Tynningham, there is a 

 tree 42 ft. high. In Clackmannanshire, in the garden of the Dollar Institution, one 7 years planted 

 is 14 ft. higii. In Perthshire,'at Taymouth, one 50 years planted is 50 ft. high ; the diameter of the head 

 51 feet.-^; According to Dr. Walker, this tree has attanied a large size in the Island of Bute, at Bar- 

 gaily, and at various other places on the sea coast of Scotland. In Ireland, in King's county, at 

 Charleville Forest, a tree, 60 years planted, is 78 ft. high, with a trunk 3 ft. 8 in. at 1 ft. from the ground. 

 In France, in the neighbourhood of Paris, the tree attains the height of fiO ft. In Germany, in Ha- 

 nover, at Schwiibber, it has attained the height of 80 ft. In Saxony, at Worlitz, 40 ft. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of Vienna, from SO ft. to 60 ft. In Russia, where the tree is very common, it often exceeds 

 the height of 40 ft., south of Kiow ; but north of Moscow it is seldom above 30 ft. In Sweden, on 

 the north-west coast, exposed to the sea breeze, it grows to the height of between 30 ft. and 40 ft. ; 

 as it does about Lund, and at different places on both shores of the Baltic. 



Commercial Statistics, This tree is very generally propagated in European 

 nurseries. In London, plants, 1 ft. high, cost .305. a 1000 ; and 3 ft. high, 30a. ; 

 at BoUwyller, 20 cents each, or 40 francs a lOOO ; at New York, ? , 



$ 7. A, saccha''rinum L. The Sugar Maple. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 1496. ; Hayne, Dend., p. 214. ; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 595. ; Don's Mill., 1. p. 650. 

 Synnnymes. Rock Maple, Hard Maple, Bird's-eye Maple, Amer. 



Engravings. Micbx. Fl. Arb., 2. 1. 15. ; Tratt. Arch., 1. No. 3, } ourj?^. 122. in p. 446, 447. j and the 

 plate of this species in our Second Volume. 



Variety. A. s. 2 mgrum ; the A. nigrum of Michaux, De Candolle, and G. Bon ; the black 

 Sugar Tree, or Rock Maple, figured in Michx. Arb.,S. t. 16. has the leaves resembling 

 those of A^cer saccharinum, but much darker. According to Michaux, the leaves are 

 5 in. or 6 in. long, and " exhibit, in every respect, nearly the same conformation as thoiie 

 of the true sugar maple. " They differ from it,'- he says, " chiefly in being of a darker green, 

 and of a thicker texture ; and in being somewhat more bluntly lobed. The tree is in- 

 discriminately mixed with the common sugar maple through extensive ranges of country 

 in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Connecticut ; but is readily distinguished from it.by 

 the smaller size which it attains, and the darker colour of its leaves." The soil in which 

 it flourishes best is a rich, strong, sandy loam ; and there it usually grows to the height 

 of 40 ft. or 50 ft. Trees of this alleged species were introduced into England in 1812; 

 and there are plants bearing the name in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, 

 and ill the garden of the Messrs. Loddiges, and to us they haveTalvvays appeared to be 

 merely varieties of ^. saccharinum, differmg in nothing but in having the foliage some- 

 what darker. Plants, in the London nurseries, cost Is. 6d., and seeds 4s. per ounce; at 

 Eollwyller, 1 franc 50 cents a plant ; and at New York, 50 cents a plant, and seeds 

 1 dollar per quart, 



Sjjcc. Char., ^-c. Leaves cordate, smooth, glaucous beneath, palmatcly 

 3-lobed ; lobes acuminated, serrately toothed. Corymbs drooping, on short 



■ peduncles. Pedicels pilose. Fruit smooth with the wings diverging. (Don's 

 Mill.,1 p. 630.) A deciduous tree, from North America, growing, in Eng- 

 land, to the height of 40 ft. or 30 ft., and flowering in April and May. In- 

 troduced in 1733. 



Description. In America, the sugar maple sometimes reathes the height 

 of 70 ft. or 80 ft., with a proportionate diameter j but it does not commonly 

 exceed 50 ft. or 60 ft., with a diameter of 12 in. or 18 in. Well-grown thriving 

 trees are beautiful in their appearance, and easily distinguished by the white- 

 ness of their bark. The leaves are about 3 in. broad ; but they vary in length 

 according to the age and vigour of the tree. They are opposite, attached by 

 long petioles, palmated or unequally divided into 5 lobes, entire at the edges, 

 of a bright green above, and glaucous or whitish underneath. In autumn, 

 they turn reddish with the first frosts. Except in the colour of the under 

 surface, they nearly resemble the leaves of the Norway maple. The flowers 

 are small, yellowish, and suspended by slender drooping peduncles. The 

 seed is contained in two capsules united at the base, and terminating in a mem- 

 branous wing. It is ripe near New York in the beginning of October, 

 though the capsules attain their full size six weeks earlier. Externally, they 

 appear equally perfect ; but Michaux informs us that he constantly found one 

 of them empty ; and the fruit is matured only once in two or three years. 

 (Michaux, p. 223,) The wood, when cut, is white ; but, after being wrought 

 and exposed some time to the light, it takes a rosy tinge. Its grain is fine 

 and close, and, when poHshed, it has a silky lustre. It is very strong, and 

 sufiiciently heavy, but wants the property of durability, for which the chestnut 

 and the oak are so highly esteemed. "When exposed to moisture it sooil 

 decays ; and for this reason it is neglected in civil and naval architecture. 

 (Mwhauxy p. 223, 226.) The buds of this species, like those of Acer Pseildo- 

 Platanus, of which it may be considered the American representative, have 

 a fine ruddy tint early in spring, before they begin to expand. 



