WHITE MAPLE. 
97 
common in the lower parts of the Carolinas and of Georgia, where the 
White Maple is no longer seen ; for as soon as the rivers, in descending 
from the mountains towards the ocean, reach the low country, they begin 
to be bordered by miry swamps covered with the Cypress, Blackgum, Large 
Tupelo, etc. 
The White Maple blooms early in the spring : its flowers are small and 
sessile with a downy ovarium. The fruit is larger than that of any other 
species which grows east of the Mississippi. It consists of two capsules 
joined at the base, each of which encloses one roundish seed, and is termi- 
nated by a large membranaceous, falciform wing. In Pennsylvania, it is ripe 
about the 1st of May, and a month earlier on the Savannah river, in Geor- 
gia. At this period, the leaves which have attained half their size are very 
downy underneath ; a month later, when fully grown, they are perfectly 
smooth. They are opposite and supported by long petioles ; they are divi- 
ded by deep sinuses into four lobes, are toothed on the edges, of a bright 
green on the upper surface, and of a beautiful white beneath. The foliage, 
however, is scattered, and leaves an open passage to the sun beams. 
The wood of this Maple is very white, and of a fine grain ; but it is 
softer and lighter than that of the other species in the United States, and 
from its want of strength and durability it is little used. Wooden bowls 
are sometimes made of it when Poplar cannot be procured. At Pittsburg, 
and in the neighboring towns, it serves in cabinet-making, instead of Holly, 
for inlaying furniture of Mahogany, Cherry tree, and Walnut: though as it 
soon changes color, itis less fitted for this purpose. The hatters of Pitts- 
burg prefer the charcoal of this wood to every other for heating their boil- 
ers, as it affords a heat more uniform, and of longer continuance. Some 
of the inhabitants on the Ohio make sugar of its sap, by the same process 
which is employed with the Sugar Maple. Like the Red Maple, it yields 
but half the product from a given measure of sap ; but the unrefined sugar 
is whiter and more agreeable to the taste than that of the Sugar Maple. 
The sap is in motion earlier in this species than in the Sugar Maple, begin- 
ning to ascend about the 15th of January; so that the work of extracting 
the sugar is sooner completed. The cellular tissue rapidly produces a black 
precipitate with sulphate of iron. 
In all parts of the United States where this tree abounds, many others 
are found of superior value, its secondary consequence is evinced by the 
unimportant uses to which it is devoted. 
In Europe, the White Maple is multiplied in nurseries and gardens. 
Its rapid growth affords hopes of cultivating it with profit in this quarter of 
the world, which is less rich in the diversity of its species. In forraino' 
plantations, more care than has hitherto been taken, should be paid to the 
choice of the ground, which should be constantly moist, or exposed to 
