100 
RED FLOWERING MAPLE. 
lowing a perpendicular direction, is undulated, and this variety bears the 
name of Curled Maple. This singular arrangement, of which I am able to 
assign no cause, is never witnessed in young trees, nor in the brcinches of 
such as exhibit it in the trunk; it is also less conspicuous at the centre than 
near the circumference. Trees offering this disposition are rare, and do 
not exist in the proportion of one to a hundred. The serpentine direction 
of the fibre, which renders them difficult to split and to work, produces in 
the hands of a skilful mechanic, the most beautiful effects of light and 
shade. These effects are rendered more striking if, after smoothing the 
surface of the wood with a double-ironed plane, it is rubbed with a little 
sulphuric acid, and afterwards anointed with linseed oil. On examining 
it attentively, the varying shades are found to be owing entirely to the 
inflection of the rays of light ; W'hich is more sensibly perceived in view- 
ing it in different directions by candle light. 
Before Mahogany became generally fashionable in the United States, 
the most beautiful furniture was of Red-flowering Maple, and bedsteads 
are still made of it, which in richness of lustre, exceed the finest Maho- 
gany. At Boston some cabinet-makers saw it into thin plates for inlaying 
Mahogany. But the most constant use of the Curled Maple is for the stocks 
of fowling pieces and rifles, which to elegance and lightness unite a solid- 
ity resulting from the accidental direction of the fibre. 
The cellular tissue of the Red-flowering Maple is of a dusky red. By 
boiling, it yields a purplish color, which on the addition of sulphate of 
iron, becomes dark blue approaching to black. It is used in the country, 
with a certain portion of alum in solution, for dyeing black. 
The wood of the Red-flowering Maple does not burn well, and is so lit- 
tle esteemed for fuel that it is rarely brought into the cities. 
The French Canadians make sugar from the sap of this Maple, which 
they call Plaine^ but, as in the preceding species, the product of a given 
measure is only half as great as is obtained from the Sugar Maple. 
It should be observed that the Red-flowering Maple never attains its full 
dimensions except in swamps wffiere the bottom is composed of fertile soil. 
When the population of the country becomes denser, these tracts will be 
cleared and improved by some mode of culture more profitable than the 
growth of wmods, and especially of this species, which is fit neither for the 
uses of the wheelwright nor for any other solid work; for it possesses little 
strength, is liable to injury from worms, and ferments and speedily decays 
when exposed to the alternations of dryness and moisture. Though at 
present it is extensively used, its importance in the arts is not such as to 
entitle it to preservation, and it will doubtless one day become rare. 
When the period arrives that it is necessary in the United States, as in 
Europe, to renew the forests, or to preserve those which have escaped de- 
struction, the American Forester will find among the Oaks, the Walnuts, 
