102 
SUGAR MAPLE. 
species which I shall describe, which has hitherto been confounded by 
Botanists with the Sugar Maple. 
In the lower parts of Virginia, of the Carolinas, and of Georgia, and 
likewise in the Mississippi Territory, this tree is unknown or very rare. It 
is rapidly disappearing from the forests about New York and Philadelphia, 
where it is no longer drained for sugar, but is felled for fuel and other 
purposes. 
Between the parallels mentioned as bounding the tracts where this tree 
is most abundant, the forests do not resemble those of a more southern 
latitude ; they are composed of two different descriptions of trees divided 
into two great classes, which alternately occupy the soil, and which exist 
in nearly equal proportions. The first class comprises the resinous trees, 
such as Pines and Spruces, and covers the low grounds and the bottoms of 
the valleys ; these forests are called Black loood lands. The second class 
consists of leafy trees, such as the Sugar Maple, the White and the Red 
Beech, the Birches and the Ashes, of which the Sugar Maple is most multi- 
plied. They grow on level grounds or on gentle declivities, and form what 
are denominated Hard wood lands. In proceeding from the 46th degree of 
latitude northward, the trees of the second class are observed to become 
more rare, and the resinous trees in the same proportion more abundant: 
below the 43d degree, on the other hand, the resinous trees are found less 
common, and the others lose their predominance in the forests, as they be- 
come mingled with the numerous species of Oaks and Walnuts. 
The Sugar Maple covers a greater extent of the American soil than any 
other species of this genus. It flourishes most in mountainous places, 
wdrere the soil though fertile is cold and humid. Beside the parts which 
I have particularly mentioned, where the face of the country is generally 
of this nature, it is found along the whole chain of the Alleghanies to their 
termination in Georgia, and on the steep and shady banks of the rivers 
which rise in these mountains. 
The Sugar Maple reaches the height of 70 or 80 feet, with a proportional 
diameter; but it does not commonly exceed 50 or 60 feet, wflth a diameter 
of 12 or 18 inches. Well grown, thriving trees are beautiful in their 
appearance, and easily distinguishable by the whiteness of their bark. 
The leaves are about five inches broad, but they vary in length according 
to the age and vigor of the tree. They are opposite, attached by long 
petioles, palmated and 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 color of the lower 
surface, they nearly resemble the Norway Maple. The flowers are small, 
yellowish and suspended by slender, drooping peduncles. The seed is 
contained in two capsules united at base and terminated by a membranous 
wing. It is ripe near New York in the beginning of October, though the 
