116 
MOUNTAIN MAPLE. 
exposed to the air, it is little used. It has been erroneously asserted that 
sugar is made from the sap of this species. 
More than fifty years since, the Box Elder was introduced into France 
by Admiral La Gallissonière. Subsequently, it has spread into Germany 
and England, where it is in great request for adorning pleasure grounds, on 
account of the rapidity of its growth, and the beauty of its foliage, whose 
bright green forms an agreable contrast with the surrounding trees. Its 
young branches, of a lively green, contribute to the favor in which it is 
held, and serve to distinguish it in the winter, when its leaves are fallen. 
The utility of its wood, I believe, has of late been exaggerated ; both 
Europe and America possess many trees superior in strength as well as in 
size. It appears certain, however, that, growing in copses, and cut every 
three or four years, it would afford a profitable product in its sprouts, which 
are very numerous, and wLich, during the first years, shoot with astonish- 
ing rapidity. The success of this experiment will be more certain if it is 
made on grounds convStantly moist and cool : though the Box Elder may 
seem, for a few’' years, to prosper in dry and meager soils, it sooner or later 
pines and perishes. Of this I became convinced in conversing with seve- 
ral proprietors, in the environs of Paris, who, after some recent publications 
on this tree, had made an unsuccessful attempt to derive profit from their 
poor lands, by planting them with the Box Elder. 
PLATE XLVL 
Â hranch with leaves and seeds of the natural size. 
MOUNTAIN MAPLE. 
Acer montanum. A. foliis tri-subqumquelobis, aewminatis, dentatis, rugosis : 
racemis spiciformibus, siiberectis, petalis linearibus. 
‘ This species is more abundant in Canada, Nova Scotia, and along the 
whole range of the Alleghany Mountains, than in any other part of North 
America. It is called Mountain Maple and Low Maple. Though the 
last of these names indicates the stature of the tree, I have retained the 
