Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/150

 138 MAPLE or swamp maple (A rubrum} this and the next, the silver maple, flower in March and April, and perfect their seeds about the first of June ; when the seeds fall, they germinate in a few days, and by the autumn of the same year form a young tree one or two feet high ; this peculiarity must be observed by those who would raise these trees, as the seeds will not retain their vitality if kept until the following spring. The red maple is found in swamps and damp woods from Canada to the gulf of Mexico, and is also known as the soft, the swamp, and the white maple, which last name should be discarded, as it properly belongs to the next species; it is usually a small tree, though it sometimes reaches 60 or 70 ft., with a diameter of 2 or 3 ft. ; the young twigs are red, and gradually change to a clear ashy gray. This is a conspicuous tree when in bloom in early spring, as its flowers are produced in such profusion as to make the tree appear at a dis- tance as a mass of color, varying from crim- son to scarlet ; the individual trees differ much in shade, some being very pale, while others are exceedingly brilliant ; the leaves vary great- ly in size and shape, and the number and depth of the lobes. The trees with pistillate or per- fect flowers produce a profusion of fruit, which makes them objectionable near a garden, as the seeds find their way to every nook and the young maples spring up as weeds. The beauty of our autumn landscape is largely due to the brilliant colors assumed by the foliage of the red maple ; it presents every shade of orange, scarlet, and crimson, and these colors, together with green, are frequently to be found upon the same leaf. The wood is white with a tinge of rose color, fine, close, and smooth ; it is used for a great variety of turned work and for making the cheaper kind of furniture ; it is a useful wood for any purpose if it is not to be exposed to dampness. Some of the trees, in which the fibres take a serpentine course, afford the handsome wood known as curled maple, valued for inside work and for gun stocks ; other varieties are known as landscape and mountain maple. As a fuel, the wood of red maple ranks below that of the sugar or rock maple; it burns rapidly and does not make a lasting fire. The bark is used in do- mestic dyeing, forming with iron salts a good black. The white or silver maple (A. dasy- carpurri) is more common in the western than in the eastern states, but it is more or less abundant along rivers from Maine to Georgia ; as the red maple is often called white maple, the two trees are frequently confounded, but they are readily distinguished by the color of the young twigs, which in this species are preen, while in the other they are red, and by the silvery whiteness of the under surface of the leaves, which has given one of its common names to this species. The leaves are usually five-lobed, with the lobes deeply and hand- somely toothed ; the flowers, which appear be- fore the leaves, are greenish yellow ; the fruit, the early ripening of which has been mention- ed, is downy when young, but smooth when ripe ; the two wings diverge widely and are about 2 in. long. The tree grows to about 50 or 60 ft. with very spreading limbs ; specimens with a circumference of 12, 16, and 18 ft. are recorded, but the usual diameter is about 2 ft. On account of the wide spread of its branches and its fine foliage, this is much val- ued as a shade and ornamental tree ; but as the wood has little strength, the branches are apt to be broken by gales and by accumulations of snow and ice. For planting in prairie coun- tries no tree is more highly prized than this, as by its rapid growth it gives a quick return in valuable fuel. The wood is soft, white, and fine-grained, but it has little strength and is very perishable ; hence its use as lumber is limited ; as a fuel it is much esteemed. The most valuable of all our species is the sugar or rock maple (A. saccharinuni), which is most Sugar Maple (Acer saccharinum). abundant north of lat. 40 and east of the Mis- sissippi ; in the southern states it is found only along the mountains. The tree when young is usually very symmetrical, and indeed some- what too formal in its outline, but when old it assumes a great diversity of forms, which seem to depend upon soil and situation ; it some- times reaches 70 or 80 ft., but is usually much smaller. The leaves are broader than long, often heart-shaped at base, three- to five-lobed, with the sinuses or spaces between the lobes rounded, while in the two species above men- tioned these are acute. The flowers, which ap- pear with the leaves, are greenish yellow, in umbel-like clusters upon very slender hairy pedicels ; the fruit, which has a broad wing, ripens in October, and if intended for sowing should be kept through the winter in damp sand. As an ornamental tree the sugar maple has been strangely neglected in this country ; its growth is quite slow when young, and nur-