The Maples - Family Acerace
To saw a bird's-eye log in the ordinary way would be to lose most of the beauty of the grain, which can be got only by tan gential sawing. A special method used is to take short lengths to a saw which cuts a thin layer from the surface of the revolving log. Thus a thin, spiral sheet that will measure one hundred or more feet when spread out can be pared from a single log section before the saw reaches the central pith. Steamed and pressed this veneer wood shows every eye it ever had.
Silver Maple, Soft Maple (Acer saccharinunz, Linn.; Acer dasycarpum, Ehr.)—A large tree, 8o to 120 feet, with wide spread ing top, trunk soon dividing into long limbs, ending in slender, drooping twigs. Bark reddish brown, furrowed, surface roughly scaly; twigs reddish, smooth. Wood hard, pale brown, close grained; brittle; easy to work. Sap sweet. Winter buds: leaf buds pointed, red, in pairs; flower buds blunt, red, clustered at nodes. Leaves 4 to 7 inches long, deeply 5-cleft by narrow sinuses, irregularly toothed; smooth, pale green, white beneath, pubescent along veins; yellow in autumn; petioles long, red, flexible. Flowers, March to April, before leaves, greenish yellow, without petals, on spurs or in axils of last year's leaves; fertile and sterile on different branches or often on separate trees. Fruit, May, in pairs of winged samaras, l to 3 inches long, on short pedicels, pubescent and green when young, becoming smooth; germinating soon after they fall. Preferred habitat, rich, moist soil. Distribution, Newfoundland to Dakota; south to Florida and Oklahoma. Rare on Atlantic seaboard and on mountains. Uses: Popular ornamental and shade tree, especially useful west of Mississippi River. Wood used for flooring and cheap furniture. Sap boiled occasionally for sugar.
The silver maple is a tree to count upon, if one is in search of a suitable species to plant on a Western prairie that has uncertain rainfall. It has ingratiated itself with people living farther east, who might better choose elms and other maples. It is a lazy man's tree, for it comes vigorously from seed, and bears transplanting, even when there are radical changes in soil and in climate to be met. It is a rapid grower, soon giving ample shade. But rapid growth implies brittle, weak wood, as a rule. Slow
growing trees like elms should always be alternated with soft maples, to replace them after their brief race is run.
The habit of a tree must be considered when choosing a place to plant it. It is unwise to plant silver maples close to a house, as they have great horizontal spread, and the long, weak limbs are easily broken by ice and wind storms. Old trees are often cut back to a few main stubs above the trunk. A new top is soon formed by suckers that rise from the stubs, but the tree's symmetry is forever lost.
Local names often confuse the two Eastern early blooming, early fruiting maples. They may easily be distinguished by their mode of growth, flowers, fruits and leaves. Red maple limbs are small and rarely droop; those of the silver maple curve downward, but the twigs ascend. The brilliant colour belongs to the red maple; the deep-cleft, silver-lined leaves to the silver maple. The little, smooth, long-stemmed keys of the red species differ dis tinctly from the large, short-stemmed fruits of the other, which are woolly until almost ripe. In winter even, buds and twigs of the red maple are vividly red.
The Maple, Oregon Maple (Acer macro phyllum, Pursh.)—A large, stout-limbed tree, ioo feet high, with compact head and drooping lower branches. Bark brown, furrowed and with plate-like scales; twigs reddish, with milky juice. Wood reddish brown, soft, light, close grained, susceptible of a satiny polish; often having curly and bird's-eye grain. Winter buds: axillary small; terminal larger, red, scaly. Leaves deeply cut, by deep, narrow sinuses, into 5 lobes, each of which has wavy margin, indented into secondary lobes; petioles to 12 inches, slender; blades 8 to 12 inches broad and long, dark green, lustrous above; paler beneath; turn orange-yellow in autumn. Flowers yellow, fragrant, in long racemes in late spring. Fruits paired samaras, ripe in autumn; 11 inches long, with hairy nutlets, but smooth wings, slightly divergent. Preferred habitat, banks of streams and rich bottom lands. Distribution, south coast of Alaska to San Diego, California. Uses: Valuable ornamental and timber tree. Wood used for furniture and interior finish.
