THE DWARF MAPLE.
A. glabrum, Torr.
The dwarf maple ranges plentifully from Canada to Arizona and New Mexico. Its leaves, typically three lobed and cut-toothed, vary to a compound form of three coarse-toothed leaflets. The winged keys are ruddy in midsummer, lending an attractive dash of color to the woods that border high mountain streams.
Very common in cultivation are the Japanese maples— miniature trees, bred and cultivated for centuries, won derful in the variations in form and coloring of their leaves. Tiny maple trees in pots are often very old.
Some leaves are mere skeletons.
The Japanese people are worshippers of beauty and they delight particularly in garden shows. In the autumn, when the maples have reached perfection, the populace turns out in holiday attire to celebrate a grand national fete. A sort of aesthetic jubilee it is, like the spring jubilee of the cherry blossom To each careful gardener who has patiently toiled to bring his maples to perfection, it is sufficient reward that the people make this annual pilgrimage to view them.