In New England and the adjoining States, the maples are among the most
conspicuous and important families of our indigenous trees. Their wood
is used for various purposes in the arts, and their product of sugar is
of incalculable value. Two of the European maples are cultivated here,
distinguished from the American species by their larger leaves and
flowers and their darker verdure. I prefer the latter, because they have
a smaller leaf, and consequently a more lively and airy appearance, and
because they are more beautiful in autumn.
Besides the three most remarkable species in our native woods, there are
several smaller maples in New England, not rising much above the height
of shrubs, but distinguished by their elegance and beauty. One of the
most common of these is the Striped Maple, sometimes called Moosewood.
It is a tree of singular grace and beauty, and in Maine and New
Hampshire it is abundant, intermixed with the undergrowth of the forest.
It is one of the earliest trees in putting forth its flowers. The leaves
are large, broad, not deeply cleft, and finely variegated in their tints
in autumn. The protection of the forest seems needful to this tree, for
it is seldom found among the border shrubbery of fields and waysides.
Mr. Emerson thinks it deserving of cultivation. “I have found it,” he
remarks, “growing naturally twenty-five feet high, and nineteen or
twenty inches in circumference; and Mr. Brown, of Richmond, tells me he
has known it to attain the height of twenty-five feet. It well deserves
careful cultivation. The striking, striated appearance of the trunk at
all times, the delicate rose-color of the buds and leaves on opening,
and the beauty of the ample foliage afterwards, the graceful pendulous
racemes of flowers, succeeded by large showy keys not unlike a cluster
of insects, will sufficiently recommend it. In France, Michaux says it
has been increased to four times its natural size by grafting on the
sycamore.”
The Mountain Maple is another small and elegant species of similar
habits to those of the Moosewood, being almost entirely confined to the
forest, variegated with red and purple tints in autumn. If it is ever
seen by the roadside, it is only when the road is bordered by the
forest.