Among the Trees at Elmridge

ose," said Malcolm, "since w

asked Edith, with v

es of the maple, which is always a beautiful and useful tree, but the red, or scarlet, maple is the very queen of the family. It is not so large as are most of the others; but when a very young tree, its grace and beauty are noticeable among it

boy of his age, and he always enj

RED

pointed to

, among the more stately trees in summer; and ere it bids adieu to the season stepping forth in robes of gold, vermilion, crimson and variegated

tree as that!" exclaimed

just this way. When you saw it yesterday, it was coming forth in the spring, like morning in the east, arraye

e colors, too," said Malcolm,

nd the swamp maple, and the flowers, as you see from this specimen, are in whorls, or pairs, of bright crimson, in crowded bunches on the purple branches. The leaves are in three or five lobes, with deep notches between, and some of t

ne with the bar

rniture, as it takes a fine polish and is easy to work with. It is used, too, for building-purposes. The early-summer foliage of the red maple is of a beautiful yellow green, and the young leaves are very delicate and airy-looking; but the graceful tree is in such a hurry to dis

Edith, "the little tree that I thought

el, but it has to be cut down and dried first. The reddening of the leaf generally begins at the veins and spreads out from them until the whole is tinted. Sometimes it appears in spots, almost like drops of blood, on the green surface; but, c

VER-LEA

hing as a silver t

rp' or 'hard,' and it was supposed to have been given in old English times when the wood of the maple was used for javelins. The silver maple gets its name from the whitish under-surface of its leaves, and it is a favorite shade-tree; it has a slender trunk and long, dr

d was like silver," and Malcolm asked h

arson repl

t between the green of the upper surface of the leaves and the silver color of the lower, and the magnificent spread of the limbs of the white maple, recommend it as an ornamental tree; and this i

much about the maple-sugar tree. Can't we get so

e other members of the family by its leaves, in which the notch between the lobes is round instead of being sharp, and also by their appearing at the same time with the blossoms, which are of a yellowish-green color. The green tint of the leaves is darker on some trees than it is on others, and in autumn they become, often before the first touch of the frost, of a splendid orange or gold, sometimes of a bright scarlet or crimson, color, each tree commonly retaining from year to year the same color or colors, and differing somewhat from every other. The most beautiful and valuable maple-wood is t

"to spoil the maple-sugar by makin

ed the 'chairs and things' more than you need the sugar. But

n people tap on it with a hammer?" asked Edith

shout of laughter. Let's take our hammers

of the locality, is the time for tapping the trees; and when the holes are bored, spouts of elder or sumac from which the pith has been taken are put into them at one end, while the other goes down to the bucket which receives the sap. 'Several holes are so bored that their spouts shall lead to the same bucket, and high enough to allow the bucket to hang two or three feet fr

y is it

off in vapor, and leaves t

est. "What lots of fun they must have, with the big fires and the snow and as much

MAPLE

uring the process the sap, or syrup, is strained; lime or salaeratus is added, to neutralize the free acid; and the white of egg, isinglass or milk, to cause foreign substances to rise in a scum to the sur

Harson?" asked Clara, who was wishing, lik

see the 'sugaring off.' This is putting it into the pans and buckets to harden after it has been suffi

ices at once; "what is t

ol; and when it was fit to eat, it was just like wax, instead of being hard like the cakes in moulds. It took only a few minutes, too, to make it, and it seemed a great

me time. Vermont was such a long way off on the map, besides being up almost at the top,

en at the sugar-camp. Yet the Indians made maple-sugar long before we kne

Malcolm. "I thought that Indians were always

of our most valuable herbs were first discovered by the Indians, and, as they never had any grocery-stores, the presence of trees that would supply them with sugar was a blessing not likely to be neglected. The

ple-sugar trees

e is found in groves of from five to twenty acres. These are called 'sugar-bushes,' and few farmers in that part of America are without them. In England the maple trees are called 'sycamores,' and

aring away a rambling company of brambles which had grown unmolested during the time of the last tenant;

nd bees came from all parts to gather their honey-harvests among the flowers; beneath its shade lambkins were wont in spring to sleep beside their dam

bunches of flowers. Older people came in their holiday dresses, some with baskets containing cakes, others tea and sugar, with which the farmer and his wife had plentifully su

s and rinsed them at the old stone trough into which rushed a full stream--tiny hands joyfully held up the small ca

o were contentedly looking on from the grassy slope where they had seated themselves. The farmer's wife knew naught concerning the process for obtaining sugar, or else she

Harson?" asked Malcolm, with

ou will feel properly grateful to these