Sugar Maple Tree

Widely known as the source for Maple Syrup. About 30-40 gallons of sap, reduced by boiling will yield one gallon of syrup. Somewhat in declining health throughout its range. Still a stately tree synonymous with northern New England. Superiorly strong and durable wood. “The most magnificent display of color in all the kingdom of plants is the autumnal foliage of the trees of North America. Over them all, over the clear light of the Aspens and Mountain Ash, over the leaping flames of the Sumac and the hell-fire of poison ivy, over the war-paint of the many Oaks, rise the color of one tree – the Sugar Maple- in the shout of a great army. Clearest yellow, richest crimson, tumultuous scarlet, or brilliant orange – the yellow pigments shining through the over paintings of the red – the foliage of the Sugar Maple at once outdoes and unifies the rest. It is like the mighty, marching melody that rides upon the crest of some symphonic weltering sea and with its crying song, gives meaning to all the calculated dissonance of the orchestra”. A Natural History of Trees, Donald Peattie, 1960, Crown Publishers.