If I should to go into your school-room and should ask how many boys and girls know a sugar maple, I suppose every hand would be raised. But if I should ask: "When does the sugar maple blossom?" "What do the blossoms look like?" "When do the winged seeds fall?" I wonder how many could give me satisfactory answers to my questions!
Choose some fine old maple for study. The one that stands near the door will be best, since you can see it every day. Write in a note book all that you can find out about it as the weeks go by.
Suggestions for Fall Study.
1. Notice how the leaves turn to the sunlight.
2. Try to find two leaves exactly alike in color, form, size, length of stem, etc. If you succeed send them to Uncle John.
3. How many different tints can you find in a single leaf?
4. As you look at two sugar maple trees, do they seem to be colored alike?
5. Are all sugar maples that you know the same shape?
6. How are the leaves arranged on the branch?
7. Can you find any winged seeds near the tree? If so, plant one in a box of earth and see whether it will grow.