Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson CXC · Topic 28: Tree study
190. The sugar maple
Goal: Your child can describe the sugar maple's shape, leaves, keys and colors, and explain when and why the sap runs.
You'll need
- A maple tree to visit
- Some maple keys (seeds)
- A tape measure
- A nature notebook and a pencil (colored pencils if you have them)
- Crayons or watercolors
What's in the book
The lesson has a leading thought and fourteen observations arranged as Fall Work, Winter Work and Spring Study: the tree's shape, its keys, its leaves, autumn colors, buds and bark, sap and sugar-making, flowers and wood.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Begin in the fall and come back in winter and spring. The book says to study the tree out of doors and bring leaves, flowers and keys inside. Sugar maples line many streets and farm lanes.
The leading thought
The sugar maple grows very rapidly, and is therefore a useful shade tree. Its wood is used for many purposes, and from its sap is made a delicious sugar.
The tree
Where is the maple you are studying? Is it near other trees? What is the shape of the head?
Can you tell by the shape of the tree from which direction the wind blows most often?
Maple keys
Can you find seeds on your tree? Each pair of seeds is called a key. Sketch a key, showing the way the seeds are joined and the direction of the wings.
How far will a maple key fly on its wings? Plant a maple seed where you can watch it grow next year.
Drop keys from a height (a stair landing, or held up high) and watch them spin. Measure how far they drift on a windy day.
Autumn colors
Does your maple get its autumn colors all at once, or on one or two branches first?
If it is yellow this year do you think it will be red next year? Watch and see.
Sap and sugar (late winter)
What kind of weather is the best for causing sap flow?
Why do we not make maple-sugar all summer?
Visit a sugarbush or sugarhouse in March if one is near you. Tapping a tree is a job for an adult, on your own large maple only.
Nature notebook
Draw a key and a leaf (or make a leaf print). Write the date the first autumn color appears and the date the tree stands bare.
Afterwards
Come back in winter (bark, buds, shape) and in spring (flowers, new leaves), using the questions on the book page.
Tip
Sugar maple leaves have smooth, U-shaped notches between the lobes; red and silver maples have saw-toothed edges.
Answers to the book's problems
Sap runs best in late winter when nights freeze and days thaw. Once the buds open and the leaves come, the sap turns cloudy and less sweet, so sugar-making stops; the tree has not run out of sap.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.