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MAPLE, SIR JOHN BLUNDELL, BART

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 664 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MAPLE, See also:SIR See also:JOHN BLUNDELL, See also:BART . (1845-1903), See also:English business See also:magnate, was See also:born on the 1st of See also:March 1845. His See also:father, John Maple (d. 1900), had a small See also:furniture See also:shop in See also:Tottenham See also:Court Road, See also:London, and his business began to develop about the See also:time that his son entered it. The See also:practical management soon devolved on the younger Maple, under whom it attained See also:colossal dimensions. The See also:firm became a limited liability See also:company, with a See also:capital of two millions, in 189o, with Mr Maple as chairman. He entered See also:parliament as Conservative member for See also:Dulwich in 1887, was knighted in 1892, and was made a See also:baronet in 1897. He was the owner of a large See also:stud of See also:race-horses, and from 1885 onwards won many important races, appearing at first under the name of " Mr Childwick.” His public benefactions included a See also:hospital and a recreation ground to the See also:city of St Albans, near which his See also:residence, Childwickbury, was situated, and the rebuilding, at a cost of more than £150,000, of University See also:College Hospital, London. He died on the 24th of See also:November 1903. His only surviving daughter married in 1896 See also:Baron von Eckhardstein, of the See also:German See also:Embassy. ai G2sE 00°°30 .7 m ,•s;, 7.49 B — 7.46. •A,', ` W Q 7.42 5 • ~`.

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tool See also:Perspective Zenithal ' MAPLE, in See also:botany. The maple (0. E. mapel-treow, mapulder) and sycamore trees are See also:species of Acer, of the See also:order Acerineae. The genus includes about sixty species, natives of See also:Europe, See also:North See also:America and See also:Asia, especially the Himalayas, See also:China and See also:Japan. Maples are for the most See also:part trees with opposite, See also:long-stalked, palmately lobed leaves. The See also:flowers are in fascicles, appearing before the leaves as in the See also:Norway maple, or in racemes or panicles appearing with, or later than, the leaves as in sycamore. Some of the flowers are often imperfect, the stamens or See also:pistil being more or less aborted. The See also:fruit is a two-winged " See also:samara." The genus was represented in the See also:Tertiary See also:flora of Europe, when it extended into the polar regions; nineteen species have been recorded from the See also:Miocene strata of Oeningen in See also:Switzerland. The See also:common maple, A. campestre, is the only species indigenous to See also:Great See also:Britain. This and the sycamore were described by See also:Gerard in 1597 (Herball, p. 1299), the latter being " a stranger to See also:England." Many species have been introduced, especially from Japan, for ornamental purposes. The following are more especially worthy of See also:notice.

Acer campestre, the common maple, is common in hedgerows, but less often seen as a See also:

tree, when it is seldom more than 20 ft. high, though in sheltered situations 30 ft. or more is attained. The leaves are generally less than 2 in. across, and the five See also:main lobes are blunter than in the sycamore. The clusters of See also:green flowers terminate the See also:young shoots and are erect; the two wings of the fruit spread almost horizontally, and are smaller than in the sycamore. It occurs in See also:northern Europe, the See also:Caucasus, and northern Asia. The See also:wood is excellent See also:fuel, and makes the best See also:charcoal. It is compact, of a See also:fine See also:grain, sometimes beautifully veined, and takes a high See also:polish. Hence it has been celebrated from antiquity for tables, &c. The wood of the roots is frequently knotted, and valuable for small See also:objects of See also:cabinet See also:work. The young shoots, being flexible and tough, are employed in See also:France as whips. A. pseudo-platanus, the sycamore or great maple, is a handsome tree of See also:quick growth, with a smooth bark. The leaves are large, with finely acute and serrated lobes, affording abundant shade. The'flowers are See also:borne in long pendulous racemes, and the two wings of the fruit are ascending.

It lives from 140 to 200 years. It is found See also:

wild chiefly in wooded mountainous situations in central Europe. The wood when young is See also:white, but old heartwood is yellow or brownish. Like the common maple it is hard and takes a high polish. It is much prized by wheelwrights, cabinet-makers, sculptors, &c., on the See also:Continent; while knotted roots are used for See also:inlaying. See also:Sugar has been obtained from the See also:sap of this as from other species, the most being one See also:ounce from a quart of sap. The latter has also been made into See also:wine in the See also:Highlands of See also:Scotland. It withstands the See also:sea and See also:mountain breezes better than most other See also:timber trees, and is often planted near See also:farm-houses and cottages in exposed localities for the See also:sake of its dense foliage. Its wood is valued in turnery for cups, See also:bowls and See also:pattern blocks. It produces abundance of seeds, and is easily raised, but it requires See also:good and tolerably dry See also:soil; it will not thrive on stiff See also:clays nor on dry sands or chalks. There are many varieties, the variegated and cut-leaved being the most noticeable. The lobed shape of its See also:leaf and its dense foliage caused it to be confused with the true sycamore —Ficus sycamorus--of scripture.

A. platanoides, the Norway maple, is met with from Norway to See also:

Italy, See also:Greece, and central and See also:south See also:Russia. It was introduced into Britain in 1683. It is a lofty tree (from 40 to 70 ft.), resembling the sycamore, but with yellow flowers, appearing before the leaves, and more spreading wings to the fruit. There are several varieties. The wood is used for the same purposes as that of the sycamore. Sugar has been made from the sap in Norway and See also:Sweden. Many varieties of A. palmatum, generally known as polymorphum, with variously laciniated and more or less coloured foliage, have been introduced from Japan as ornamental shrubs. The branches and corolla are See also:purple, the fruit woolly. The foliage of the typical See also:form is See also:bright green with very pointed lobes. It occurs in the central mountains of Nippon and near See also:Nagasaki. Beautiful varieties have been introduced under the varietal names, ampelopsifolium, atropurpureum, dissectum, &c. They are remarkable for the coppery purple tint that pervades the leaves and young growths of some of the varieties.

Other See also:

Japanese species are A. japonicum, the varieties of which are among the most handsome of small See also:deciduous shrubs; A. rufinerve, with the See also:habit of the sycamore; A. distylum, bearing leaves without lobes; A. diabolicum, with large See also:plane-like leaves; and A. carpinifolium, with foliage resembling that of the See also:hornbeam. A. saccharinum, a North See also:American species, the sugar, See also:rock, or See also:bird's-See also:eye maple, was introduced in 1735. It sometimes attains to 70 or even over See also:loo ft., more commonly 50 to 6o ft. It is remark-able for the whiteness of the bark. The wood is white, but acquires a rosy' tinge after exposure to See also:light. The grain is fine and See also:close, and when polished has a silky lustre. The timber is used insteadof See also:oak where the latter is scarce, and is employed for See also:axle-trees and spokes, as well as for See also:Windsor chairs, &c. It exhibits two accidental forms in the arrangement of the See also:fibres, an undulated one like those of the curled maple (A. rubrum), and one of spots, which gives the name bird's-eye to the wood of this species. Like the curled maple, it is used for inlaying See also:mahogany. It is much prized for bedsteads, See also:writing-desks, See also:shoe-lasts, &c. The wood forms excellent fuel and charcoal, while the ashes are See also:rich in alkaline principles, furnishing a large proportion of the potash exported from See also:Boston and New See also:York. Sugar is principally extracted from this species, the sap being boiled and the See also:syrup when reduced to a proper consistence runs into moulds to form cakes.

Trees growing in See also:

low and moist situations afford the most sap but least sugar. A See also:cold north-See also:west See also:wind, with frosty nights and sunny days in See also:alternation, tends to incite the flow, which is more abundant during the See also:day than the See also:night. A thawing night is said to promote the flow, and it ceases during a south-west wind and at the approach of a See also:storm; and so sensitive are the trees to aspect and See also:climatic See also:variations that the flow of sap on the south and See also:east See also:side has been noticed to be earlier than on the north and west side of the same tree. The See also:average quantity of sap per tree is from 12 to 24 gallons in a See also:season. A. rubrum, the red-flowering or See also:scarlet maple, is a See also:middle-sized tree, and was introduced in 1656. The bright scarlet or dull red flowers appear before the leaves in March and See also:April. The wood, like that of other species, is applicable to many purposes—as for the seats of Windsor chairs, turnery, &c. The grain in very old trees is sometimes undulated, which suggested the name of curled maple, and gives beautiful effects of light and shade on polished surfaces. The most See also:constant use of curled maple is for the See also:stocks of fowling-pieces and rifles, as it affords toughness and strength combined with lightness and elegance. The inner bark is dusky red. On boiling, it yields a purple See also:colour which with sulphate of See also:iron affords a See also:black dye. The wood is inferior to that of the pre-ceding species in strength and as fuel.

Sugar was made from the sap by the See also:

French Canadians, but the See also:production is only See also:half as great as that from the sugar maple. In Britain it is cultivated as an ornamental tree, as being conspicuous for its flowers in See also:spring, and for its red fruit and foliage in autumn. A. macrophyllum, a north-western American species, is a valuable timber tree. For a good See also:account of the North American species see C. S. See also:Sargent's See also:Silva of North America, vol. ii. See also under SUGAR.

End of Article: MAPLE, SIR JOHN BLUNDELL, BART

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