90 ACKR rsKl'nO-ri.ATANL'S. 



The tree called sycamoro. to which allusion is fro(|nently made ii Holy Wiit, 

 was not the Acer psciulo-iilalamis, hut the I'^irtis si/to/nonis of liDtanists; 

 Syrf))norc o( i\w French; and ///(//.nv//c/- i'V/^e/iir/?/?^ of the (Jcrnians. 'Die sup- 

 posiiion that tins s|)('cici' was tlu^ sycamore of the scriptures, induced many 

 religious persons in Miiiaiu. in the XlVtli and XVtli centuries, to plant it in 

 churchyards, courtyards, avenues, and near houses. 



The oldest rcM-orded sycamore, and perhaps the largest tree of the kind in Rrit- 

 ain, is tiiat at Kippeuross, in I'ertlishire. in 1823, it measured twenty-eight feet 

 nine inches in circumference, at a foot from the ground. It appears tliat it went 

 by the name of " the hig tree in Kippeiuoss," in the time of Charles II. Another 

 tree of this species is mentioncnl hy iioudon, as growing at Taymouth, which 

 had heen planted more than two hundred years, and attained the height of one 

 hundred feet, with a irimk six feet in diameter, and an ambitus of forty feet. 

 At Hishopton. on the Clyde, there is another tree, figured hy Strutt, in his 

 ''Sylva IJritannica,'' wiiich is described as being sixty feet high, with a trunk 

 six and a half feet in diameter. 



Perhaps the most remarkable sycamores in Scotland, are those called " dool- 

 trees,"' which were used by the powerful barons in the western part of that 

 country, for hanging their eneimes and refractory vassals upon, and for this rea- 

 son, were called dool, or grief-trees. One of these trees is said still to be standing 

 on the banks of the river Doon, near the fine old castle of Cassilis, a seat of the 

 Marquis of Ailsa, who descended from the powerful family of the Kennedys. It 

 is rai.scd on a pyramid, consisting of six steps, covered with turf, and has a 

 large, spreading head, nearly two hundred feet in circumference. The last time 

 this tree was used as a gibbet, was for the execution of Johnny Faa, the gipsy, 

 and seven of his men, who were hanged for eloping with the Countess of Cas- 

 silis. 



Two other dool-trees are said to exist on the estate of Blairquhan, recently in 

 possession of Sir David Hunter Blair. The largest is seventy-two feet high, 

 with a trunk seventeen feet in circumference, at ten feet from the ground. The 

 other tree is somewhat less in size. They are probably nearly three centuries 

 old. The date on the old coat of arms of the Kennedys, in the adjoining court 

 of the castle, is 1573. 



In France, in the botanic garden at Toulon, there is a sycamore, about sixty 

 years planted, which is one hundred feet in height. 



In Switzerland, there are many remarkable trees of different species, which 

 are more or less linked with the history of the country. They speak to the 

 imaginations ;f the people, and are connected, not only with the amusements of 

 the successive generations, but with the victories, that, in ancient times, secured 

 the independence of that republic. Among these are the great lime-trees at Fri- 

 bourg, already mentioned; and as a monument of a similar nature, we will now 

 introduce that venerable old sycamore of Trons, in the Grisons, in the same can- 

 ton. It was under the shade of this tree, that the deputies of the country swore 

 to free themselves from the yoke of their lords. In 1835, it measured twenty-six 

 and a half feet in circumference, at eighteen inches from the ground, and was 

 estimated to be nearly five hundred years old. It is celebrated in all the local 

 poems as being a lime-tree, but the fact is, it is the Acer pseudo-platanus. In 

 the " Bibliotique Universelle de Geneve," for August, 1831, there is a letter from 

 M. Bontemps, in which it is stated, that the probable reason why this tree is 

 called a lime in the local poems is, that the German word Ahorn, which signifies 

 a sycamore or maple, is very unpoetieal, while that for a lime-tree, Linde, is soft 

 and liquid ; and this caused the former to be rejected by the writers of the old . 

 ballads. 



The European sycamore appears to have been introduced into the United 



