FIELD MAPLE. 103 



The leaves are blotched and striped with white, or whitish-yellow, and preserve 

 their vegetation with a heahhy appearance. 



3. A. c. coLLiNUM, Loudon. Hill-inhabiting Field Maple. This variety is a 

 native of France. The fruit is smooth ; the lobes of the leaves obtuse, and the 

 flowers small. 



4. A. c. AUSTRiAcuM, Loudou. Austrian Field Maple. This variety, as its 

 name imports, is a native of Austria ; also of Podolia and Tauria. It is larger 

 in all its parts than the Acer campestre hebecarpum, and is of much freer 

 growth. The trunk rises erect and straight, and sends out its branches regu- 

 larly on every side, so as to form a cone, almost like a fir-tree. The lobes of 

 the leaves are somewhat acuminated, and the fruit is smooth. 



5. A. c. L^viGATUM, Loudon. Smooth-leaved Field Maple. 



6. A. c. NANUM, Loudon. Dwarf Field Maple. 



Geography and History. The Acer campestre is found throughout th>i 

 middle states of Europe, and in the north of Asia. According to Pallas, it 

 abounds in New Russia, and about Caucasus. It is common in hedges and 

 thickets in the middle counties and south of England ; but in the northern coun- 

 ties, and in Scotland, it is rare. It is not indigenous to Ireland, and perhaps not 

 to Scotland. 



The largest tree of this species in Britain, and possibly on the globe, is at 

 Blairlogie, in Stirlingshire, which, in 1835, was three hundred and two years 

 old, fifty-five feet high, with a trunk four feet in diameter, and an ambitus or 

 spread of branches of forty-five feet. Another tree at Braystock, in Essex, had 

 arrived at the height of fifty feet in eighty years. 



In France, in the botanic garden at Toulon, there is a tree of this species, 

 which attained the height of forty-five feet at forty-eight years after planting. 



In Saxony, at Worlitz, there is an Acer campestre, which attained the height 

 of forty feet, in sixty-five years after planting. 



This species was introduced into the United States in 1822, by the late Mr. 

 Prince, of Flushing, New York, and may be found in the American nurseries 

 and collections. 



iS'ozY, Situation., <^'c. A dry soil suits the Acer campestre best, and an open 

 situation ; but, to attain a timber-like size, it requires a deep, free soil, and a 

 situation sheltered by other trees. In nurseries, plants of this species are raised 

 from seeds, most of which often remain eighteen months in the ground before 

 they come up, though a few vegetate the first spring. The varieties are propa- 

 gated by layers. 



Insects, (^c. There are but a few insects or their larvae which appear to feed 

 upon the leaves of this species, with the exception of a small, dark-green aphis; 

 and the tree is not much liable to accidents and diseases. Loudon observes that 

 the misletoe is sometimes found growing upon it. 



Properties and Uses. The wood of the Acer campestre, when allowed to become 

 a tree, and of a proper age, is very compact, possesses a fine grain, sometimes 

 beautifully veined, and is susceptible of a high polish. Wlien dry, it weighs 

 fifty-two pounds to a cubic foot. It makes excellent fuel, and produces charcoal 

 of the best quality, which is sometimes employed in the manufacture of gun- 

 powder. It was celebrated among the ancient Romans for tables ; and Pliny, 

 who has treated at length upon the brusca and mollusca, the names under which 

 'he knobs and excrescences of this tree were known, informs us that cabinet- 

 work of the most costly description was fabricated from them. In France, and 

 other European countries, it is still extensively used by turners, carvers, and 

 cabinet-makers, and the wood of the roots, which is often knotted and curiously 

 marbled, is wrought into snuff"-boxes, pipes, and various other articles of fancy. 



