DISEASE IN THE SCYAMORE. 



563 



following; treatment. After the first flower- 

 ing is over, which will be about the end of 

 May, he strips ofT all the leaves, and cuts 

 ofTall the young and superfluous shoots which 

 have been formed, to within a few eyes of 

 the stem, which causes it to throw out fresh 

 leaves, and to flower again in July and Au- 

 gust ; and after this flowering is over, the 

 same process is repeated of cutting off' the 

 leaves, and this causes it to flower again in 

 the months of October and November. It 

 may be said that this plant will naturally 

 flower twice, and sometimes thrice, in the 

 season ; but, when it does, (which is but 

 very seldom,) the flowers are so very weak, 

 and there are so few of them, that it is 

 never worth notice ; whereas, by the above 

 simple process, an abundant succession of 



flowers may be insured throughout the 

 whole season. It should be remembered, 

 that these remarks will not apply to young 

 plants, but only to those that are well es- 

 tablished." 



Sometimes we have seen plants sent out 

 from the nurseries, which appear for a long 

 time after, to have a dwarfish, stinted habit, 

 and do not climb freely. This is probably 

 owing to their having been raised from down- 

 ward or impoverished branches. It is ne- 

 cessary in such instances, to head the plants 

 down to a single bud, as near the ground 

 as possible, and to make the soil rich and 

 deep, where they are planted. This will 

 give them a vigorous start, and they will 

 afterwards maintain a natural state of luxu- 

 riance. 



THE DISEASE OF THE SYCAMORE OR BUTTONWOOD TREE. 



We are among the number of those who 

 admire the Sycamore tree. It is among 

 the loftiest and grandest of forest trees ; its 

 extremely rapid growth, and the abundant 

 shade it affords, recommend it to those 

 planters whose destiny compels them to 

 create a wood all anew, on some naked 

 spot where leaves are by no means as thick 

 as " in Vallambrosa's shade ;" and its bold 

 development, in situations where it has 

 room to grow,often renders it a very pictu- 

 resque tree. 



Then the plane tree of Europe and Asia, 

 (Platanus orientalis,) differs from our na- 

 tive Sycamore, (P. Occident alls,) so slightly 

 — chiefly to the eye of the common observer, 

 in its rather smaller leaves and seed vessels, 

 tliat the American Sycamore may be said 

 to appropriate all the associations that be- 

 long to one of the most renowned umbra- 

 geous forest trees of the old world — the tree 



which Ovid called the " genial plane," and 

 under which Horace invited Harpinus to 

 drink Falernian wine with him. Xerxes the 

 great, however, seems to have been more 

 impressed by the beauty of this tree, than 

 any other of the ancients — since Herodotus 

 tells us that, when he invaded Greece, he 

 was so completely captivated with a ?re- 

 markably fine i=;pecimen in Lycia, that he 

 covered it with "jewels, bracelets, gems, 

 and infinite riches, belonging to himself 

 and his suite. For some days he could not 

 leave it ; and when at last he was forced 

 to part from it, he caused a figure of it to 

 be stamped on a medal, and continually 

 wore it about him." • 



Though we think, if the great Persian 

 could take a stroll through the valley of the 

 Mississippi, he would behold a few native 

 trees, perhaps even more worthy to fill the 

 eye of so devout a lover of the beauty of the 



