T2 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



Sycamore.* 



Platdmis Occidentulis — Linn. 

 The name sycamore, ordinarily given this 

 tree, is a misnomer. It is of the plane-tree 

 family, tn shape it is wide-spreading ami 

 broad. Its height is from sixty to 190 feet 

 or even higher, and it has a diameter of 

 bole as ctrtat as five feet, 'its general range 

 of growth is from southern Maine southward 

 and westward. It blooms in May. The 

 outer bark is a dark brown 

 and thin, peeling off freely 

 and showing silver-white inner 

 bark iu patches, thus often present- 

 ing a mottled appearance. The 

 leaf buds are axillary and concealed 

 throughout the summer and winter 

 under the hollow base of the leaf 

 petioles, and thus are protected until 

 the next spring. The stipules are 

 sheath-like. The leaves are eimpU-, 

 alternate, with downy petioles; or- 

 bicular, with tapering pointed apex 

 and cordate base; the edges are 

 toothed and often three or five- 

 lobed; the sinuses between them 

 are rounded; the leaves and petioles 

 become smooth at maturity. Tiie 

 flowers are small in round heal?. 

 The fruit grows closely ia solitary 

 round balls, which hang from tiie 

 ends of long, wiry peduncles. They 

 become dry and remain on the 

 braneheii until well into the winter, 

 when their seeds are scattered by 

 the wind. 



While this wood is commonly 

 known as sycamore, it is more 

 properly the plane-tree, buttonwood 

 or buttonball tree. This tree has a 

 very striking appearance and is 

 perhaps better known to the lay- 

 man than most any other American 

 hardwood. 0^■er a large part of 

 this country, along water courses, 

 the tree is commonly found in its 

 field growth, and there it presents 

 a striking appearance of somber 

 dignity. It often grows to a 

 height almost unrivaled by any 

 other tree of the northern Amer- 

 ican forests, and it lives to be very 

 old. The unusual feature about it 

 is the way in which the outer bark 

 peels and displays the polished 

 inner barh", as the season advances. 

 Then again it raises its white and 

 almost spotless branches aloft in a manner 

 which distinguishes it from all other forms 

 of tree growth. 



The range of growth of sycamore is south- 

 eastern New Hampshire, southern Maine, 

 northern Vermont and the Lake Ontario dis- 

 trict; westward to eastern Nebraska and 

 Kansas, and southward to central Alabama, 

 Mississippi and Texas. 



It IS generallv known as sycamore thrnugh- 



FOUBTH PAPER. 



out the states of the Union, but it is fre- 

 quently called buttonwood in Vermont, New 

 Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, 

 New York, New Jersey, PenufvlTn.nia. Dela- 

 ware, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, 

 Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, 

 Nebraska, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and 

 Ontario; buttonball tree in several of the 

 eastern states and occasionally in Illinois, 

 Iowa, Ohio, .Michigan and Nebraska; the 



TYPICAL GROWTH OK SY( AMORE SUl'I'LIED BY CHARLKS 



U. BAR.NABY FUt)M TREES GROW^" NEAR 



GREENCASTLE. VSD. 



plane-tree \n Rhode Island, Delaware, South 

 Carolina, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa; the 

 water-beech in Delaware; the platane, cot- 

 tonier and bois puant in I^ouisiana; while in 

 the tongue of the Big Stocking Indians of 

 New York, it was known as ooda-te-cha-wun- 

 ues. 



Probalily the finest range of growth of 

 the sycamore ever encountered was in Ohio 

 and Iricli:nia. iuul these states still contain 



isolated patches of maguifieent specimens of 

 the wood. The Black Swamp of Ohio was 

 originally a famous sycamore country, of 

 which Defiance was the center of lumber 

 manufacture. Many parts of Indiana pro- 

 duced a good sycamore growth, and a consid- 

 erable amount of timber of excellent quality 

 still exists, but is now largely owned by 

 farmers who are generally holding it out of 

 the market. Thus the present product of 

 sycamore lumber is comparatively 

 ^mall. 



The 'source of supply of syca- 

 more has been largely from the 

 United States in the past, but the 

 tree grows in Europe and the 

 British Isles, and to some extent 

 in Canada. 



The weight of the wood runs 

 from 30 to .50 pounds to the cubic 

 foot. It is comparatively a hard- 

 wood of about the same density as 

 hard maple. It has no smell or 

 taste. The grain is close, even and 

 fine. The surface is somewhat lus- 

 trous, especially in the radial sec- 

 tion. The bark is smooth, about 

 one-eighth of an inch in thickness, 

 leathery and supple. It is gray in 

 color, not fissured, and becomes scaly 

 with age. 



The principal conswnption of 

 sycamore and tlie use which has 

 nearly exhausted this splendid wood 

 duiing the last half century, has 

 been by the plug tobacco box trade. 

 Tobacco box manufacturers recog- 

 nized that, inasmuch as the wood 

 was without taste or smell, and 

 therefore imparted no foreign odor 

 to tobacco, it was especially adapted 

 to their needs, and up until a few 

 years this box trade has taken the 

 larger proportion of the compara- 

 tively limited quantity of sycamore 

 lumber that has been produced. 

 While for .years sycamore has been 

 recognized as a very beautiful wood 

 for a great many purposes, so dili- 

 gent were the manufacturers of plug 

 tobacco boxes, that they have been 

 practically able to control for their 

 u.-^' almost the entire sycamore lum- 

 ber output. Outside of this, it has 

 been employed to a considerable ex- 

 tent for interior finish, furniture- 

 making, and lately has been quite 

 largely used in the making of veneers, espe- 

 cially in quarter-sawed stock. In this latter 

 form it is a remarkably handsome wood. 



The rings of growth of the tree are 

 obscure in the solid wood; the boundary, 

 however, is a fine clear brown line in autumn 



•Antlioritles quoted In the foregoing article 

 are "Tlie Timbers nf Commerce." "Guide to the 

 Trees." "Principal Species of Wood." and 

 "Check List of tbe Eorest Trees of the t'nlted 

 States." 



