146 THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE 



than when they are milde and soft ; in some places they are 

 quickly soft, either hanged in a place which is not altogether 

 cold, or laid in hay or chafFe. If they yeeld any nourish- 

 ment at all, the same is very little, grosse, and cold." This 

 certainly cannot be considered much of a testimonial. He 

 goes on to say that " it is not expedient to eate of these 

 or other like fruits, nor to vse them otherwise than in 

 medicines," and he then suggests divers applications 

 of them, such as staunching bleeding and such like things, 

 where their astringency would be of possible service — " if 

 they be cut and dried in the sunne before they be ripe, 

 and so reserued for vse in diuers waies according to the 

 manner of the greife." The Latin name for the plant was 

 sorbus, and one of its old names is, in consequence, the 

 sorb-tree, while its fruits were dubbed sorb-apples. 



SYCAMORE (Acer Pseudo-Platanus) 



It is generally accepted that the Sycamore, the subject 

 of Plate XXII., has no claim whatever to be considered 

 an indigenous tree, though the date of its introduction is 

 unknown. It is, nevertheless, now so widely distributed 

 and so thoroughly at home with us that it may fully claim 

 a place in our pages. Some would tell us that it was 

 brought from the East at the time of the Crusades, a 

 special value being attached to it from a belief that it was 

 the tree associated in the Gospel story with Zacchasus. 

 St. Jerome, who died in the fourth century, was shown 

 a tree which was claimed to be the sycamore actually 

 climbed by Zacchasus, but however that may have been, the 

 tree of the Bible narrative was not the tree known to us 



