218 SYLVAN WINTER. 



name of the principal tree which produces it is 

 Swietenia mahoganii, a truly majestic tree, which 

 is believed to require two hundred years of 

 growth to produce perfect timber the slow 

 growth being, as in the case of other trees, the 

 secret of its elaborate perfection. 



Of Maples there are many, but let us take a 

 typical species by selecting the Common or Field 

 Maple (Acer campestre), whose wood is very 

 handsome, fine-grained, compact, often beauti- 

 fully veined, and susceptible of a high polish. 

 The woody roots of this tree are not unfre- 

 quently elegantly knotted, and then possess 

 especial value, being made into pipes, snuff-boxes, 

 and various articles of taste or luxury. In olden 

 times it was held in great estimation. Grilpin, 

 referring to this circumstance, says : * Pliny * 

 speaks as highly of the knobs and excrescences of 

 this tree, called the brusca and mollusca, as Dr. 

 Plot does of those of the Ash.f The veins of 

 these excrescences in the Maple, Pliny tells us, 

 were so variegated that they exceeded the beauty 



* See Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xvi. ch. 16. 

 - t Met. lib. x. v. 2. 



