USES OF WOOD. 219 



of any other wood, even of the Citron ; though 

 the Citron was in such repute at Rome that 

 Cicero, who was neither rich nor expensive, was 

 tempted to give ten thousand sesterces for a 

 Citron table. The brusca and mollusca, Pliny 

 adds, were rarely of size sufficient for the larger 

 species of furniture ; but in all smaller cabinet- 

 work they were inestimable. Indeed, the whole 

 tree was esteemed by the ancients, on account of 

 its variegated wood. In Ovid we find it thus 

 celebrated : 



" Acerqxie coloribus impar." * 



How far, at this day, it may be valued for 

 cabinet-work, I know not. I have, here and 

 there, seen boxes and other little things made of it, 

 which I have thought beautiful. But I am told 

 that in North America, where it grows wild, it is 

 in much esteem. When the cabinet-maker meets 

 with a knotted tree of this kind, which is there 

 called the curled Maple, he prizes it highly.' f 



The Mulberry (Morus) should, from the interest 

 which surrounds it as a silkworm-feeder and a 



* Met. lib. x. v. 1. The maple stained with various hues. 

 - f ' Forest Scenery,' pages 81-2. 



