MAPLE TREE. 237 



cients, and some of their writers have much praised it : 

 Pliny in particular commends Maples in general, and 

 extols some for the remarkable fineness of the grain. 



" In former times," says Evelyn, " so mad were peo- 

 ple in searching for the bruscum* of this tree, which 

 often formed the exact representation of birds, beasts, 

 Sic. that they spared no expense in procuring it. The 

 timber is used for musical instruments, inlaying, &c. 

 and is reckoned superior to most woods for turnery ware. 

 The flower-buds begin to open about the 6th of April, 

 and are in full blow by the llth of May ; the leaves are 

 out about the 18th of April." 



Pliny says, " The Maple, for the elegancy and firmness 

 of the wood, is next to the very citron itself -J-. There 

 are several kinds of it, especially the White, which is 

 wonderfully beautiful ; this is called the French Maple, 

 and grows in that part of Italy that is on the other side 

 of the Po beyond the Alps ; the other has a curled 

 grain, so curiously spotted, that from a near resemblance, 

 it was usually called the Peacock's-tail." 



Again, Pliny says, " The bruscum is wonderfully 

 fair, but the molluscum is counted most precious ; 

 both of them knobs and swellings out of the tree : the 

 bruscum is more intricately crisped, the molluscum not 

 so much ; and had we trees large enough to saw into 

 planks for tables, it would be preferred before citron ; 

 but now they use it only for small table-books, and 

 its thin boards to wainscot bed-testers with. The brus- 



* The knotted parts. 



t It has been observed in the article Cypress, that the citron- 

 wood of the ancients was from a kind of wild cypress. 



