New Jerfey, Raccoon. 23 



round the ftem itfelf. The trees which 

 have thefe knobs are not always great ones, 

 but fome not above a fathom high, The 

 knobs commonly confift of the fame parts 

 as the wood itfelf, and look within like 

 curled wood. Some of them are hollow. 

 When a knob on a little tree is cut open, 

 we commonly find a number of little worms 

 in it, which are fometimes alfb common in 

 the greater knobs. This {hews the origia 

 of the knobs in general. The tree is flung 

 by infefts, which lay their eggs under the 

 bark, and from the eggs worms are after- 

 wards hatched. They occafion an extra- 

 vafation of the fap, which gradually con- 

 denfes into a knob. Only the trees with 

 annual deciduous leaves have thefe knobs, 

 and among them chiefly the oak, of which 

 again the black and Spam//} oak have the 

 greateft abundance of knobs. The afh 

 trees, (Fraxmus excelfior) and the red ma- 

 ple (Acer rubrum) like wife have enough 

 of them. Formerly the Sivedes 9 and more 

 especially the Finlanders, who are fettled 

 here, made dimes, bowls, &c. of the 

 knobs which were on the am-trees. Thefe 

 veffels, I am told, were very pretty, 

 and looked as if they were made of curled 

 wood. The oak-knobs cannot be employed 

 in this manner, as they are commonly 

 B 4 worm- 



