420 MY GARDEN. 



of my garden, on a bed of sand, and to the north, on a wet, boggy 

 place; but to see this tree in glorious perfection we must go to the 

 Trossachs, or to other parts of the Highlands of Scotland, where 

 its white bark and elegant drooping habit, contrasting with purple 

 heather, dark Scotch pine, and scarlet-berried mountain ash, make a 

 scene of the most charming beauty, in itself amply worth a journey 

 to the Highlands to contemplate. There are two varieties, Betitla 

 alba, with smooth bark, and B. alba pendula, with knotted roughnesses 

 on the stem growing naturally. There is also another variety, called 

 the Cut-leaf Birch, reputed to be very desirable for cultivation. 



" Beorc is beautiful in its branches : 

 It rustles sweetly in its leafy summit, 

 Moved to and fro by the breath of heaven." 



Anglo-Saxon Poem on the Names of the Runes , 

 by HlCKES. 



The name of the Mock Plane-tree (Acer pseudo-plat amis) has been 

 given to the Sycamore, which is unfortunate, as it causes a confusion 

 between the sycamore and the plane trees. It grows freely with me 



on the border of the lake, but it is 

 a tree not greatly to be admired, 

 especially as it is liable to have its 

 large leaves attacked in autumn 

 by an aphis, when they are subse- 

 quently disfigured by large black 

 fungus spots. The celebrated 

 Birnam Wood in Scotland has 

 two of the original trees left, one 



FIG. 946. Last Sycamore of Birnam Wood. r ir /r\ 



a magnificent sycamore (fig. 946). 



The sycamore has the merit of coming into leaf early, and of being 

 easily raised from seed. The sycamore is allied to the sugar maple, 

 and it is said, like that tree, to yield sugar from the sap ; but of 

 this I cannot speak from my own experience. There are many other 

 species of maple which I do not grow, but the Japan Variegated 

 Maple and the American Maple, the leaves of which in autumn become 

 scarlet, are very desirable acquisitions. 



