156 FORESTS, WOODS, AND TREES 
Sycamore.—The sycamore or great maple is a native of 
the mountains of Central Europe, and is an extremely hardy 
tree. It never suffers from frost, and bears wind, whether 
close to the sea or inland, better than most broad-leaved 
trees. Quercus Ilex, however, resists the sea breeze better 
in Norfolk. Sycamore is rarely injured by insects or fungi, 
and is not attacked by rabbits in most districts. It re- 
generates itself freely from seed. It bears moderate shade 
when young, but once it has passed the pole stage, requires 
considerable light and space, and becomes unable to protect 
the soil. Hence it is scarcely ever found growing pure in 
masses, but occurs scattered amidst other trees in conti- 
nental forests. It needs a good loam for its best develop- 
ment, making poor growth on sand, gravel, or heavy clay. 
It is rather partial to limestone soils. Examples of remark- 
able growth of sycamore scattered amidst conifer plantations 
on oolite limestone in the Cotswolds are given in Quarterly 
Journal of Forestry, iii. 281 (1909); in one plantation, 
25 years old, sycamore averaged 40 feet high and 19 inches 
in girth, as compared with beech, 38 feet high and 103 
inches in girth. It can be planted higher up in the 
mountains than beech, and is well adapted for growing in 
groups or in bands amidst the conifer masses, acting as a 
wind-break. It is very rarely blown down by gales, and is 
of considerable use in shelter belts. It should be grown in 
plantations wherever there are patches of loamy soil too dry 
for ash. Here, mixed with beech, it would develop a tall 
straight stem, free from branches or knots for a considerable 
height above the ground. Such’stems, when clean and of 
a large size, are of great value as rollers in cotton mills. 
The wood of the sycamore is also used for furniture, wood 
ware, etc.; and the cultivation of this tree should be 
encouraged. 
Norway Maple.—This species is more widely spread 
throughout Europe in the wild state than the sycamore, 
occurring far north in Scandinavia and Finland, and south- 
wards in the Pyrenees and Caucasus. It is like the syca- 
