MARCH. 139 



'• hitherto searched New England in vain" for specimens of 

 this tree, though he does not doubt they may be found here. 

 It may be that these trees have disappeared before the ad- 

 vancing step of civiHzation, and that they have shared the 

 fate of other fine trees, which, sparingly distributed in isola- 

 ted groups, have all fallen by the axe of the pioneer settler. 

 Certainly we never had the good fortune to meet with a 

 tree in our New England forests, and know of no individual 

 who has seen an uncnltivated specimen. No doubt they 

 may be found in western Connecticut, where we think we 

 saw some fine trees during a railroad trip through that State ; 

 but as such rapid travelling does not allow one to be very 

 certain in what he sees, we have no positive assurance 

 of this. The most northern locality in which we have par- 

 ticularly observed the Liquidamber is Jones's Park in New 

 York city. Walking out to Yorkville, on the 3d avenue, on 

 which this fine place is situated, we noticed several trees 

 forty to fifty feet high, finely proportioned, rather spiral in 

 form, though well branched nearly to the ground, being upon 

 the outskirts of the wood where they had plenty* of room to 

 grow : their singular and peculiarly attractive foliage, then 

 assuming their richest autumn tint of glowing red, rendered 

 it conspicuous among the deep green of the oaks, and various- 

 hued but more sombre colors of other trees. 



The Sweet Gum forms a large tree, having somewhat the 

 appearance of a maple, from thirty to fifty feet high, accord- 

 ing to the soil and latitude in which it grows; the trunk 

 is straight, nearly uniform in thickness, to the height of 

 twenty feet or more, where its branches begin to diverge. 

 The bark of the trees while young is nearly smooth ; but 

 as they acquire size and age it becomes thick and deeply 

 furrowed ; the secondary branches being covered with a dry 

 flaky bark, the plates of which are attached at the edge and 

 not on the face, as in other trees. The leaves are smooth 

 and of a yellowish green, varying in size from three inches 

 to six inches in diameter, and they are palmate, that is, they 

 are divided into five deeply cut lobes, resembling in shape a 

 star. The male and female flowers appear upon the same 



