354 OBSERVATIONS ON VEGETABLES. 



of leaves and unsightly ; those that are sterile abound in 

 foliage, and carry their verdure a long while, and are 

 pleasing objects. — White. 



BEECH. 



Beeches love to grow in crowded situations, and will 

 insinuate themselves through the thickest covert, so as to 

 surmount it all : are therefore proper to mend thin places 

 in tall hedges. — White. 



SYCAMORE. 



I 



May 12th. The sycamore, or great maple, is in bloom, 

 and at this season makes a beautiful appearance, and 

 affords much pabulum for bees, smelling strongly like 

 honey. The foliage of this tree is very fine, and very 

 ornamental to outlets. All the maples have saccharine 

 juices. — White. 



GALLS OF LOMBARDY POPLAR. 



The stalks and ribs of the leaves of the Lombardy poplar 

 are embossed with large tumours of an oblong shape, which 

 by incurious observers have been taken for the fruit of the 

 tree. These galls are full of small insects, some of which 

 are winged, and some not. The parent insect is of the 

 genus of cynips. Some poplars in the garden are quite 

 loaded with these excrescences. — White. 



CHESTNUT TIMBER. 



John Carpenter brings home some old chestnut trees 

 which are very long ; in several places the woodpeckers 

 had begun to bore them. The timber and bark of these trees 

 are so very like oak, as might easily deceive an indifferent 



