THE SYCAMORE. 49 



century. Gerard, in 1597, says : "The Great Maple is a 

 stranger in England, only it groweth in the walkes and 

 places of pleasure of noblemen, where it especially is 

 planted for the shadowe-sake, and under the name of 

 Sycamore-tree." Parkinson, speaking of the same in 

 1640, says: "It is nowhere found, wild or natural, in 

 our land, that I can learn ; but only planted in orchards 

 or walkes for the shadowes sake." It abounds in sweet 

 juice, of which, says Evelyn, " the tree being wounded, in 

 a short time yields sufficient quantity to brew with, so as 

 with one bushel of malt is made as good ale as with four 

 bushels with ordinary water." According to Sir T. Dick 

 Lauder, "The Sycamore has been proved to be capable of 

 yielding sugar. Incisions were made, at five feet from the 

 ground, in the bark of a tree of this species, about forty- 

 five years old. A colourless and transparent sap flowed 

 freely, so as in two or three hours to fill a bottle capable 

 of containing a pound of water. Three bottles and a half 

 were collected, weighing in all three pounds four ounces. 

 The sap was evaporated by the heat of a fire, and gave two 

 hundred and fourteen grains of a product, in colour re- 

 sembling raw sugar, and sweet in taste, with a peculiar 

 flavour. After being kept fifteen months, this sugar was 

 slightly moist on the surface. The quantity of sap em- 

 ployed in the evaporation was 24,9-60 grains, from which 

 214 grains of sugar were obtained; therefore, 116 parts of 

 sap yielded one part of sugar." 



An allied species, Acer saccharinum, or Sugar Maple, 

 which is found in great quantities in Canada, N"ew Bruns- 

 wick, Nova Scotia, and other parts of North America, 

 yields a similar saccharine juice, in such quantities 

 that maple-sugar is an important article of manufacture. 

 It has been computed, that in the northern parts of the two 

 states of New York and Pennsylvania there are ten 

 millions of acres which produce these trees in the propor- 

 tion of thirty to an acre. The season for tapping is in 

 February and March, while the cold continues intense, 

 D 



