16 ACERACEiE. 



both mention it as such, and Ray speaks of it as a tree 

 common to courtyards, churchyards, avenues, &c, about 

 noblemen's houses ; Sir J. E. Smith, also, in the " English 

 Flora," states it to be " not truly wild." To differ from 

 such authorities may seem presumptuous, but the circum- 

 stance of its always ripening seed in our ordinary seasons, 

 and the facility with which it bears the most exposed situ- 

 ations, seem favourable to the supposition that in some 

 parts of England it may be an indigenous plant. In Scot- 

 land, and the north of England, where it has long been a 

 favourite tree, and where few residences of any note are 

 without specimens of ancient Sycamores, it has, no doubt, 

 been introduced, as it is only in situations where the ope- 

 rations of man are plainly to be traced that it is found 

 of great age and size. 



Upon the Continent the Sycamore is spread over the 

 greater part of middle Europe, affecting wooded, moun- 

 tainous situations. In Switzerland, where it abounds, it 

 reaches, according to Loudon, an altitude as high as 

 three thousand feet above the level of the sea, or to the 

 point where the vaccinium vitis Id<za commences. From 

 the strength of its spray, and the nature of its growth, 

 which is stiff and angular, the Sycamore is better calculated 

 than any other tree with which we are acquainted, except 

 it be its congener, the Norway maple, to act as a shelter or 

 break-wind in exposed situations, whether it be upon the 

 coast where it braves the cutting eastern blasts, and even 

 contrives to carry an erect head, thus affording a defence 

 behind which trees of a more delicate constitution may 

 be raised, or upon bleak and elevated tracts, subject to 

 long-continued and powerful winds ; for even in such locali- 

 ties, provided the soil be dry, and of tolerable quality, 

 it attains a respectable size, and shows an upright form, 



