154 THROUGH GLADE AND MEAD. 
natives on the main land he was soon able to complete 
a cargo, which consisted chiefly of sassafras-root, then 
greatly esteemed in England as a sovereign panacea. 
It is worth remembering that the sassafras-tree, common 
enough all over this state, furnished by far the largest 
part of the first cargo sent from Massachusetts to Eng- 
land. At that time ‘it commanded an extravagant 
price and treatises were written to celebrate its virtues.” 
It is easily identified by the fragrant smell and spicy 
taste of the bark and the root. The leaves are char- 
acterized by a great variety of form, even on the same 
twig. Some are found, especially small ones, entire, 
others two-lobed or three-lobed, of a shape so marked 
that, once seen, they are not easily forgotten. 
Among our small trees there is none more worthy 
of cultivation for its beauty alone than the striped 
maple. Its dark-green bark, striped with white lines, 
attracts the eye, as much as its large leaves and long 
recurved branches. Its clusters of fruit are also larger 
than those of any other of our maples, and, as it flowers 
the last of those in our neighborhood, they ripen the 
latest and add to its fine appearance in July. Unfor- 
tunately it has one bad habit. As it grows older, even 
before its stem is two inches thick, its beautiful bark 
cracks and loses its beauty, and the stem dies. Cases 
are recorded, however, where it has attained a much 
greater size. It might, by cultivation, undergo such 
