114 



THE SYCAMORE. 



abounds in sweet juice, of which, says Eveljni, 

 " the tree being wounded, in a short time 

 5'ields sufficient quantity to brew with, so as 

 with one bushel of malt is made as good ale as 

 with four bushels with ordinary water." Accord- 

 ing 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 resembling raw sugar, and sweet in taste, 

 with a peculiar fiavour. After being kept fifteen 

 months, this sugar was slightly moist on the sur- 

 face. The quantity of sap employed in the eva- j 

 poration was 24,960 grains, from w^hich 214 grains 

 of sugar were obtained; therefore, 116 parts of 

 sap yielded one part of sugar." 



An allied species, Acer saccharmum, or Sugar 

 Maple, which is found in great quantities in Ca- 

 nada, New Brunswick, 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 proportion of thirty to an acre. The season 

 for tapping is in February and March, w^hile the 

 cold continues intense, and the snow is still on 



