336 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



recoyering from it. Independently of the former property, 

 the roots are disposed to become extremely fibrous, in 

 consequence of preparation, or in good resting-ground 

 without it, which greatly expedites its recovery. 



In the jDark here, there are to be seen Sycamores, from 

 eight-and-twenty to five-and-thirty feet high, standing 

 single, or in scattered groups, in the most exposed situa- 

 tions, and shooting more than two and a half feet after 

 the fourth and fifth year, as is attested by the Report of 

 the Highland Society of Scotland. 



There is another quality for which the Sycamore is of 

 great value to the planter, and that is the ease with which 

 it accommodates itself to removal at almost any season. 

 While with other trees, such as the Oak and the Beech, 

 you must study particular seasons, the Sycamore may be 

 removed at all times, and even during severe frost, from 

 the fall to the very bursting of the bud. Even the full 

 ascent of the sap in the spring offers no insurmountable 

 impediment. 



The only fault which the most captious have been able 

 to find with this charuiing tree, is that, from the sweetness 

 of the juice exuding from the leaves, they are apt to be 

 perforated soon after midsummer by insects ; and as the 

 leaves fall off* with the earliest frosts, they turn, like those 

 of the Ash, to a disagreeable mucillage, which without 

 doubt pollutes the trim surface of dressed walks and 

 shaven grass-plats, when they happen to be within their 

 reach. But this, which is noticed in rather a puerile style 

 by Evelyn, isjuit a slight blemish amidst so many excel- 

 lencies. 



Between the two varieties of the Sycamore, now for the 

 first time brought into notice, the early and the late, there 

 appears to be little difference either in their ramification, 

 their spray, or their leaves ; but the former comes out a 



