Maple. 



qiiontly seen on the bleakest hills throughout the high parts 

 of Hampshire and Wiltshire, where it appears to have been 

 left quite alone by the destruction of all other trees 

 around it. 



402. The timber of our Sycamore is white and soft, and 

 not valuable by any means ; this is not the case with the 

 American Maples, which produce some of the finest wood 

 in the world. However, the manner of raising the plants 

 is the same in all cases. No man ever dreamed of raising 

 English Maple ; but our Sycamore is constantly raised in 

 great numbers, and it is hardly to be believed, that any 

 nurseryman ever raised them, except from seed, I will 

 first give an account of raising of Maples from seed, and of 

 managing them until the time of planting out; and then, 

 when I come to speak of the several sorts of American 

 Maple, I will give my opinion respecting the forming of 

 plantations with them. They are most beautiful trees, 

 varying very much as to their leaf and their form, and they 

 produce not only the sugar, of which so much has been 

 said, but some of the most beautiful wood, for various pur- 

 poses, that ever was seen in the world. 



403. The SEED of the Maple resembles somewhat the 

 seed of the Ash. That of our Sycamore comes in pairs, each 

 seed having a broad wing, and a pair of the seeds the boys 

 call spectacles^ which they are not much unlike, and which, 

 pressed upon the nose, will hang on there, like an old- 

 fashioned pair of grandmother's spectacles. When the 

 seeds are ripe, they should be gathered, made perfectly dry 

 in the sun ; and sown in beds in the month of November, 

 in the same manner as directed for the Ash : all the rules 

 there laid down are to be followed with the greatest exact- 

 ness in this case. 



