MAPLE TREE. 



cients, and some of their writers have much praised it : 

 Pliny in particular commends Maples in general, and 

 extols some for the remarkable fineness of the grain. 



" In former times," says Evelyn, " so mad were peo- 

 ple in searching for the bruscum* of this tree, which 

 often formed the exact representation of birds, beasts, 

 &c. that they spared no expense in procuring it. The 

 timber is used for musical instruments, inlaying, &c. 

 and is reckoned superior to most woods for turnery ware. 

 The flower-buds begin to open about the 6th of April, 

 and are in full blow by the 11th of May ; the leaves are 

 out about the 18th of April." 



Pliny says, " The Maple, for the elegancy and firmness 

 of the wood, is next to the very citron itself 'f. There 

 are several kinds of it, especially the White, which is 

 wonderfully beautiful ; this is called the French Maple, 

 and grows in that part of Italy that is on the other side 

 of the Po beyond the Alps ; the other has a curled 

 grain, so curiously spotted, that from a near resemblance, 

 it was usually called the Peacock's-tail." 



Again, Pliny says, " The bruscum is wonderfully 

 fair, but the molluscum is counted most precious ; 

 both of them knobs and swellings out of the tree : the 

 bruscum is more intricately crisped, the molluscum not 

 so much ; and had we trees large enough to saw into 

 planks for tables, it would be preferred before citron ; 

 but now they use it only for small table-books, and 

 its thin boards to wainscot bed-testers with. The brus- 



* The knotted parts. 



t It has been observed in the article Cypress, that the citron- 

 wood of the ancients was from a kind of wild cypress. 



