200 



A DISCOURSE 



CHAPTER XIIL 

 The SYCAMOBEk 



I. 1. The sycamore, or wild FIG-TREE, falsely so called, is our 

 Acer majus, or broad-leaved Mas, one of the Maples, and is much more 

 in reputation for its shade than it deserves ; for the honey-dew leaves, 

 which fall early, like those of the Ash, turn to mucilage, producing noxious 

 insects, and putrefy with the first moisture of the season, so as they con- 

 taminate and mar our walks ; and are therefore, by my consent, to be 

 banished from all curious gardens and avenues. It is raised of the keys 

 in the husk, as soon as ripe, and they come up the first spring ; also 

 by roots and layers, in ground moist, not over wet or stiflf, and must be 

 governed as other nursery plants. 



2. There is in Germany a better sort of Sycamore than ours, (nor are 

 ours indigenous) wherewith they make saddle-trees, and divers other 

 things of use. Our own is excellent for trenchers, cart and plough 

 timber, being light, tough, and no^- much inferior to Aijh itself; and 

 if the trees be very tall and handsome, they are the more tolerable 

 for distant walks,, especially where other better trees prosper not so 

 well, or where a sudden shade is expected : Some commend them to 

 thicken copses, especially in parks, as least apt to the spoil of deer, and 

 that it is good fire- wood. This tree being wounded, bleeds a great part 

 of the year ; the liquor emulating that of the Birch, which happening 

 to few of the rest, (that is, to bleed winter and summer,) I therefore 

 mention : The sap is sweet and wholesome, and in a short time yields 

 sufficient quantity to brew with, so as when it is used, one bushel of 

 malt will make as good ale, as four bushels with ordinary water^ upon 

 Dr. Tongue's experience. Phil. Trans, vol. iv. fol. 917. 



= This is the ACER ('pseudo-pl^ t^nus^ foliis quinquelobis inaequaliter serratis, floribus 

 racemosis. Lin. Sp. PI. 1495. It has already been described in the last chapter. 



