CHAP. XXII. 



417 



Turner's Herbal, in 1551 : it is mentioned by all subsequent British authors as 

 of doubtful indigenousness. From the facility with which it is propagated, the 

 hardiness and vigorous growth of the tree, its various uses, especially, as Dr. 

 Walker observes, for forming domestic utensils, and also the beauty of its buds 

 in spring, and of its foliage in early summer, it has been very generally 

 planted. 



Properties and Uses. The wood, when the tree is young, is white; but, as it 

 gets older, the wood becomes a little yellow, and often brown, especially 

 towards the heart. It is compact and firm, without being very hard; of a fine 

 grain, sometimes veined, susceptible of a high poUsh, and easily worked, eithei* 

 on the bench, or in the turning-lathe. It does not warp, and is not hkely to 

 be attacked by worms. It weighs per cubic foot, newly cut, 64 lb.; half dry, 

 56 lb. ; dry, 48 lb. It loses, in drying, about a twelfth part of its bulk. 



In France and Germany, it is much sought after by wheelwrights, cabinet- 

 makers, turners, sculptors in wood, manufacturers of musical instruments, and 

 especially of violins, and makers of toys and other small wares. The roots, 

 which are often agreeably veined, and the stools or stumps where the plant 

 has been long treated as a bash, and cut periodically for coppice-w^ood, is 

 eagerly sought after for curious cabinet-works and for inlaying. The wood is 

 used for pestles, for tables,rollers, spoons, plates, and other household articles ; 

 it is also used for gun-stocks, and in every kind of structure, whether under 

 water or in the au-. According to M. Hartig, the principal German writer on 

 timber trees and their uses, the wood of the common sycamore is the most 

 valuable of all woods as fuel, both for the quantity of heat which it gives out, 

 and the time that it continues burning : it surpasses the beech, in these respects, 

 in the proportion of 1757 to 1540. Converted into charcoal, it is superior to 

 the beech in the proportion of 1647 to 1600. The leaves, gathered green and 

 dried, form an excellent forage for sheep during the winter. The sap has 

 been drawn from the trees in Germany, and various experiments made with it. 

 At first, it is as clear as water, and sweet ; but, after it has run from the tree 

 for some time, and begins to run slowly, it takes a whitish colour, and becomes 

 sweeter and of a thicker consistence ; though this thick sap is found to contain 

 less sugar than that which comes off' first, and is quite cl ear. From a tree 18 in. 

 in diameter, from which the sap was allowed to flow for five days, .36 quarts 

 were obtained. The proportion of sugar produced by the sap varies. Some- 

 times an ounce of sugar fromaquart of liquor has been obtained ; but, generally, 

 not so much. The variations depend on the age of the tree, the vigour of its 

 growth, the nature of the soil, the temperature of the season, and a number of 

 other circumstances of which little is known. In Scotland, Sir Thomas Dick 

 Lauder informs us, incisions were made in the trunk of a sycamore tree of 

 45 years' groM'th, at 5 ft. from the ground, in the beginning of March, 1816. 

 *' A colourless and transparent sap flowed freely, so as in two or three hours 

 to fill a bottle capable of containing 1 lb. of water. Three bottles and a half 

 were collected, weighing, in all, 3 lb. 4 oz. The sap was evaporated by the 

 heat of a fire, and gave 214 grains of a product in colour i-esembling raw sugar, 

 and sweet in taste, with a peculiar flavour. After being kept fifteen months, 

 this sugar was slightly moist on the surface. The quantit}- of sap employed in 

 the evaporation w-as 24,960 grains, from which 214 grains of sugar were ob- 

 tained : therefore, 116 parts of sap yielded one part of sugar. The experiment 

 w^asmade at Cannon Park, in Stirlingshire, on the 7th and 8th of Mai'ch, 1816. 

 (^Lauder\9 Giljnn, i. p. 124.) Dr. Walker states that the sap is made into wine 

 in the Western Highlands of Scotland. 



In Britain, the uses to which the A. Pseudo-Platanus is applied are much 

 less various than in France and Germany, The species is a very umbrageous 

 one, from its numerous branches, and numerous and large leaves; and hence it 

 is eligible in all cases where trees are wanted to aftbrd dense shade : it may be 

 on this account that it is sometimes seen bounding the homesteads of a farm, 

 and on the sunny side of the dairy in the fai-ni-yard. It is used in joinery 

 and turnery, and cabhiet-making ; by musical instrument niakers ; for cider- 



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