l82 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
steadings. It is a favourite tree with I 
farmers and cottagers because it quickly 
grows up and shelters the homestead with 
its wide spreading top, which affords 
agreeable shade in summer. There are ! 
many fine Sycamores or "Planes" as | 
they are called, in the neighbourhood , 
of Edinburgh, and fine trees of great ! 
age and size abound in Perth and For- i 
far. One or two trees on an estate were 
blown down during the great gales which 
swept the north about the time of the 
Tay Bridge disaster, and I had it from 
the agent that the butts were sold at : 
about 5s. per cubic foot, to go south. 
The Sycamore did not suffer to any- ; 
thing like the extent of the Beech and ; 
other broad-leaved trees. 
Perhaps the finest examples for age 
and size are at Cassilis Castle on the 
banks of the Doune, one of the seats of 
the Marquis of Ailsa in Ayrshire. I 
have never seen their equal, and what 
they might be worth from a commercial 
point of view it would be hard to say, 
but certainly they would realise a high \ 
figure. These trees are all very old, j 
and one in particular, standing near the 
mansion, has a tradition attached to it 
according to which it must have been 
a fine tree with a lofty crown 200 or 
300 years ago. The story runs that a 
gipsy chief abducted the lady of the 
house in the absence of her lord, who, 
returning unexpectedly, caught the 
robber and his entire band at a point 
on the Doune river known as "The 
Steps . " The outraged husband promptly 
suspended the lot bythe neck, like tassels 
strung in a ring from the spreading 
boughs of this tree near the house. 
This noble Sycamore is one of the most 
symmetrical I ever saw, with an enor- 
mous trunk breaking up at some distance 
from the ground into a wide umbrella- 
shaped head of spreading boughs. 
Seed is produced in abundance by 
even young trees, often germinating al- 
most at once, and plentifully the follow- 
ing spring. Stored it is apt to become 
dry and perish, or germinates prema- 
turely, hence it is better sown as soon 
as ripe. I have known large self-sown 
areas that came up so thickly as to over- 
come everything and yield a nice crop 
of poles in a short time. The seedlings 
die off rapidly for the first few years 
from overcrowding, but the overhead 
canopy is maintained from the first and 
so densely as to kill all undergrowth 
including Elder, which will endure a 
great deal of bad usage. The quantity 
of leaf-deposit that forms under a planta- 
tion of Sycamore is surprising and soon 
covers the ground with a thick layer of 
rich mould in which the roots revel, 
binding the surface in a network of fine 
roots. In dry soils and situations this 
leaf deposit is of great value to the trees, 
giving a rich dressing and keeping the 
soil cool and moist. 
The tree succeeds in a mixed wood 
but rather outstrips the Oak and other 
I trees by its more vigorous growth, the 
I Beech being its only effective rival after 
I middle age. Among Firs such as the 
' Scotch, Austrian, or Corsican, it is a 
bad neighbour, especially on cool soils, 
j I remember some old Sycamores being 
{ left in a plantation of Corsican and 
I Scotch Firs, and though the young 
i Pines grew well the Sycamore seed 
