BUTTONWOOD OR SYCAMORE. 
37 
and to the superiority, in cabinet-making, of mahogany, which is obtained 
with facility from the West Indies. 
The Asiatic and American Planes have been, many years cultivated in 
Europe : the rapid growth and majestic appearance of these trees render 
them proper for adorning extensive parks and gardens, and for forming the 
avenues leading to large towns. In the United States, where the atmos- 
phere is more humid than in Europe, they would perfectly fulfil this desti- 
nation in all situations where the soil is not too dry. Their rich and shady 
folige is free from the inconvenience of being devoured by caterpillars, 
which in North America, still more than in Europe, infest the Elm and the 
Cherry Tree. 
PLATE LXIII. 
A leaf of a third of the natural size. Fig. 1, Flowers. Fig. 2, Fruit at 
maturity. Fig. 3, A seed. 
[ Emerson thinks, with justice, that there is no propriety in calling this tree 
Sycamore, as that name indicates a totally different tree. It flourishes best 
in a deep, loose, rich soil, in a cool, moist situation, and is remarkable for 
the rapidity of its growth and for the ease with which it may be propaga- 
ted, the seeds taking root in any stirred ground where they alight. It has 
been supposed that the speedy returns of fuel made by buttonwood planta- 
tions, would render its cultivation for that purpose more profitable than 
any other trees, except the locust on dry soils. 
Sow the seeds broadcast in the spring, very thick, in a rich seed bed of 
light, fine mould, and rake them in ; the young plants are tender and should 
be screened for several months from the heat of the sun by mats or brush- 
wood ; transplant when a year old. See Emerson’s Trees and Shrubs of 
Massachusetts. 
See Nuttall’s Supplement, vol. 1 , p. 47, for an account of the Californian 
Buttonwood, Platanus racemosa.'] 
Vol. II.— 6 
