497 
at Mr. Collinson’s at Peckham, Mr. Bacon's at Hoxton, Mr. Gray’s at Fulham, Mr. Gordon’s at 
Mile-end, &c. &c. and was cultivated before 1633, by Mr. Wilmot, at Bow.*' 
A decoction of Sassafras with sugar was sold in coffee-houses at the end of the last century, 
under the name of Bochet.' f* There was a shop in Fleet-street for the sale of it within these few 
years, and perhaps others. The bark has been substituted in America for spice. It is said that 
bedsteads made of the wood will never be infested with bugs.]; Loureiro remarks, that it is very 
proper for making cabinets in hot climates, on the same account, because the smell repels insects. 
There are however some doubts whether the Cochinchinese Sassafras be the same with the 
American. 
CULTURE. 
The Sassafras-tree is commonly propagated by the berries, which are brought from America; 
but these berries generally lie in the ground a whole year, and sometimes two or three years before 
they grow, when they are sown in the spring; therefore the surest method of obtaining the plants 
will be, to get the berries put into a tub of earth soon after they are ripe, and sent over in the earth; 
and as soon as they arrive, to sow the berries on a bed of light ground, putting them two inches in 
the earth; and if the spring should prove dry, the bed must be frequently watered, and shaded 
from the great heat of the sun in the middle of the day; with this management many of the plants 
will come up the first season, but as a great many of the berries will lie in the ground till the next 
spring, so the bed should not be disturbed, but wait until the season after, to see what will come 
up. -The first winter after the plants come up, they should be protected from the frost, especially 
in the autumn; for the first early frost in that season is apt to pinch the shoots of these plants, 
which, when young, are tender and full of sap, so will do them more injury than the severe frost of 
the winter; for when the extreme part of the shoots are killed, it greatly affects the whole plant. 
When the plants have grown a year in the seed-bed, they may be transplanted into the places 
where they are to remain for good. 
There have been some of these plants propagated by layers, but these are commonly two, and 
sometimes three years before they put out roots; and if they are not duly watered in dry weather, 
they rarely take root; so that it is uncertain whether one in three of these layers succeed, which 
renders these plants scarce in England. 
The Benjamin-tree also, as it is falsely called, may be propagated by sowing the berries. They 
generally lie long in the ground, so that unless they are brought over in earth, they often fail. But 
this may likewise be increased by layers, which put out roots freely, when the young shoots are 
made choice of. 
Genus 24. Liquidambar. Sweet Gum . Class XXI. Monoecia. 
Order VII. Polyandria. 
Species 1 . Maple-leaved Liquidamber, or Sweet Gum . (Liqxtidambar 
Styraciflua.) 
The trunk of the Sweet-Gum tree is commonly two feet in diameter, straight, and free from 
branches to the height of about fifteen feet; from which the branches spread and rise in a conic 
* Hort. Kew. from Ger. Emac. -f* Houghton’s Collections, 3. 65. 
J Cutler in Med. Acad. Amer. Vo!. I. 
OK 
