autumn, add so greatly to the beauty of the grove, that 
none can 
-** unnoticed pass 
The sycamore, capricious in attire, 
Now green, now tawny, and, ere autumn yet 
Have chang’d the woods, in scarlet honours bright.” 
On incision, the sycamore yields a liquid containing 
saccharine matter. This property is, indeed, common to 
other species of the maple family, one of which derives 
its distinctive title, Acer saccharinum, from the abun¬ 
dant supply of sugar contained in the sap. 
Before earthenware was so much in use as it now is, 
the wood both of the greater and lesser maple was in 
considerable demand for various household utensils. 
We are familiar with it in poetry, as furnishing those 
bowls and dishes which are as needful appendages to 
a hermit’s cell, as a mirror to a lady’s toilet: this seems 
implied in the following quotations: — 
•• His dwelling, a recess in some rude roek. 
Books, beads, and maple-dish his meagre stock.” 
-“ Many a visitant 
Had sat within his hospitable cave; 
From his maple bowl the unpolluted spring 
Drunk fearless, and with him partook the bread 
That bis pale lips most reverently had bless’d.” 
