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THE SYCAMORE.

THE sycamore is a quick growing, handsome, and valuable tree, harmless in its shade, and is remarkable for its withstanding (more so than any other tree) the sea breeze. It is originally a native of Germany, but thrives well in England. When planted in a moist light soil, it produces an impenetrable shade. The ancients conceived that its growth was particularly accelerated by pouring wine upon its roots, as appears by the poet :

What wine to plane trees, streams to poplars prove,
Marshes to reeds, is idleness to love.

OVID.

The reader will excuse this fanciful idea of the amorous poet. It is much esteemed by printers for callender rollers, blocks, and other purposes of their art; and before the use of earthenware was so general, the turner furnished from this tree, dishes, trenchers, bowls, and many other articles of ancient housewifery, and good boards for floors will

be produced from it. By tapping it (although I deprecate the custom of tapping any tree) the highlanders sometimes make a pleasant and wholesome beverage. The grandeur of its foliage gives a striking effect to landscape, and in many places, its magnitude has become an object of curiosity. In short, the value and beauty of every plantation will be greatly increased by its introduction.

THE BEECH.

Where'er the rude and moss-grown beech
O'er canopies the glade,

GRAY.

THI

HIS tree, so much celebrated by ancient poets, for the shelter its intermingling branches afforded, and for the smoothness of its glossy bark, which tempted the shepherd to record his beloved's name upon it, deserves our encouragement, particularly as it will arrive to maturity upon dry hungry soil or gravel, where so many of its neighbours would fall into a premature decay. The chalky hills of some of our southern counties are favorable to its cultivation. The foliage, sometimes a modest brown, and sometimes a glowing orange, continuing frequently through the whole year, gives a depth to a plantation, and a warmth of colouring to the winter landscape. It is even beautiful as a single tree, and frequently feathers to the ground with great effect. The beech alone, or mixed with privet, forms an excellent garden hedge, and the

drippings from its branches are as little prejudicial, as those of any tree. The dry bank is the best possible situation for the beech, but when fallen, it is exceedingly obnoxious to the worm, the only remedy for which is, an immersion in water during a fortnight. The leaves gathered in autumn, before the frost has injured them, make better mattresses than straw or chaff, and will last seven or eight years. The nuts, eaten raw, occasion giddiness, and severe head-ache, but baked and powdered, make a wholesome bread. In Silesia, butter is made from the oil extracted from the nut. Joiners' tools are made of this wood, which is also much sought after by turners and machine-makers. Although Evelyn and Gilpin condemn this tree, I must give it, and I think not undeservingly, a conspicuous place in this little volume.

THE BLACK,

or,

ITALIAN POPLAR.

With osiers thus the banks of brooks abound,
Fed by the watery genius of the ground;
From the same principle gray willows come,
The spiring poplar, and the tender broom.

VIRGILI

THE numerous poplar tribe present an assemblage of stately and useful trees, and amidst them the present subject of our remarks stands eminently foremost. It grows rapidly upon a deep moist soil; and, of late years, the advantages derived from its culture has brought it into great repute. The cheapest, and, perhaps, the best method of planting this tree, is by cuttings one foot and a half long, one foot to be thrust into the ground, and in a very few years indeed, a most grateful return will be made to the planter. The wood is particularly serviceable for coal-pit baskets and floors, being of a nature to resist fire, and in many instances, proves a good substitute for the ash.

D

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