ecially the German _Aier_, and that
of Virginia, not yet cultivated here, but an excellent tree: And if this
were extended to other timber, and exotic trees likewise, it would prove
of extraordinary benefit and ornament to the publick, and were worthy
even of the royal care. They are all produced of seeds contain'd in the
folliacles and keys, or birds-tongues (as they are call'd) like the ash,
(after a year's interrment) and like to it, affect a sound, and a dry
mould; growing both in woods and hedge-rows, especially in the latter;
which if rather hilly than low, affords the fairest timber. It is also
propagated by layers and suckers. By shredding up the boughs to a head,
I have caused it to shoot to a wonderful height in a little time; but if
you will lop it for the fire, let it be done in January; and indeed it
is observ'd to be of noxious influence to the subnascent plants of other
kinds, by reason of a clammy dew which it sheds upon them, and therefore
they would not be indulg'd in pollards, or spreading trees, but to
thicken under-woods and copses. The timber is far superior to beech for
all uses of the turner, who seeks it for dishes, cups, trays, trenchers,
&c. as the joyner for tables, inlayings, and for the delicateness of the
grain, when the knurs and nodosities are rarely diapred, which does much
advance its price: Our turners will work it so thin, that it is almost
transparent: Also for the lightness (under the name _Aier_) imploy'd
often by those who make musical instruments: Also that especially, which
grows in Friuli, Carniola, and Saltzburglandt: There is a larger sort,
which we call the sycomor.

2. But the description of this lesser maple, and the ancient value of
it, is worth the citing. _Acer operum elegantia, & subtilitate cedro
secundum; plura ejus genera: Album, quod praecipui candoris vocatur
Gallicum: In Transpadana Italia, transque Alpes nascens. Alterum genus,
crispo macularum discursu, qui cum excellentior fuit, a similitudine
caudae pavonum nomen accepit._

'The maple, (says Pliny) for the elegancy and fineness of the wood,
is next to the very cedar it self. There are several kinds of it,
especially the white, which is wonderfully beautiful; this is
call'd the French-maple, and grows in that part of Italy, that is
on the other side of Po beyond the Alpes: The other has a curl'd
grain, so curiously maculated, that from a near resemblance, it was
usually cal