"Rod" wrote in message
...

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message

And I want to speak up for the sycamore. Sure, it seeds like crazy, and
not many of our invertebrates or fungi
have adapted to it yet (which, of course, is why it can be a nuisance);
but an eighty-foot mature specimen, or
better still a group of them, is a fine sight; and the wood is excellent
for turnery and I suppose furniture;
pretty fair firewood, too.

Amen to all of that, I've made some lovely furniture and turned items from
that which was too good to burn. My
feeling get more mixed when I spend a couple of weeks each year on my
hands and knees getting seedlings out of my
new plantings - but yes I likeSycamore in the right place. If you see
sycamore seedlings where you don't want them,
get 'em out *now* it will be much more difficult later.

I have heard it said that if you make a break in the bark in the spring and
insert a little metal "gutter" and a hanging receptacle, as in tapping
rubber, you can collect a good approximation to maple syrup from a sycamore.
Does anyone know more about this?

Franz