BIRCH 131 



is roundish in form, of deep reddish-brown colour, and 

 of a very polished exterior. If the nuts be cut up and 

 mixed with bran or oats, they may be given to horses, 

 but, while they contain much farinaceous and nutritive 

 matter, there is an astringency in the raw state that is 

 a drawback to their use. When deprived of this by 

 maceration and boiling, cattle, sheep, and poultry will eat 

 them, but pigs decline them in any form. 



In France and Switzerland they are used for bleaching 

 yarn and cleansing woollens, and a paste for paper-hangers, 

 book-binders, etc., may be prepared from them. In 1796 

 a patent was granted to Lord Murray for a method of 

 extracting starch, but the practical outcome of the whole 

 matter, we fancy, may be summed up by affirming that, 

 when all is said and done, the fruit of the horse chestnut 

 is of very little economic value. 



BIRCH (Betula Alba) 



The Birch, the most charming, perhaps, of all our forest 

 trees, occurs abundantly in the North, where it may be 

 considered to be truly indigenous, thriving on the most 

 barren and rocky soils, and growing luxuriantly under the 

 hardest conditions. It may be found plentifully, too, in our 

 milder southern shires, prospering on sandy commons, and 

 on land that will grow little else but heather, but in these 

 latter circumstances, graceful and charming as it is, it appears 

 to lack something of the beauty that contrast gives, and 

 which is felt so strongly amidst the savage grandeur of 

 its surroundings in " Caledonia, stern and wild." 



