CHAP. CIV. BETULA‘CE®. BE’/TULA. . 1709 
plates, and are much used by them, in Boston 
and in other towns situated farther north, for 
inlaying. The tree affords excellent fuel. 
The bark, like that of the European species, 
is, in Canada and: the district of Maine, em- 
ployed for many purposes. It is placed in 
large pieces immediately under the shingles of 
the roof, to prevent the water from penetrating 
through it. Baskets, boxes, and portfolios 
are made of it, which are sometimes em- 
broidered with silk of different colours. Di- 
vided into very thin sheets, it forms a sub- 
stitute for paper; and, placed between the 
soles of the shoes, and in the crown ofthe hat 
(as the bark of the birch of Europe is in 
Lapland), it is a defence against humidity. 
But the most important purpose to which it is 
applied, and one in which it is replaced by the 
bark of no other tree, is the construction of 
canoes. To procure proper pieces, the largest and smoothest trunks are 
selected. In the spring, two circular incisions are made several feet apart, and 
two longitudinal ones on the opposite sides of the tree; after which, by intro- 
ducing a wooden wedge, the bark is easily detached. The plates are usually 
10 ft. or 12 ft. long, and 2 ft. 9in. broad. To form the canoe, they are stitched 
together with the fibrous roots of the white spruce, about the size of a quill, 
which are deprived of their bark, split, and rendered supple by steeping in 
water. The seams are coated with resin of the Balm of Gilead fir. Great use 
is made of these canoes by the savages, and by the French Canadians, iv their 
long journeys into the interior of the country: they are very light, and are 
easily transported on the shoulders from one lake to another. A canoe calcu- 
lated for four persons, with their baggage, only weighs from 40 lb. to 50 lb. ; and 
some of them are made to carry fifteen passengers. ( Michx. N. Amer. Syl., ii. 
p. 88.) A small canoe will carry 20cwt. In the settlements of the Hudson’s 
Bay Company, tents are made of the bark of this tree, which for that purpose 
is cut into pieces 12 ft. long and 4 ft. wide. These are sewed together by 
threads made of the white spruce roots, already mentioned ; and so rapidly is 
a tent put up, that a circular one of 20 ft. in diameter, and 10 ft. high, does 
not occupy more than half an hour in pitching. The utility of these “rind 
tents,” as they are called, is acknowledged by every traveller and hunter in the 
Canadas. They are used throughout the whole year; but, during the hot 
months of June, July, and August, they are found particularly comfortable. 
It has been proposed to introduce this bark into England, and use it for pro- 
tecting plants during the winter season, and for various other garden purposes. 
(See Gard. Mag., vol. xi. p. 407.) The tree was introduced into Europe, 
and cultivated by Archibald Duke of Argyle, in 1750. It flourishes, Michaux 
says, in the vicinity of Paris, and is known there in the nurseries under the 
name of B. nigra; we suppose, because the bark of very young trees is ge- 
nerally black, and the leaves of a very dark green. In the London nurseries, 
it is not very common; but there are plants of it in the arboretum at Messrs. 
Loddiges’s ; and, in 1834, in the Horticultural Society’s Garden, there were 
several trees upwards of 30 ft. high, after being 10 years planted. B. papyracea 
requires rather a better soil than the common birch, and it is best propagated by 
seeds, which are annually received from New York. The plant usually known 
by the name of B. papyracea, in the London nurseries, is the B. ribra of 
Michaux, jun., the B. lanulosa of Michaux, sen., and our B. nigra, No. 9. 
This mistake has arisen from the bark of B. nigra, even in trees not above 
lin. in diameter, separating from the trunk, and rolling up in very thin 
paper-like laminz. 
Statistics. In the environs of London, at Syon, it is 47 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 1 in., 
