CHAP. CIV. 



BETULA^CE/E. BF/TVLX. 



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 of the 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. 9 in. 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. Tiie 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, in 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. Si/L, ii. 

 p. 88.) A small canoe will carry 20 cwt. 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 1 2 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.,\o\. xi. p. 407.) The tree was introduced into Europe, 

 and cultivated by Archibald Duke of Argyle,in 1730. 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 ^. papyracea, in the London nurseries, is the ^. rubra 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 

 1 in. in diameter, separating from the trunk, and rolling up in very thin 

 paper-like laminae. 

 Statistics. In the environs of London, at Syon, it is 47 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 1 ft. I in.. 



