LIST OF FOREST-TREES. 



Ill 



to remain in it several days. They are 

 then taken out, and rendered pliable 

 and soft, and in this state they are 

 scarcely permeable to water. In 

 Russia, by slowly burning the bark in 

 kilns, an empyreumatic oil is obtained 

 with which leather is prepared, highly 

 esteemed for durability. Evelyn enu- 

 merates a great variety of uses to 

 which the birch is applicable, and 

 Lightfoot gives details of its uses in 

 the Highlands of Scotland. In Ame- 

 rica, the black birch is considered the 

 most interesting of the species of that 

 country. In some parts of the United 

 States, it goes by the name of black 

 birch ; in Virginia, mountain maho- 

 gany; and in Connecticut, sweet 

 birch ; and in Canada, cherry birch. 

 In deep loose soils Michaux has ob- 

 served some seventy feet high, and 

 two to three feet in diameter. The 

 habit of this species is admired for its 

 foliage, and its odoriferous flowers. 

 In the Annals of the Arts a stock of 

 this species is stated to have attained 

 the height of forty-five feet in nineteen 

 years. It is highly deserving a place 

 in British forests. 



The white birch, as it is called in Ame- 

 rica, or Betula Populifolia, seldom 

 rises to more than twenty-five feet in 

 height. The distinctness of its foliage 

 is its only recommendation at present 

 known, for its wood is considered of 

 inferior quality. The red birch of 

 Michaux, or the Betula lanulosa of our 

 list, is chiefly found in Maryland, 

 Virginia, and the upper parts of the 

 Carolinas and of Georgia ; it is seldom 

 found farther north than New York. 

 The epidermis of the bark of trees 

 not exceeding eight or ten inches in 

 diameter, is of a red or cinnamon 

 colour, but on large trees (it some- 

 times attains to seventy feet in height) 

 the bark is of a greenish hue. The 

 twigs of this species are considered 

 superior to those of any other species 

 for the purpose of making brooms. 

 The paper birch is considered by some 

 to surpass the common species in size 

 and value of its wood. In Canada, 

 and the district of Maine, the 

 country people place large pieces ol 

 the bark immediately below the shin- 

 gles of the roofs of their houses, as it 

 forms a lasting and very impenetrable 

 barrier to the rains. Various articles 

 are manufactured of it, such as port- 

 folios, &c. which are sometimes em- 



broidered with silk of different colours. 

 When divided into very thin sheets, it 

 forms a substitute for writing paper ; 

 but the most important use, Michaux 

 observes, to which it is applied, is in 

 the construction of canoes. To pro- 

 cure proper pieces of the bark for 

 this purpose, the largest and smoothest 

 boles are selected. In the spring two 

 circular incisions are made several 

 feet apart, and two longitudinal ones 

 in opposite sides of the bole; after 

 which.by introducing a wooden wedge, 

 the bark is easily detached. These 

 plates are usually ten or twelve feet 

 long, and two feet nine inches broad. 

 To make the canoe, they are stitched 

 together with fibrous "roots of the 

 white spruce, about the size of a quill, 

 which are deprived of the bark, split 

 and made supple by immersion in 

 water. The seams are coated with 

 resin of the balm of Gilead fir. Great 

 use is made of these canoes by the 

 natives and French Canadians in their 

 long journies into the interior of the 

 country they are very light, and are 

 easily transported on the shoulders 

 from one lake or river to another. A 

 canoe calculated to carry four per- 

 sons, with their baggage, weighs from 

 40 to 50lbs. some of them are made 

 to carry as many as fifteen persons*. 

 Upon the whole, this species appears 

 to be well worthy the attention of the 

 British forest-planter of certain de- 

 scriptions of soil. Of the other species 

 of birch enumerated below, the last 

 seven are of dwarf stature, and fit 

 only for cover, or for the margins of 

 woods ; at least the experience that 

 has as yet been had of their culture 

 does not warrant any further recom- 

 mendation of them at present ; but 

 with these, as with numerous other 

 species of trees, extended experience, 

 and careful observation of their pro- 

 perties, and most suitable soils, are 

 wanted, before satisfactory conclu- 

 sions can be arrived at, as to their 

 relative or comparative values. 



Timber or Forest Species. 



BIRCH-TREE. BETULA.] Native of Ft. 



Common alba Britain . . .40 



* North American Sylva, vol. ii., p. 88. 

 t The Rhododendron ponticum is an instance to 

 shew that a plant may be long known only for its 

 ornamental properties. It was introduced into 

 England in 1763, and it is only of late years that 

 its value for underwood and cover, in sandy and 

 peaty soils, has been discovered and taken advan- 

 tage of, 



