BIECH. 261 



Tlie Dwarf Birch, too, is a stranger to me. It has round 

 leaves, and only attains the height of two feet. 



" In fairy glen of Woodilee. 



One sunny Sunday morning, 

 I plucked a little Birchen tree 



The spongy moss adorning ; 

 And bearing it delighted home, 

 I planted it in garden loam, 

 Where, perfecting all duty, 

 It flowered in tasselled beauty. 



" When delicate April in each dell 



Was silently completing 

 Her ministry in bud and bell, 



To grace the summer's meeting, 

 My Birchen tree of glossy rind, 

 Determined not to be behind ; 

 So with a subtle power 

 The buds began to flower. 



" And I could watch from out my house 



The twigs with leaflets thicken, 

 From glossy rind to twining boughs 



The milky sap 'gan quicken. 

 And when the fragrant form was green, 

 No fairer tree was to be seen 

 All Gartshore Woods adorning, 

 Where doves are alway mourning." 



DAVID GRAY. 



Birch wood is of no great use in Britain. Brooms are made 

 of it, and hoops for barrels ; also poles. It makes excellent 

 charcoal, and is used in the north for the soles of clogs. In 

 America it is much more important. Canoes are made of the 

 bark, and the wood is employed for building purposes, and the 

 soles of shoes are fastened on by pegs of it. A very important 

 use of small Birch wood is in making the reels for sewing 

 cotton, so familiar in the work-basket of every needlewoman, 

 rich or poor. The Highland glens are being rapidly shorn of 

 their beauty, because of the wood being cut for this purpose. 

 The peculiar odour pervading Russian leather is imparted by 

 an oil drawn from the Birch tanning. In Norway the bark is 

 used for soleing shoes, and in Lapland overcoats are made of it. 

 My specimens are from the Birch- woods of Swaledale, not very 



