114 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCE*. 



tough bark of the birch; and it is still used for the 

 same purposes in the northern parts of America. The 

 species used for canoes by the Indians and French 

 Canadians, is called the canoe-birch (Betula papyra- 

 cea or Betula nigra). In good soils it reaches an 

 elevation of seventy feet. The weight of a canoe 

 that will hold four persons does not exceed fifty 

 pounds. 



The peasantry in some parts of Northern Europe 

 thatch their houses with the birch, weave the long 

 fibres into mats and twist them into ropes, and even 

 grind the inner bark to mix with their bread. The 

 bark is used in the simple dyes, and also in tanning. 

 The Laplanders use it in the preparation of their 

 rein-deer skins; and in Russia the hides which are 

 so esteemed for binding books are prepared with the 

 empyreumatic oil of the birch. A weak but not 

 unpleasant wine may be obtained by draining the sap 

 in March, boiling it, and then fermenting it. The 

 Northern people also make very neat baskets and 

 boxes of the bark, the Laplanders carving the large 

 knots which the trees put forth, into vases, which, 

 although fashioned with their rude knives, have 

 much of the beauty of turnery. In Kamchatka also 

 it is formed into drinking cups. The wood of the 

 birch on the banks of the Gariy, in Glengarry, 

 Scotland, is cut into staves, with which herring 

 barrels are made. It is an excellent wood for 

 the turner, being light, compact, and easily worked; 

 and for undressed palings and gates, such as are 

 used in the sheep countries, few timbers are supe- 

 rior to it. It is not very durable, however, but 

 very cheap, as it thrives upon soils that are fit 

 for little else, and sows itself without any assistance 

 from art. It grows upon rocks which one would 

 think absolutely bare; and such is the power of its 

 roots, that we have seen them separate stones several 



