BIRCH. 



(/Plate 10, r/), called also c/imbing buck-wheat, 

 and bear-bind, is an annual, flowering in June 

 and .September. Its root is small and tapering, 

 and the stem twines from left to right, round 

 every thing in its way to the height of five or 

 six feet. The flowers arc drooping, greenish 

 white, or reddish. 



Several plants of the convolvulus family 

 are highly valuable for th^ food and medicines 

 they furnish. That most active purgative 

 scammony is obtained from C. scammonia, and 

 jalap from a species of Ipornosa. Occasionally 

 the purgative principle is so much diffused 

 among the foecula of the root, as to be almost 

 inappreciable, as is the case in the C. batatas, 

 or sweet potato of America. The root of the 

 great bind-weed is a strong purgative, fresh 

 gathered and boiled in a little warm liquid, 

 being near akin to the acrid and violent scam- 

 mony. The humbler classes boil it in beer or 

 ale, and find it a never-failing remedy. Among 

 delicate constitutions it should be taken with 

 caution, as its effects are very powerful. In 

 Northamptonshire it grows most abundantly. 

 A decoction of the roots also causes perspira- 

 tion. 



BIRCH (Sax.bipc; Lat. behila). The Eng- 

 lish word birch seems, however, to be derived 

 from the German birke, or the Dutch berk. All 

 the European languages are similar in the pro- 

 nunciation of the name of this tree. A very 

 hardy, ornamental, and, in some respects, a 

 useful tree, inhabiting the north of Europe, 

 Asia, and America. There are many species 

 of birch, but that best known, and most gene- 

 rally cultivated in this country, is the common 

 birch (Betula alba). The common birch is 

 valuable for its capability of resisting extremes 

 of both heat and cold: its timber is chiefly 

 employed for fire-wood. Its bark is extremely 

 durable : it consists of an accumulation often or 

 twelve skins, which are white and thin like pa- 

 per, the use of which it supplied to the ancients ; 

 and as a proof of its imperishable nature, we 

 are told that the books which Numa composed, 

 about 700 years before Christ, which were 

 written on the bark of the birch tree, were 

 found in a perfect state of preservation in the 

 tomb of that great king, where they had re- 

 mained 400 years. Although this species is 

 not much valued for its timber, it is extremely 

 useful for many other purposes. Russia skins 

 are said to be tanned with its bark, from which 

 the peculiar odour of such leather is derived ; 

 and it is said to be useful in dyeing wool yel- 

 low, and fixing fugacious colours. The High- 

 landers weave it into ropes for their well- 

 buckets. The poor people of Sweden were 

 formerly accustomed to grind the bark to 

 mingle with their bread corn. And in Den- 

 mark, Christopher III. received the unjust sur- 

 name of Berka Kanung (king of bark), because 

 In his reign there was such a scarcity, that 

 the peasants were obliged to mix the bark of 

 this tree with their flour. Cordage is obtained 

 from it by the Laplanders, who also prepare a 

 red dye from it; the young shoots serve to 

 nourish their cattle, and the leaves are said to 

 afford good fodder for horses, kine, sheep, and 

 goats. The vernal sap of these trees is well 

 known to have a saccharine quality, and from 

 178 



BIRCH. 



| it the forest housewife makes an agreeable and 

 i wholesome wine. During the siege of Ham- 

 j burgh, in 1814, by the Russians, almost all the 

 birch trees of the neighbourhood were de- 

 stroyed by the Bashkirs and other barbarian 

 soldiers in the Russian service, by being tap- 

 ped for their juice. Vinegar is obtained from 

 the fermented sap. The inhabitants of Fin- 

 land use the leaves for tea ; and both in Lap- 

 land and Greenland, strips of the young and 

 tender bark are used for food. From the tim- 

 ber are manufactured gates and rails, packing- 

 cases, hoops, yokes for cattle, turners' ware, 

 such as bowls, wooden spoons, wooden shoes 

 and clogs, and other articles in which light- 

 ness without much durability is sufficient. 

 Baskets, hurdles, and brooms are often made 

 of part of its shoots. The broom-makers are 

 constant customers for birch in all places in the 

 vicinity of London, or where it is near water- 

 carriage ; but in most other parts the hoop- 

 benders are the purchasers. The larger trees 

 are often bought by the turners. In some of 

 the northern parts of Europe, the wood of this 

 tree is likewise greatly used for making of 

 carriages and wheels, being hard and of long 

 duration. The most general and the most 

 profitable use to which birch at present can be 

 turned is, unquestionably, the manufacture of 

 small casks, as herring barrels, butter tubs, 

 &c. For the latter purpose it is admirably 

 suited, because it is stout, clean, and easily 

 wrought, and communicates no particular taste 

 or smell to the butter. The timber of the birch 

 was more used and more valued in former 

 times. It was not so strong as the ash for har- 

 rows and other farming implements, but it was 

 not so ready to split, and for roofing cottages 

 it is still held in estimation. In Russia, Po- 

 land, and other northern countries, the twigs 

 of this tree cover the dwellings of the peasant, 

 instead of tile or thatch. It afforded our an- 

 cestors arrows, bolts, and shafts, for their war 

 implements. The whole tree is adapted for 

 burning into charcoal of the best quality, and 

 suited for the manufacture of gunpowder. 



The birch will grow in any soil, but best in 

 shady places. It may, therefore, in some situa- 

 tions, be turned to good account, since it will 

 grow to advantage upon land where other tim- 

 ber will not thrive. Miller says, it loves a dry- 

 barren soil, where scarcely any thing else will 

 grow ; and will thrive on any sort of land, dry 

 or wet, gravelly, sandy, rocky, or boggy, and 

 those barren, heathy lands which will scarcely 

 bear grass. It is said to attain sometimes the 

 height of seventy feet, with a diameter of two 

 feet ; in England it does not acquire such con- 

 siderable dimensions. The birch is propagated 

 by seeds, which are easily taken from bearing 

 trees, by cutting the branches in August, before 

 they are quite ripe. The seed may be thrashed 

 out like corn, as soon as the branches dry a 

 little ; they should be then kept in dry cool 

 sand until they are sown, either in the autumn 

 or spring. A great deal of nicety and atten- 

 tion is required in rearing the birch from the 

 seed; they must be sown in the shade, and 

 covered very lightly with soil made as fine as 

 possible, and watered according to the wetness 

 or dryness of the season. The planting out 



