THE SOFTWOODS 181 



times spontaneously produce it in abundance 

 whether the place be high, or low, and nothing 

 comes amiss to it.' 



One lingers fondly over gentle John Evelyn's 

 words. Even for 'this despicable tree' he has 

 a good word : * For though Birch be of all 

 other the worst of Timber ; yet has it its various 

 uses, as for the Husband-mans Ox-yoaks ; also 

 for Hoops, Paniers, Brooms, Wands, Bavin and 

 Fuel; great and small-coal, which last is made 

 by charking the slenderest brush, and summities 

 of the twigs; as of the tops and loppings M. 

 Howards new Tanne : Lastly, of the whitest part 

 of the old wood, found commonly in doating 

 Birches, is made the grounds of our Gallants 

 Sweet-powder ; to say nothing here of the Magis- 

 terial Fasces, for which antiently the Cudgels 

 were us'd by the Lie tor ; as now the gentler Rods 

 by our tyrannical Pedagogues' 



To-day the wood is not yet in good repute, 

 as it is not durable. Like alder, it is used for 

 gunpowder and as staves for herring-barrels, but 

 perhaps its most important use is for making 

 reels or bobbins for thread factories, for which 

 purposes branches down to one inch in diameter 



