1712 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



nearly a uniform diameter, straight, and destitute 

 of branches for 30ft. or 40ft. *" It is particularly 

 remarkable for the colour and arrangement of its 

 epidermis, which is of a brilliant golden yellow, 

 and frequently divides itself into very fine strips, 

 rolled backwards at the ends, and attached in the 

 middle. The young shoots and leaves, at their un- 

 folding, are downy. Towards the end of summer, 

 when fully expanded, the leaves are perfectly smooth, 

 except the petiole, which remains covered with fine 

 short hairs. The leaves are about 3^ in. long, and 

 2^ in. broad; oval, acuminate, and bordered with 

 sharp irregular teeth. The leaves, the bark, and the 

 young shoots, have all an agreeable taste and smell, 

 similar to those of the black birch (B. lenta), 

 though they lose it in drying. In its fructification, 

 this species nearly resembles B. lenta. The female 

 catkins are borne on short peduncles, and are twelve 

 or fifteen lines long, and 5 or 6 lines in diameter ; 

 straight, of an oval shape, and nearly cylindrical. 

 The scales which compose them are trifid, pointed, and about 3 lines in 

 length ; viewed through a lens, they are seen to be downy. Beneath these 

 scales are the small-winged seeds, which are ripe, in America, about the 1st 

 of October. (N. Amer. Syl. t ii. p. 104.) It abounds in the forests of Nova 

 Scotia, of New Brunswick, and of the district 

 of Maine. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 

 it is rare, and only met with in moist and 

 shady situations. It is confounded by the 

 inhabitants of these countries with B. lenta, 

 which is very abundant there, and to which 

 it bears a striking resemblance. In the dis- 

 trict of Maine, it is always found in cool and 

 rich soils, among ash trees, the hemlock 

 spruce, and the bfack spruce. It attains the 

 height of 60 ft. or 70 ft., with a trunk of 

 more than 2 ft. in diameter. It requires 

 a moister soil than most of the other Ame- 

 rican birches. " The wood of the yellow 

 birch is inferior in quality and appearance 

 to that of B. lenta, and never assumes so 

 deep a shade ; but it is strong, and, when 

 well polished, makes handsome furniture. 

 In Nova Scotia, and in the district of Maine, 

 it is found by experience, to be every way 

 proper for that part of the framework of 

 vessels which always remains in the water. 

 In the district of Maine, it is preferred for the yokes of cattle, and for the frames 

 of sledges ; and, in Nova Scotia, the young saplings are almost exclusively em- 

 ployed for making the hoops of casks." (N. Amcr. SyL t vol.ii. p. 105.) The wood 

 is excellent for fuel, and the bark is highly esteemed by tanners. Boards of this 

 tree were formerly imported into Ireland and Scotland in large quantities, and 

 were much used in joinery. Michaux considers it better adapted to the soil 

 and climate ot Germany than to those of France, on account of the moisture 

 which it requires. Though this species has been in British gardens since 1767, 

 when it was introduced by Mr. Gordon of the Mile End Nursery, yet it is 

 not common in collections. There are plants in the arboretum of Messrs. 

 Loddiges, but they are small ; and to us they appear to bear a close resem- 

 blance in their leaves to B. lenta. Willdenow mentions that there are no 

 large trees of this kind about Berlin. Plants, in the London nurseries, are 



