o 2 A Difcourfe of Foreft-Trecs. 



CHAP. XV. 



Of the Birch. 



Bircb. 



2. 



I, 'nr^He Eirch [Betula] is altogether produc*d o£JMcl^rs(thovi^ 

 _l it flieds a kind of S a»ier a ahoMt the Spring) which being 

 planted at four or five foot interval, in fmall twigs, will fuddenly 

 rife to Trees 5 provided they afFeft the ground , which cannot 

 well be too barren 3 for it will thrive both in the dry, and the 

 Avet , Sand and Stony, Marpet and Bogs 5 the water-galls^ and 

 uliginous parts of Forejis that hardly bear any grafs, do many 

 times (pontaneoufly produce it in abundance whether the place 

 be high, or low, and nothing comes amifs to it. 



Plant the fmall ttvigs^ otfuckgrs having rootj^ and after the firft 

 year cut them within an inch of the furface 5 this will caufe them 

 to fprout in ftrong, and lufty tufts^ fit for Copfe^ and Spring-woods 5 

 or, by reducing them to one Jiem, render them in a very few 

 years fit for the Turner. For though Birch be of all other the 

 worft of Timber , yet has it its various ufes, as for the Hffsband- 

 mant Ox-yoakj -, alfo for Hoops, Taniers , Brooms, Wands, Bavin 

 and fuel--) great and fmall-ceal, which laft is made by charkjng 

 the flendereft bru^}, and fitmmities of the twigs , as of the tops 

 and loppings M. Howards new Tanne : Laftly , of the whiteji 

 part of the old wood, found commonly in doating Birches, is made 

 the grounds of our Gallants Sweet-powder 5 to fay nothing here of 

 the Magifterial Fafces, for which antiently the Cudgels were us'd 

 by the Li&or ; as now the gentler Rods by our tyrannical 

 P^dagognes. 



g. I ftiould here add the ufes of the water too, had I not alrea- 

 dy protcfted againft tampering with the Medicinal virtues of Tree/, 

 in the entrance of this Treatije : But if the fovereign effeds of 

 the juice of this defpicable Tree fupply its other defefts (which 

 makes fome judge it unworthy to be brought into the Catalogue of 

 Woods to be propagated) I may for once be permitted to play the 

 Empiric, and to gratifie our laborious Wood-man with a draught of 

 his own Liquor : And the rather , bccaufe thefe kind of Secrets 

 are not yet fufficiently cultivated 5 and ingenious Planters would 

 by all means be encourag'd to make more trials of this nature, as 

 the Indians, and other Nations have done on their Palmes, and 

 Trees of feveral kinds, to their great emolument. The Myftery 

 is no more then this : About the beginning of March (when the 

 buds begin to be proud and turgid) with a Chisel And a MalJet cut 

 a (lit almoft as deep as the very pith, under fome bough, or branch 

 of a well fpreading Birch:, cut it oblique and not long-wajs(^isa. 

 good Chirurgion would make his orifice in a Vein) inferring a fmall 

 jione or chip, to keep the lips of the wound a little open : Sir Hugh 

 Plat, giving a general rule for the gathering oi jap, and tapping 

 of 7rf e/jwould have it done within one foot of the groundjthe firft 



rind 



