WHITE, OR COMMON BIRCH. 



227 



ous districts, at altitudes varying according to their respec- 

 tive latitudes or temperatures ; thus, in the Apennines, 

 it commences at a height of about four thousand seven 

 hundred and sixty feet above the level of the sea, and 

 reaches an altitude of six thousand feet. In Lapland 

 the line of the Birch is one thousand nine hundred and 



thirty-seven feet below that of eternal snow, and eight 

 hundred and two feet above that of the Pinus sylvestris. 

 In Russia immense tracts of country are covered with 

 this timber alone, and Loudon remarks ; that in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Moscow it forms the prevailing tree in all 

 the woods and pleasure-grounds belonging to the Russian 

 nobility. It abounds in Sweden and Norway, is also 



Q 2 



