234 BETULA. 



Iii England, when grown in artificial plantations, it 

 is generally treated as a coppice-wood or undergrowth, 

 and is cut down at the age of five or six years for brooms, 

 hoops, crate ware, &c, or at the age of ten or twelve 

 for fagot wood, poles, and small fencing. In Scotland, 

 at the age of fifteen or twenty, it is fit for herring-casks, 

 and when a fall takes place the trees are barked, and the 

 produce sold to the tanners at about half the price of oak 

 bark. The charcoal made from the Birch is excellent, 

 and is extensively used in the manufacture of gunpow- 

 der, and it forms a fine crayon for the artist. From 

 the sap obtained by tapping the tree in early spring a 

 refreshing and wholesome beverage may be manufactured ; 

 upon which subject Evelyn is very diffuse, but our readers 

 will obtain all the information requisite for the making of 

 it in a much shorter recipe contained in the " Arboretum 

 Britannicum.'" In Russia, the bark is subjected to dis- 

 tillation, and an oil is obtained, which is employed in the 

 tanning of hides, and gives that powerful but not disagree- 

 able scent peculiar to Russia leather, and which, when 

 employed in the binding of books, is supposed to keep 

 away the attacks of the Ptinida and other insects. 



The Birch is now almost invariably raised from the 

 seed, which ripens in September or October, and may 

 either be sown as soon as gathered, or kept dry in some 

 airy place during winter, and sown in spring : in the first 

 case it vegetates early, but is sometimes apt to be cut 

 off, or thrown out of the ground by frost ; in the second 

 it does not vegetate till May or June, but is then safe 

 from any injury from the above-mentioned causes. The 

 seed-bed should be composed of fine light rich mould, and 

 when sown, the seeds, instead of being covered with earth, 

 should be merely clapped down with the back of the 



