194 SYLVAN WINTEE. 



able — more in northern latitudes, less in tem- 

 perate regions. In colour its timber is whitish, 

 though it has a tinge of red. The bark, 

 however, is more enduring than the wood, and 

 is so proof against moisture that it is often 

 bound round posts and stakes which are put 

 into the ground, to keep them from rotting; 

 it is also put under boots and shoes to make them 

 damp-proof, and in parts of Europe, especially in 

 the countries of Lapland and Sweden, where the 

 Birch grows in abundance, the country people use 

 it to make water-proof roofs to the cottages. A 

 proof of the durability of the bark over the wood 

 inside it, is given in the fact that when Birch-trees 

 have been discovered in forests, where they have 

 fallen and lain for a long time untouched, the 

 wood has rotted and decayed entirely,^whilst the 

 encompassing bark has remained quite perfect 

 and sound. In America, too, the bark is used 

 for the construction of canoes, a striking instance 

 of its water-proof qualities. The sheets of bark, 

 after being stripped from the trees in lengths 

 of about a dozen feet, by two vertical and two 

 circular incisions — wedges being used to loosen 



