214 TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES. [cHaP. 
shoes, and soles for shoes, these being considered far 
superior to any made of other descriptions of wood. It 
is also a most valuable article of fuel. 
Beech is durable if kept wholly submerged in water 
or mud; it is also durable if kept quite dry, but if left 
exposed to the alternations of the weather, it soon becomes 
doated over with yellowish spots, and rapidly decays. 
I had no suitable pieces available for experimental 
purposes, to try its transverse strength, but the tensile 
I ascertained by experimenting on three pieces, the 
average giving 4,853 Ibs. per square inch ; tried vertically 
upon four pieces the average was 3°812 tons per square 
inch. The specific gravity of the seasoned wood varies 
from 700 to 720, and averages about 705. 
THE BIRCH TREE (Betula alba, or Common Birch) 
is found in nearly every country in Europe. In Bosnia, 
Turkey, however, I only met with it on the skirts of 
forests upon the mountains at a considerable elevation. 
The European Birch grows naturally a little crooked 
in the stem, with light, oblique branches, slightly droop- 
ing at the extremities, and attains, sometimes, the height 
of 50 feet, with a diameter of 18 inches, but generally it 
is of very moderate dimensions. It flourishes on a poor 
soil in any exposed situation, and is very hardy. 
The wood is of a light brown colour, moderately 
hard, plain and even in the grain, and is easily worked ; 
but it is neither strong nor durable, and is therefore 
unfit for building purposes. Its chief uses are for cabinet 
work, chair-making, turnery, and light wares generally, 
The bark is smooth, thin, white in colour, and is used in 
tanning. Birch timber is imported in a round state and 
with the bark on from the North of Europe to our 
