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light and lively green. Its white bark makes a beautiful 

 variety, when intermixed with other trees. It is faid to be 

 the molt ufeful tree in North America for building both of 

 lioulcs and boats ; and will grow fad in any foil or iituation, 

 whether wet or diy ; and it may therefore be planted in 

 places where few other trees will thrive, and mach deferves 

 cultivation. There are feveral varieties of this fpecics, differ- 

 ing in the colour, fize of the leave?, and (hoots ; fuch as the 

 broad-leaved Virginian birch, the poplar-leaved Virginian 

 birch, the paper birch, brown birch, &c. 



3. B. /«/<j, Canada birch. Lin. Spec. 1394. Reich. 4. 

 126. Gron. Virg. IIJ. 146. "Leaves cordate, oblong', 

 acuminate, ferrate." The leaves are fmooth, very finely 

 and fiiarply fen-ate. Tlie female catkins are ovate, feflile, 

 with acuminate entire fcales. This fpecies grows to more 

 than 60 feet in height. The liquor flowing from its wounds 

 is ufed by the inhabitants of Kamtfchatka without previous 

 fermentation ; with the wood, and alfo with the bark, which 

 is very light, tough, and durable, they coni^ruft (ledge; and 

 canoes; and they convert the latter into food by dripping it 

 off when^green, and cutting it into long narrow pieces, like 

 vermicelli, drj'ing it, and llewing it with their caviar. It 

 was cultivated by Mr. Miller in Kew garden in 1759. The 

 varieties diftcr in colour, and are diftinguifhed by tlie names 

 of du(l<y Canada birch, white paper birch, poplar-leaved 

 Canada birch, low growing Canada birch, &c. 



4. B. n^miz, fmooth dwarf birch. Lin. Spec. T 394. Reich. 

 4.127. Hudf. Angl. 416. Wither. 2. 207. Hall. Helv. 

 n. 1629. Fl.Dan.t.91. Pallas RoiT. 63. t. 40. D.— G. 

 Fl. Lapp. t. 4. Liglitf. Scot. 575. t. 25. " Leaves orbi- 

 culate, crenate, or circular, fcolloped." An upright (hrub, 

 feldom rifing above two or three fe^t high ; with a hard, 

 ftifF trunk, and brown, roughifh bark, reftmbling that of the 

 ulmus campertris ; branches expanding, ftraight, fcattered, 

 tapering, woolly, fomewhat gummy at the ends ; leaves rather 

 broader than they are long, commonly three from each bud, 

 but frequently fingle and alternate, generally entire at tlie 

 bafe, fcollops often pointed ; catkins about half an inch long ; 

 (lyles purple. A native of the northern parts of Europe, 

 and of the Alps ; grows on mountains and wet heaths in 

 Scotland ; and flowers in May. Here it is planted for the 

 fake of variety, but is of no ufe ; however, Linnxus fays, 

 that it is vcr)' ferviceable in the economy of the Laplanders, 

 affording them in fummer, when they live on the mountains, 

 fuel for the fires, which they are obliged to keep conflantly 

 in their huts to defend them from the gnats ; and, covered 

 with the fkin of the rein-deer, forming their beds. The feeds 

 are the food of the ptarmigan, which fupplies a confiderable 

 part of their fuftenance. The moxa is alfo prepared from it, 

 which they conllder as an efficacious remedy in all painful 

 difeafes. The leaves, according to Linn^us, dye a finer yel- 

 low than that afforded bv the B. alha. 



5. V). pumila, American, or hairy dwarf birch. Lin. Syfb. 

 849. Reich. 4. 127. Mant. 124. Jacq. Hort. 2. 122. B. 

 nana. Kalm. it. 2. 263. " Leaves obovate, crenate." Rc- 

 fembllng the foregoing. A native of North America, 

 and introduced into Kew garden, in 1762, by Mr. James 

 Gordon. 



6. B. fl/n;;/, alder. Lin. Spec. T 394. Reich. 4. 127. Hudf. 

 Ang.416. Wither. 2. 206. Lightf. Scot. 576. Pallas roff. 

 C\. Ait. Hort. Kew. 3. 338. Alnus. Lin. Lap. 340. Hort. 

 Cliff. 441. Gxrtn. frucl. 2. 54. t. 90. Hall. Helv. n. 1630. 

 Hunt. Evelyn. 240. Ger. 1294. emac. 1477. Park. 14C9. 

 Raii hill. 14C9. Cam. epit. 68. Varieties, a. _j/H/;no/i?, com- 

 mon alder, " leaves undivided." /?. A. /aciniaU, cut-leaved 

 alder. Ait. Hort. Kew. 3. 338. 10 0. Duham. Arb.42. n. 4. 

 " Leaves pin natifid." " Peduncles branched ; leaves roundifli, 



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wedge-form, very obtufe, glutinous ; axils of the veins villofe 

 underneath." The common alder, which appears generally as 

 a (hrub, fometimes grows to the height of 35 or 40 feet. The 

 bark is blackifh, and in old trees full of clefts ; the wood is 

 red and brittle ; the leaves are of a dark green colour, and 

 roundifh figure, crenate, fmooth, vifcid to the touch ; the 

 petioles grooved above and near an inch long, with lanceolate, 

 blunt rtipules at their bafe ; the male catkins are cylindrical, 

 appear in autumn, and continue to the fpring ; the females 

 are of a fhort conical form, hke a fmall fir cone. Many 

 botanifts have feparated the alder from the birch ; but Lin- 

 nseus, in his latter works, has joined them in the fame genus. 

 Gxrtner prefer\es them dillin(51, alleging that they differ not 

 only in the fruit, but in the flower. A native of Europe, 

 from Lapland to Gibraltar; and of Afia from the White fca 

 to mount Caucafus, in wet and boggy grounds, and on the 

 banks of rivers ; flowering with us in Febnary, March, and 

 April. The varieties of this tree are the long-leaved 

 American alder, the white alder, the black alder, and the 

 dwarf alder. The lall with a round ferrate leaf, grows 

 naturally on the Alps and Apennines ; u is a ver)- humble 

 (lirub, fcldom rifing more than a foot high, with its branches 

 always trailing on the ground. The firft, or long-leaved 

 alder from America, grows to 30 feel in height, and deferves 

 a place in all plantations. The branches are (lender, fmooth, 

 numerous, and dark brown or purple ; the leaves are long, 

 and free from the clamminefs of the common fnrt ; and fome- 

 times continue on the tree even in December, fo as to give it 

 the appearance of an ever-green. 



The wood of the alder is valuable for piles, pumps, lluices, 

 and in general for all works intended to be conflantly under 

 water. It is faid to have been ufed under the Rialto at 

 Venice ; and we are told that the moraflies about Ravenna 

 were piled with this timber, in order to ferve as the founda- 

 tions of buildings. For this purpofe it has been much culti- 

 vated in Flanders and Holland. It ferves alfo for many do- 

 mellic and rural ufes, as for cart-wheels, fpinning-wheels, 

 milk-veffels, bowls, fpoons, fmall trays, trenchers, and other 

 turnery ware, troughs, handles of tools, clogs, pattens, and 

 wooden heels. The roots and knots furniih a beautiful 

 veined wood for cabinets ; and the Scots Highlanders often 

 make chairs of it, which are very handfome, and of the co- 

 lour of mahogany. The wood that has lain in bogs is black 

 like ebony. It is generally planted for coppice wood, to be 

 cut down ever)- ninth or tenth year for poles. The branches 

 make good charcoal. 



The bark is ufed by tanners and leather-drefTerf, and alfo 

 by fifhermen for ftaining their nets. This and alfo the 

 young (hoots dye yellow, and with a little copperas a yel- 

 lowi(h grey, ufeful in the demi-tints and fhadows of fle(h in 

 tapeftr)-. The (hoots cut in March dye a cinnamon colour, 

 and a fine tawny, when dried and powdered. The frefh 

 wood yields a dye of the colour of rappee-fnuff. The cat- 

 kins dye green. The bark is ufed as a bafis for blacks ; an 

 ounce of it dried and pt)wdered, and boiled in three quarters 

 of a pint of water, with an equal quantity of log-wood, 

 with folution of copper, tin, and bifmuth, fix grains of each, 

 and two drops of folution of iron vitriol, will dye a flrong 

 deep " boue dc Paris." The leaves have been fometimes 

 employed in tanning leather. The Laplanders chew the 

 bark, and dye their leathern garments red with their faliva. 

 The whole tree is vci-y aftringent. 



The alder ferves for hedges by the fides of ftreams and 

 ditches, and in all wet and moraffy foils, and keeps up the 

 banks ; but if it be planted in a low meadow, it is faid that 

 the ground about it will become boggy ; whereas, if a(h be 

 plai>ted, the roots of which penetrate a great way, and run 

 N R near 



