chap. civ. //ktui.aVe.i:. BE'TULA. 1701 



not abound naturally, no British tree is more ornamental ; and the common 

 sort may there be introduced singly, and in groups and masses, along with all 

 the different species and varieties of the genus. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder 

 observes that some birch trees should always be planted near a house, for 

 the very purpose of filling the air with their fragrance, which is given out in 

 great abundance, particularly after rain or heavy dew ; more especially in 

 spring, when the resinous matter which produces this fragrance is most abun- 

 dant on the buds and young leaves. 



Poetical Allusions. The birch does not appear to have been celebrated by 

 any ancient writers, though it has been mentioned by most of the modern 

 poets. Shenstone introduces it in his Schoolmistress , when alluding to the 

 birchen rods : — 



" And all in sight doth rise a birchen tree, 



Which Learning near her little dome did stow ; 

 Whilome a twig of small regard to see, 



Though now so wide its waving branches flow, 



And work the simple vassals mickle woe : 

 For not a wind might curl the leaves that blew, 



But their limbs shudder'd, and their pulse beat low ; 

 And, as they look'd, they found their horror grew, 

 And shaped it into rods, and tingled at the view." 



Pope has also immortalised birch rods in his Dunciad. The beauty of the birch 

 tree, and the extreme gracefulness of its foliage, render it a fitting emblem 

 of elegance. Coleridge calls it — 



" Most beautiful 



Of forest trees — the Lady of the woods." 



and Keats describes — 



" The silvery stems 



Of delicate birch trees." 



Professor Wilson, also, gives a beautiful description of a birch tree in his Isle 



of Palms. 



" On the green slope 



Of a romantic glade we sate us down, 



Amid the fragrance of the yellow broom ; 



While o'er our heads the weeping birch tree stream'd 



Its branches, arching like a fountain shower." 



Many other modern poets have mentioned this tree, and described its various 

 uses. Phillips says : — 



" Even afflictive birch, 



Cursed by unletter'd idle youth, distils 

 A limpid current from her wounded bark, 

 Profuse of nursing sap." 



and Leyden : — 



Sweet bird of the meadow, soft be thy rest : 

 Thy mother will wake thee at morn from thy nest ; 

 She has made a soft nest, little redbreast, for thee, 

 Of the leaves of the birch, and the moss of the tree." 



Numerous other instances might be given ; but these may suffice to show the 

 popularity of the tree among the observers and lovers of nature. 



Soil, Situation, Propagation, Culture, S/-c. In the beginning of the last 

 century (see p. 102.), the Earl of Haddington, who was the greatest and most 

 judicious planter of his time, called the birch an amphibious plant ; as it grows 

 on rich or poor, wet or dry, sandy or rocky situations, nor refuses any 

 soil or climate whatever. Though the birch is found in every kind of soil, as 

 Sang observes, " from that of a deep moist loam in a low bottom, to a poor 

 sandy, gravelly, or moorish earth ;" or, according to Ray, " in turfy soil over 

 sand, " alike in plains and in mountainous situations ; yet it " luxuriates most 

 in deep loams, lying on a porous subsoil, or in alluvial soil, by the sides of 

 rivers, or smaller streams. Even in such situations," Sang continues, " though 

 among stones and rocks, as on the River Dee, in Aberdeenshire, in particular, 

 the birch flourishes most exuberantly. On the sides of hills, in dry soils, it 

 grows slowly; but on such its timber is most durable." (Plant. AW., p. 54.) 



5 s 4 



