1 70S ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM, PART III. 



<oil is drj and meagre. In such situations, it commonly attains the height 

 of 80ft. or 85ft.; but single trees, in moist places, grow to nearly double 

 that height, with trunks from Sin. to J) in. in diameter. It is less com- 

 mon iu America than any other species of birch, being rarely found in 

 groups; and single trees are met with only at considerable intervals. It is 

 most common in the district of* Maine ; but, even there, it is only seen by the 

 sides of the highways, and in sandy soils that have been exhausted by cultiva- 

 tion. The wood is very soft, brilliant when polished, and perfectly white ; 

 but it speedily decays, and, in America, is employed for no purpose, not even 

 for fuel. The twigs are too brittle for common brooms. It was first culti- 

 vated in England by Archibald Duke of Argyll, at Whitton, in 1750; and it 

 i-^ to be met with in the principal British and Continental nurseries. When 

 the plants are raised from seed, they make very handsome trees ; and, as seed 

 is freely produced, this mode ought always to be adopted : but plants from 

 layers seldom attain any magnitude. The largest trees that we know of in 

 the neighbourhood of London are at Purser's Cross and Syon ; where, how- 

 ever, they are under 50ft. in height. In the Fulham Nursery, there is one 

 30 \\. high ; and the largest tree of this kind in England, seems to be at Dod- 

 dington, in Gloucestershire, where it is 60 ft. high. In Ireland, in the Glas- 

 ncvin Botanic Garden, 35 years planted, it is 30 ft. high. The price of plants, 

 in the London nurseries, is from It, to Is. 6d. each, and seeds Is. per quart ; 

 at New York, plants are 10 cents each, and seeds CO cents per pound, or 

 5 dollars per bushel. 



¥ 8. B. papyra v cea Ait. The Paper Birch. 



Identification. Ait. Hort. Kew., 3. p. 337. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 464., Baum., p. 58. ; N. Du Ham., 



3. p. 205. ; Pursh El. Amer. Sept., 2. p. 621. 

 Sjfmomfme*. B. papyrlfera Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 180., Marshal, p. 56. ; B. lanceolata Hort.; 



B. rubra Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836 ; B. canadensis Ludd. Cat. ; B. nigra of the Paris nurseries ; Canoe 



Birch, white Birch, Amer. 

 Engravings. Michx. Arb., 2. t. 1.; Willd. Baum., t. 1. f. 1. ; our fig. 1561. ; and the plate of this 



tree in our last Volume. 



Spec, Char., Sfr. Leaves ovate, acuminate, doubly serrate ; veins hairy be- 

 neath ; petiole glabrous. Female catkins on long footstalks, drooping ; 

 scales having the side lobes short, somewhat orbiculate. (Willd. Sp. PL, iv. 

 p. 464.) A North American tree, attaining 60 ft. or 70 ft. in height ; and 

 flowering, in America, in May and June. Introduced in 1750. 



I'ariclies. 



$ B. p. Ifusca, B. fusca Bosc. — This variety is mentioned, in the Nouveau Du Hamel, as having 

 been collected by Bosc in Carolina. The leaves are smaller than those of the species, 

 and less downy. The branches, covered with a short soft down, of a brownish colour, 

 somewhat resemble those of R. nigra Ait. 



^ B. p. 3 trichdclada Hort., has extremely hairy branches, and its twigs in threes. It has heart- 

 shaped leaves. There is a tree in the Horticultural Society's Garden. 



^ 15. p. 4 platyphfjlla Hort. has very broad leaves. 



])cscri])ti<>n, Sec. The largest size which this tree attains in North America, 

 i< cording to Michaux, is about 70 ft. in height, with a trunk 3 ft. in diameter; 

 but a writer in the Hardener' s Magazine mentions trees which girt from 18 ft. 

 to 80ft. in the settlements of the Hudson's Bay Company. Its branches are 

 slender, flexible, and covered with a shining brown bark, dotted with white. The 

 are borne on petioles four or five lines long, and are of a middling size, 

 oral, unequally denticulated, smooth, with scarcely any hairs, and of a dark green. 

 The catkins arc pendulous, and about 1 in. in length : the seeds are ripe towards 

 the middle of July. On trees the trunks of which do not exceed 8 in. in di- 

 ameter the bark U of a brilliant white; and is as indestructible as the bark 

 of 11. alba. The heart wood of this tree, when first laid open, is of a reddish 

 hue; and the sap wood is perfectly white. It has a fine glossy grain, with a 

 < onsiderable share of Strength; but. speedily decays when exposed to alternate 



dryness and moisture. Michaux considers it, however, equal in point of useful 

 p ro pert i es to the white birch of Europe. A section or the trunk of a full* 



D tree, I ft.OT 2ft. in length, immediately below the first ramification, 



exhibit! rery elegant undulations of the fibre, representing bunches of feathers, 



I of com. TbeM pieces are divided by cabinet-makers into thin 



