Vv. 1. THE WHITE BIRCH. 215 
valuable for timber and for fuel, that their cultivation should be 
earnestly recommended. They flourish on all kinds of soil, 
even the poorest, spring most readily from seed, and grow very 
rapidly. I therefore give, from Loudon’s Arboretum, two modes 
of propagating them, as practised in England, and on the con- 
tinent of Europe. The directions have reference to the Euro- 
pean birch, betula alba, but from the intimate resemblance of 
the trees of the same family, will doubtless apply to our native 
birches. Indeed, Dr. Hooker says that, judging from the speci- 
mens of the little white birch which have been sent to him 
from this country, he cannot see how it differs, except in un- 
important particulars, from the white birch of Europe. 
‘‘ Birch seed ripens in September and October; and may be 
either gathered and sown immediately, or preserved in a dry 
loft, and sown in spring. Sang directs particular attention 
to be paid to gathering the seeds only from weeping trees; and 
this we know to be the direction given to the collectors employed 
by the nurserymen in the north of Scotland. If the seeds are 
to be sown immediately, the catkins may be gathered wet; but, 
if they are to be kept till spring, they ought not to be gathered 
except when quite dry; and every day’s gathering should be 
carried to a dry loft and spread out thinly, as they are very apt 
to heat when kept in sacks, or laid upin heaps. The seeds 
should be sown in very fine, light, rich soil, in beds of the usual 
width, and very slightly covered. Boutcher says :—‘ Sow the 
seeds and clap them into the ground with the back of the spade, 
without any earth spread over them, and throw a little peas 
haulm over the beds for three or four weeks, till the seeds begin 
to vegetate. The peas haulm will keep the ground moist, ex- 
clude frost, and prevent the birds from destroying the seeds.’ 
(Treat. on Forest Trees, p. 113.) ‘It is scarcely possible,’ 
Sang observes, ‘ to cover birch seeds too little, if they be covered 
at all’ The plants, 1f sown in autumn, will come up in the 
March or April following. If sown in spring, they will come 
up in May or June; which, in very cold climates, is a prefer- 
able season. If any danger is apprehended from moisture in 
the soil during winter, the alleys between the beds may be deep- 
ened, so as to actas drains. In the nursery lines, the plants 
