THE BIRCH. 



83 



a quart of honey to every gallon of juice, a few 

 cloves, some lemon peel, and a small proportion 

 of cinnamon and mace. It should then be fer- 

 mented with yeast and bottled. This process, 

 according to the same author, does not injure the 

 tree, for he mentions having observed a Birch 

 which was so treated for very many years, and 

 nevertheless grew to an unusual size. 



The wood of the Birch is white, shaded with 

 red, and, if grown in a very cold climate, it lasts a 

 long while. It is used for packing-cases, turnery, 

 wooden shoes, and the felloes of wheels, but is 

 inferior to other kinds of timber for all these 

 purposes. A piece of birch-wood was once found 

 in Siberia, changed entirely into stone, while the 

 cuticle, or outer coating of the bark, of a satiny 

 whiteness, was exactly in its natural state, per- 

 fectly well preserved. This proves what was be- 

 fore said of the durability of the bark. Thin 

 pieces of the cuticle are sometimes placed be- 

 tween the soles of shoes, and are found to resist 

 the wet. The bark is even wrapped round the 

 lower end of posts, which are inserted in the 

 ground, to prevent the moisture from penetrating 

 them. The bark of large trees is used by the 

 Laplanders as a kind of cloak, a hole being made 

 in the centre to admit the head. From smaller 

 trees, about the size of a man's leg, they make 

 boots by removing the wood and leaving a seam- 

 less tube of bark. In seasons of scarcity, the 

 inner bark is sometimes ground with corn, and 

 made into bread ; but this, we must hope, happens 

 but rarely. 



From the leaves a yellow dye may be prepared. 

 The wood makes excellent charcoal for gunpowder 



