THE planter's GUIDE. 



369 



when we add those of its singularly beautiful and pendent 

 form, its variegated and picturesque bark, its early leaf, 

 and the delicacy of its fragrant foliage, we may justly 

 account it a plant very deserving of cultivation. 



As a lawn-tree, I think, the Birch seldom figures 

 advantageously, from its want of a due spread of top. It 

 is said, by some naturalists, to be but short-lived ; that it 

 reaches its full maturity in about seventy years, and never 

 attains any great size in our climate. This opinion of its 

 want of longevity seems to be a popular error, founded 

 most probably on the fact of its never being allowed to 

 live very long, owing to the multifarious uses for which it 

 is always in request. I had at this place, twenty years 

 since, some fine old Birches, probably of three times the 

 age just now stated, between sixty and seventy feet high, 

 and more than nine feet in girth — which, I imagine, is as 

 large as the celebrated ones in Darnaway Forest in Moray- 

 shire, and nearly the largest size which the tree reaches in 

 Scotland. These fine Birches unfortunately stood in 

 woods (I sincerely wish it had been on the lawn ;) but 

 they are all now decayed, except one, which is still in 

 tolerable health, and is believed to be at least two centu- 

 ries old. It measures more than ten feet in circumference 

 at three feet from the ground ; and what is most remark- 

 able, is, that in its general ramification it closely resembles 

 the spreading Oak, as well as in the shortness of its stem, 

 and also in throwing out its horizontal arms to the dis- 

 tance of more than twenty feet on every side.'"* As 

 the soil of some parts of the park seems particularly to 

 suit the Birch, I was desirous, about fifteen years ago, 

 that this singular tree, being in the last stage of its exist- 

 ence, should have a worthy successor, if such could be 

 found for it. Accordingly I trained and prepared for 

 some years one of the nearest to it in form and character, 



* This tree was blown down in 1841. — Ed. 



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