The Birch. 



this cannot be, for all must stand or be felled together; so 

 that, where there is a mixture, the Birch, waiting for the 

 Hazel, gets to be too big before it be cut : it is a pole, by the 

 time that the Hazel becomes a rod. In the case of the Jsh, 

 the mixture does no harm for, though it outstrips every 

 thing of English underwood, it is useful in all its stages ; 

 and the bigger it is the more it is valuable. 



165. I have here been speaking only of the English 

 Birch; but the thing to be desired is, a general introduc- 

 tion of the American Birches. As to their seed, their pro- 

 pagation, their cultivation, and their application, they have 

 nothing different from ours. They are equally hardy too, 

 and equally regardless of soil and situation. But they grow 

 still faster than ours ; they exceed ours in straightness ; and 

 they all grow to trees, like an Oak or an Ash. Miller 

 strongly recommends them in preference to our own; and, 

 as his book was published more than half a century back, 

 and as it was, and is, a book of great repute, the reason of 

 his advice having been neglected, is to be found, doubtless, 

 in dijfficulty of raising plants from the seed, a difficulty which 

 my successful experience has now completely removed. 



166. The American Birches are, 1. The White Birch 

 {Betula Populvfolia) ; 2. The Black Birch {Betula Lenta) 5 

 3. The Red Birch {Betula Rubra) ; 4. The Yellow Birch 

 {Betida Lutea) ; 5. The Canoe-Birch Betula Papyracea, 

 Of the size of these trees, the reader may judge from the 

 name of the latter, which has been given to it because the 

 Indians make their canoes with the bark of it, by taking off 

 the bark, in one lohole piece, and making a canoe of it, 

 sometimes sufficient to carry, very conveniently, ten or 

 twelve persons. Nothing can be easier than the importing 

 of the seeds of these trees, which grow in great quantities 



