46 



SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



Evelyn denominates the Birch wood the very worst of 

 timber ; yet it is useful for many purposes. " It claims 

 a memory too,'^ says he, " for arrows, bolt-shafts (our 

 old English artillery) ; also for bowls, dishes, ladles, and 

 other domestic utensils, in the good old days of more 

 simplicity, yet of better and truer hospitality/' 



Spenser calls it " the Birch for shafts."' 



The natives of New England make canoes and many 

 other articles of Birch wood, which they join very 

 curiously with a sort of thread made of cedar roots. 

 Martyn says, "they make pinnaces of Birch, ribbing 

 them with white cedar, and, covering them with Birch 

 bark, sew them with thread of spruce roots, and pitch 

 them ; as it seems we did even here in Britain.'" 



In Lancashire a great number of besoms are made of 

 Birch twigs, for exportation. The bark will dye yellow, 

 and is used to fix fugacious colours. The Highlanders 

 of Scotland use it for tanning leather ; and the outer rind 

 they burn instead of candles. It is used for tanning in 

 Norway also ; and with it the Norwegian fisherman dyes 

 his nets and sails of a deep red colour, which is said to 

 render them more durable. Small fragments of the bark 

 are braided by the Laplanders into shoes and baskets, 

 and they use large and thick pieces, by way of surtout, 

 to keep off rain ; making a hole in the middle to admit 

 the neck. The Swedes frequently make the inner sole 

 of their shoes of a piece of Birch-bark, which is said to 

 be preferable to leather for that purpose, its oily nature 

 so v/ell resisting wet. 



There is no part of this tree but is useful, but the bark 

 appears to be the most valuable part of it. Before the 

 invention of paper, the epidermis, and the inner wliite 



