1 



OF FOREST-TREES. 229 



utensils, as baskets, bags, &c. ; and of a certain fungous excrescence CH. xviir. 

 from the bole, after being boiled, beaten, and dried in an oven, they ^-^V^i^ 

 make excellent spunk or touchwood, and balls to play withal ; it is astrin- 

 gent, and, being reduced to powder, is an infallible remedy in the hae- 

 morrhoides. They make also not only this small ware, but even small 

 craft, pinnaces, of Birch : Ribbing them with white Cedar, and covering 

 them with large flakes of Birch-bark, they sew them with thread of Spruce- 



In Sweden the budding and leafing of the Birch-tree is considered as a directory for 

 sowing barley ; and as there is something extremely sublime and harmonious in the idea, I 

 flatter myself an account of it will be acceptable. 



Mr. Harold Barck, in his ingenious dissertation upon the foliation of trees, published in 

 the Amffin. Acad. vol. iii. informs us, that the illustrious Linnaeus had, in the most earnest 

 manner, exhorted his countrymen to observe, with all care and diligence, at what time each 

 tree expands its buds and unfolds its leaves ; imagining, and not without reason, that his 

 country would, some time or other, reap some new and perhaps unexpected benefit from 

 observations of this kind made in different places. 



As one of the apparent advantages, he advise? the prudent husbandman to watch, with 

 the greatest care, the proper time for sowing; because this, with the Divine assistance^ 

 produces plenty of provision, and lays the foundation of the public welfare of the state, 

 and of the private happiness of the people. The ignorant farmer, tenacious of the ways 

 and customs of his ancestors, fixes his sowing season to a month, and sometimes to a par- 

 ticular week, without considering whether the eartli be in a proper state to receive the 

 seed ; from whence it frequently happens, that what the sower sowe4 wjth sweat, the 

 reaper reaps with sorrow. The wise economist should therefore pndeavour to fix 

 upon certain signs whereby to judge of the proper time for sowing. Wp see trees open 

 their buds and expand their leaves, from whence we conclude that spring approaches, 

 and experience supports us in the conclusion ; but nobody has as yet been able to show 

 us what trees Providence has intended should be our calendar, so that we might know on 

 what day the countryman ought to sow his grain. No one can deny but that the same 

 Power which brings forth the leaves of trees, will also make the grain vegetate ; npr can 

 any one assert that a premature sowing will always, and in every place, accelerate a ripe 

 harvest. Perhaps therefore we cannot promise ourselves a happy success by any meaus so 

 likely, as by taking our rule for sowing, from the leafing of trees. We must for that end 

 observe in what order every tree puts forth its leaves according to its species, the heat of 

 the atmosphere, and the quality of the soil. Afterwards, by compai-ing together the ob= 

 servations of the several years, it will not be difficult to determine, from the foliation of the 

 trees, if not certainly, at least probably, the time when annual plants ought to be sown. It 

 will be necessary likewise to remark what sowings made in different parts of the spring pro= 

 dude the best crops, in order that, by comparing these with the leafing of trees, it may appear 

 which is the most proper time for sowing. 



To these most ingenious remarks, Mr. Barck has added the order of the leafing of trees 

 in Sweden. Mr. Stillingfleet is the only person that has made correct observations upon 



