AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
27 
robe the tree in white, like a full blown apple tree, and 
render it one of the fairest ornaments of the American 
forest. 
The seeds, of a vivid, glossy red, and of an oval shape, 
are always united; they remain upon the trees till the 
first frosts, when, notwithstanding their bitterness, they 
are devoured by the Robin, ( Turdus Migrcitorius,) 
which about this period arrives from the northern re- 
gions. 
The wood is hard, compact, heavy, and fine grained; 
and is susceptible of a brilliant polish. The sap is perfectly 
white, and the heart is of chocolate colour. This tree is 
not large enough for works which require pieces of consi- 
derable volume; it is used for the handles of light tools, 
such as mallets, small vices, &c. In the country, some 
farmers select it for harrow teeth, for the frames of horses’ 
collars, and also for lining the runners of sledges; but to 
whatever purpose it is applied, being liable to split, it 
should never be wrought till it is perfectly seasoned. The 
shoots, when three or four years old, are found proper for 
the light hoops of small, portable casks; but the consump- 
tion in this way is inconsiderable. In the middle states 
the cogs of mill wheels are made of Dog-wood, and its di- 
vergent branches are taken for the yokes which are put 
upon the necks of swine, to prevent their breaking into 
cultivated enclosures. Such are the profitable uses of this 
tree; it affords also excellent fuel, but it is too small to be 
brought into the markets of the cities. 
The liber, or interior hark of the Dog-wood, is extreme- 
ly bitter, and proves an excellent remedy in intermitting 
fevers. It has been known and successfully used by the 
country people, as a specific in these maladies, for more 
than fifty years. Its medicinal properties were made the 
subject of a thesis sustained in the College of Physic at 
Philadelphia, in 1803; in which was presented an analysis 
of the bark of the Dog-wood, and the blue berried Dog- 
wood, compared with the Peruvian bark. By the experi- 
ment made on the occasion, the Dog-wood bark was shown 
to have a close analogy to the Peruvian bark, and to be 
capable, in many cases, of supplying its place with suc- 
cess. The author of this excellent piece cites a Physician 
of Pennsylvania, who, during twenty years, had constant- 
ly employed it, and who estimated 35 grains of it to be 
equivalent to 30 grains of the Peruvian bark. The only 
inconvenience accompanying its use was, that if taken 
within a year after being stript from the tree, it sometimes 
occasioned acute pains of the bowels; but this evil was 
remedied by adding to it five grains of Virginia snake 
root, ( aristolochia serpent aria.) 
The same author gives a receipt for making an excel- 
lent ink, in which this bark is substituted for gall nuts: — 
Put half an ounce of Dog-wood hark — 2 scruples of sul- 
phate of iron — and 2 scruples of gum arabic, into 16 
ounces of rain water; during the infusion shake it repeat- 
edly. 
The Dog-wood merits the attention of Europeans, for 
the value of its wood, and especially for the brilliancy of 
its flowers, — by which it is better adapted than almost any 
other North American tree, to the embellishment of 
forests, parks, and extensive gardens. — Michaux. 
THE BEAVER — {Concluded from page 9.) 
AUTHENTIC HISTORY — Continued. 
“The beaver is an animal which cannot keep under 
water long at a time; so that when their houses are broke 
open, and all their places of retreat discovered, they have 
but one choice left, as it may be called, either to be taken 
in their houses or their vaults: in general they prefer the 
latter; for where there is one beaver caught in the house, 
many thousands are taken in their vaults in the banks. 
Sometimes they are caught in nets, and in the summer 
very frequently in traps. In winter they are very fat 
and delicious; but the trouble of rearing their young, the 
thinness of their hair, and their constantly roving from 
place to place, with the trouble they have in providing 
against the approach of winter, generally keep them very 
poor during the summer season, at which time their flesh 
FICTITIOUS HISTORY — Continued. 
“ Each tribe has its peculiar territorjr. If any foreigner 
be taken in the act of marauding, he is delivered over to 
the chief, who, on the first offence, chastises him with a 
view to correction; hut, for the second, deprives him of 
his tail, which is considered as the greatest disgrace to 
which a Beaver can he exposed; for the tail is the carriage 
on which he conveys stones, mortar, provisions, &c. and 
it is also the trowel (the figure of which it represents ex- 
actly) which he uses in building. This violation of inter- 
national rights, however, is considered among them as so 
great an outrage, that the whole tribe of the mutilated 
culprit take up arms in his cause, and proceed immedi- 
ately to obtain vengeance. 
“ In this conflict, the victors, availing themselves of the 
