COMMON EUROPEAN BIRCH. 
53 
Europe. The 45th parallel may be assumed as the limit below which the 
Birch is only accidentally found in the forests, if we except lofty mountains, 
•whose elevation tempers the atmosphere with perennial coolness. 
In Germany, Sweden and Russia, the Birch is 70 or 80 feet high, and 
about 2 feet in diameter ; but in France it rarely exceeds two thirds of this 
height. The trunk and limb of the large trees are covered with a thick 
bark, whose epidermis is white and perfectly similar to that of the White 
Birch and the Canoe Birch. The small branches, likewise resemble those 
of the species just mentioned, being slender, flexible, and of a brown color 
spotted with white. 
The Birch blooms early in the spring ; the fertile and barren flowers are 
borne by different branches of the same tree. The barren flowers are 
disposed in pendulous aments about an inch long ; the fertile flowers are 
greenish, small, and not conspicuous. The seeds also are very small, and 
are collected round a common stem, in the form of aments : each of them 
is covered with a scale, and furnished with two membranous, wings. The 
leaves are alternate, nearly triangular, acuminate, and irregularly toothed ; 
they vary in size according to the age of the tree and to the nature of the 
soil on which it grows ; in very dry lands they are not more than an inch 
in length. 
In the north of Europe, the Birch affords a singular variety of resources 
to the inhabitants, who make use, with admirable ingenuity, of its wood, 
bark and leaves. But the expedients to which they are obliged to have 
recourse, for defence against the extreme intensity of the cold, prove how 
little these regions have been favoured by the Creator. In Sweden, Norway 
and Finland, this wood is most commonlyemployed bythe wheel-wright, 
and serves for the manufacture of almost all the implements of husbandry. 
It is used by turners for bowls, plates, spoons, chairs, etc. The trunk, like 
that of the Canoe Birch, affords pieces immediately below the first rami- 
fication, which, when polished, present beautiful wavings of the grain, and 
form elegant articles of furniture. 
The bark is also subservient to a great variety of economical uses : 
boxes, baskets and sandals are made of it ; it is placed between the soles 
of the shoes, or in the Crown of the hat, as a defence against humidity: 
and sometimes it is wrapped around the lower part of posts to preserve 
them from decay. It endures many years uninjured, even when exposed 
to the vicissitudes of the atmosphere. To prepare the skin of the reindeer, 
the Laplanders cut this bark into small pieces, which they macerate, and 
afterwards boil in water, with the addition of a little salt. The skins are 
plunged repeatedly into this decoction warmed, and are allowed to remain 
in it several days ; when taken out they are vigorously curried to render 
them pliable and soft ; thus prepared they are hardly permeable by water. 
In Russia, by slowly burning the bark of large Birches in kilns or furnaces, 
Vol. II.— 8 
