54 
COMMON EUROPEAN BIRCH. 
an empyreumatic oil is obtained, with which a leather is prepared highly 
esteemed for durability. 
The leaves of the Birch, both green and dry, are given to cattle. When 
young, they are used by the inhabitants as a substitute for tea ; they are 
also employed to dye wool of a yellowish color. 
The sap of the Birch is very abundant in the spring, and, by evapo- 
ration, it affords a sirup, rich and sugary, but incapable of crystalization. 
By the addition of fermenting matter, this sap is converted into beer, into 
a species of wine, or into vinegar. Such are the principal uses of the 
European Birch, all the valuable properties of which are completely united 
in the Canoe Birch of North America. 
England and the south of Germany being favoured with a milder climate, 
and, consequently, with a greater variety of trees than the more northern 
countries, are not dependent upon the Birch for so great a variety of uses ; 
but even here it is a valuable possession, as it is proved by the experience 
of upwards of two centuries, to grow more rapidly than any other tree in 
barren soils. Hence, in Europe, all dry, meager, gravelly lands, analogous 
to those which, in the centre and in the north of the United States, pro- 
duce the Black Jack Oak, the Bear Oak, and the Scrub Oak, are found 
to be more profitably devoted to plantations of Birch than to any other 
species of culture. In this manner, also, they are gradually prepared for 
the growth of more valuable trees, such as the Oaks, the Chesnuts, etc. 
Plantations of Birch are formed by sowing the seed, or by setting out 
young plants collected in the woods, or, which is far preferable, procured 
from a nursery. When the first method is employed, the ground should 
be turned with an iron-toothed harrow, in damp weather in the month of 
November. Fifteen pounds of seed, including the scales, should be sown 
upon an acre, and afterwards covered by drawing over it a harrow made 
of brush-wood. 
Nothing contributes more to the success of the seeds than previously 
burning the noxious herbs and bushes growing upon the ground. It is 
observed in the north of Europe and of the United States, that the Birch 
reappears, as if by enchantment, in forests that have been destroyed by 
fire. The Birch seed is sometimes mixed with rye, which, springing with 
the young plants, protects them during the first summer from the sun, and 
which, by the profit of the crop indemnifies the husbandman for a part of 
the expense of forming his plantation. If the ground is burthened with 
the young plants, a part of them may be taken up the third year to fill the 
vacant spaces in woods composed of Oaks, of Pines, etc. They may be 
sold also to persons who prefer forming their coppices by transplantation, 
which is the mode generally employed in Europe. In the month of Nov- 
ember, holes are formed 5 feet distant, in a straight line, to which the 
youn£ plants are committed, in moist weather which promises rain. In 
