COMMON EUROPEAN BIRCH. 
55 
tfie course of the summer, a day is chosen for bestowing a light tillage upon 
the land, to clear it of the noxious herbs, as is practised for Indian Corn. 
This is all the labor required to ensure the success of the plantation. 
These coppices may bp cut every five years, if they are destined for 
making brooms, or every eight or nine years for hoops, which are substi- 
tuted for those of Oak and of Chesnut ; at twelve years of age, they afford 
excellent fuel for baking, brick-making, and for all manufactures which 
require a brisk and clear fire. 
I have entered into these details concerning the propagation of the Birch, 
because, among the trees of the Old Continent, it is one of the most profit- 
able for cultivation upon poor lands. Proprietors in. the United States, 
who read the works which have been published in Germany, France and 
England, on the management of forests, will be able to appreciate, in this 
respect, the importance of the Birch. 
The European Birch is so nearly related in its bark, its foliage, the qual- 
ity of its wood, and in other properties, to the White Birch and to the 
Canoe Birch, that it appears to occupy a middle place between these two 
species. Its principal resemblance to the White Birch is seen in its leaves, 
and in its favorable growth upon the most sterile soils, upon those even 
which are at the same time meager and humid. The most remarkable 
difference consists in the larger size of the European species, and in the 
superior quality of its wood. The inferiority of the White Birch is not 
attributable to the climate, for it exhibits the same dimensions in the Dis- 
trict of Maine, and in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The White Birch of 
Europe and the Canoe Birch resemble each other in their wood, their bark, 
and their pmple proportions, which are perhaps superior in the American 
species. They differ in the form of their leaves, and they grow on very 
different soils : the Canoe Birch is exclusively attached to rich lands con- 
stantly cool, and capable of yielding an abundant harvest of corn or of 
clover, and it propagates itself naturally only in that part of North America 
which corresponds in climate to the 54th and 55th degrees of latitude in 
Europe. Between the White Birch of Europe and the Red Birch, I have 
observed no resemblance, except in the suppleness of their twigs ; which 
is more remarkable in the Red Birch. 
The length of this description will not be deemed superfluous by per- 
sons who justly appreciate the importance of precise ideas on subjects like 
the present. 
PLATE LXX. 
A branch with leaves and aments of the natural size. Fig. 1 , A seed. Fig. 
2, A scale which covers the seed. 
