248 
TETRANDRIA. DIGYNIA. Betula 
Dicks. II. S.— Fl. Ross. 40. D, F, F, G. —( E. Bot. 2326. E.) — Amaen. 
Acad. 1. at p. 351— FI. Lapp. 6. 4 — Lightf. 25. at ii. p. 575— FI. Dan. 91. 
saps one bushel of malt will make as good ale as four bushels with ordinary waters. Vid.Dr. 
Yonge, in Phil. Tr. 43. Birch juice is chiefly recommended in scorbutic disorders, and is 
considered to be diuretic. 
■ ■ ■“ Even afflictive Birch, 
Cursed by the unlettered idle youth, distils 
A limpid current from her wounded bark, 
Profuse of nursing-sap.” 
Thus it appears that the Birch tree supplies to the northern peasant his house ; his 
bread, his wine, and the vessels to put them in ; and some part of his clothing ; the seeds, 
too, are the food of the ptarmigan, upon which, in a great measure, he subsists; and 
the leaves sometimes furnish his bed. From Birch also is prepared the Moxa, which he 
considers an efficacious remedy in all painful diseases.” Sylv. Sketches. Birch buds exhale 
a delicious fragrance after vernal showers ; as remarked by Sir Walter in one of his happy 
illustrations of Highland scenery, 
“ The Birch-trees wept in fragrant balm 
And hence doubly eligible for pleasure grounds. E.) The leaves also are employed by 
the Finland women in forming a soft elastic couch for the cradle of infancy. It is but 
too well known that, during winter, hares do great injury to trees by feeding on their 
bark. Lime and Alder are said to be exempt from their depredations ; but of Birch they 
are particularly fond. E.) Horses, cows, goats and sheep eat it. Swine refuse it. (On 
this tree the Entomologist may discover Rhynchites Betulee, Elciter holosericeus, Depo- 
raus Betulee, Apion Gylienhalice , Haltica oleracea, Chrysomela clavicornis, C. Betulee, 
Geometra pendularia , preznotata , net at a, and olivaria, Platypteryx curvula, Buprestis 
viridis, Livia ( Coccus ) Betulee, Vanessa Antiopa, Thecla Betulee, Tortrix Betuletana , 
and trapezama, Platypteryx lacertianaria. The beautiful Agaricus muscarius var. 4, 
seems to delight in the shade of the Birch tree. Both in England and Scotland the finest 
specimens w r e have seen were so situated, as though by dripping, exhalation, or some 
other process, a peculiar pabulum was afforded. The crimson patches frequently apparent 
on the leaves are assemblages of Erineum Betulee : Grev. Scot. Crypt. 21, and the very 
curious Erineum tortuosum, in ferruginous or whitish irregular spots; with peridia long, 
cylindrical, entangled with each other ; is sometimes similarly situated. Grev. 94. Dothidea 
(, Sphceria ) betulina. Grev. Scot. Crypt. 200. “ Epiphyllous, somewhat angular and irre¬ 
gular in form, subconfluent, tuberculose, black, shining, black within, the cellules 
white.” On leaves of B. alba , more frequent than on B. nana. On the trunks and 
branches of dead Birch trees will be found Didymasporiuni betulinum , produced beneath 
the epidermis of the bark, bursting through it and becoming effused, in the form of little 
deep black conical masses, one to three lines in breadth ; as represented in Grev. Scot. 
Crypt. 273. Birch bark, (continually peeling off, and affording a beautiful illustration of 
the vegetable epidermis or cuticle,) when burnt, is so bituminous as to correct impure air ; 
and even “ Bitumen ex ea Galliee excoquunt ,” says Pliny; who also makes allusion to the 
fasces, or bundles of Birchen rods which were carried by the lictors before the Roman 
magistrates, with an ax bound up in the middle of them so as to appear at top, “ terri- 
bilis magistratuum virgis.” Nor has Coles, in his Paradise of Plants, neglected to record 
the more opprobrious application of these ductile twigs; “the civill uses whereunto the 
Birch tree serveth are many; as for the punishment of children both at home and at 
school; for it hath an admirable influence upon them, to quiet them when they are out 
of order; and therefore some call it Make-peace.” And Shenstone, in his Schoolmistress, 
admirably describes the effect even of a glance of the “ Birchen tree” upon the juvenile 
culprits : 
iC For not a wind might curl the leaves that blew, 
But their limbs shuddered, and their pulse beat low; 
And as they looked they found iheir horror grow, 
And shaped it into rods, and tingled at the view.” 
Since, however, has commenced the high career of the vaunted “ march of intellect,” such 
applications are no longer found necessary to stimulate the energies of “ operative ” academi¬ 
cians ; and, were they not still deemed indispensable for the excitation of patrician talent in 
