BIRCH. The birch is extremely valuable among our forest trees, from the variety of materials which it furnishes to the manufac turing arts. The common birch is one of the hardiest of known trees, and flourishes best in cold countries. The timber, without possessing any one quality in an eminent degree, possesses many qualities in a very useful degree. It is employed in France for the felloes of wheels ; and in Russia for the construction of small rustic carriages. On many parts of the continent it is used for many articles of furniture, cooperage, and turnery, and sabots or wooden shoes. The Highlanders of Scotland use birch for so many purposes that they are said to, 'make everything of it ;' they build their houses of it ; make their beds, chairs, tables, dishes and spoons of it ; construct their mills of it ; make their carts, ploughs, barrows, gates, and fences of it ; and even manufacture ropes of it. The above uses apply to the white birch. The black or canoe birch is also of great value ; it flourishes in North America, and is there applied to numerous purposes : some speci mens of the timber are so beautifully grained that they are cut into veneers and used in cabinet work. The wood of the tall or Ame rican birch is used in the United States and Nova Scotia for yokes of cattle and frames of sledges, for hoops of casks, for articles of furniture, and for many other purposes. The wood of the pliant birch has a fine and close grain, a considerable degree of strength, and takes a brilliant polish. It is used in the United States for tables, bedsteads, arm-chairs, sofas, coach-panels, shoe-lasts, and a great variety of purposes.
The bark of all the species of birch is of very considerable value, especially in cold northern countries, where it is applied to a great variety of uses. It is very durable, and little acted on by air or water. In some countries it is used as a coping for walls and a covering for roofs. The bark of large trees is cut by the Laplanders into pieces large enough to form capes or short cloaks. It is also employed for boots, shoes, baskets, boxes, mats, cordage, harness, and thread. In Kamtschatka the inner bark is dried and ground, and mixed with oatmeal to form an article of food; and the same people eat the bark in small pieces with the roe of fish. It is much used for tanning leather; and a yel lowish brown dye which it yields is employed in some countries for dyeing woollens and rein-deer skins. The bark of the canoe birch is used in America for roof coverings, baskets, boxes, portfolios, paper, and inner soles of shoes ; but it is more extensively employed in making. the canoes of the voyageurs, en gaged in the fur-trade of Canada : such a canoe, capable of accommodating four per sons will weigh no more than forty lbs.
Tents are also made of this bark. The bark of the tall birch is used in tanning ; that of the pliant birch is stripped white in the green state, by the Kamtschatkadales, cut into nar row strips like vermicelli, and stewed with caviare.
The branches and young shoots are also of much value. They are made into hoops, brooms, faggot-ties, baskets, hurdles, cream whisks, and similar articles—including the well-known rod of our old-fashioned school masters. The Alpine mountaineers make torches of them. The Laplanders construct tents with birch branches covered with turf. In the Scottish highlands the branches are employed as fuel in the distillation of whiskey, being found to impart a flavour to it which enhances its value; they are similarly em ployed for smoking hams and herrings. The young branches of the dwarf birch furnish beds and fuel to the Laplanders ; and those of the black birch are employed in the United States for making hoops for rice-casks.
The leaves, catkins, and other green parts, have also their value. The leaves are eaten by goats and rabbits. A yellow colour is ob tained from them, useful in painting and dye ing. The Finlanders use the dried leaves as tea. The buds and catkins afford a substi tute for bees' wax. A bed stuffed with birch leaves is said to be useful to rheumatic per sons by promoting perspiration. The leaves of the dwarf birch yield a peculiar kind of fungus, from which the more or amadou is prepared, and which the Laplanders employ as a medicine in many painful diseases ; and its seeds afford nourishment to the ptarmigan or white partridge, a very important bird in Lapland.
The sap of the birch is made to yield beer, wine, spirit, vinegar, and sugar, according to the mode of treatment ; the tree being tapped to allow the sap to flow or ooze out. Birch beer is made by fermenting the sap with yeast, hot-water, and hops; birch wine is made by boiling the sap with sugar or honey, and fermenting, clarifying and flavouring in various ways ; but spirit is made by distilla tion; birch vinegar by allowing the acetous L fermentation to supervene on the vinous ; and birch sugar by boiling and evaporating the sap.
To complete the catalogue of the use of the birch we have to mehtion the fuel, the ashes, and the oil. The wood gives a bright and ardent flame, and is much employed for smelting iron in France, Russia, and Sweden —its charcoal burns a long time, and is in much demand for making gunpowder and black crayons. The ashes are rich in potash. An oil, much used in Russia, is obtained by burning birch bark in close receptacles.