CHAP. CIV.

.betula'cf,.*. be'tula.

1695

to the height of 3500 ft. on some of the Highland mountains. According toDr. Walker, the birch grows higher on the Highland mountains than anyother tree except the mountain ash : but in this he must have been mis-taken ; because the extreme height at which the mountain ash is found inForfarshire is, according to Watson, 2500 ft.; and the birch is found, in variousplaces, 1000 ft. higher up the mountains. Some of the finest specimens ofthe weeping birch grow on the banks of rocky streams in North Wales. InEngland, the birch is supposed to have been once so plentiful in Berkshire asto have given the name to that county; though some suppose the name Berk-shire to be a corruption of Bare-oak, or Berroc, shire.

History. The common birch was known to the Greeks (seep. 18.) and tothe Romans. According to Pliny and Plutarch, the celebrated books whichNuma Pompilius composed 700 years before Christ, and which were buriedwith him on Mount Janiculum, were written on the bark of the birch tree.In the early days of Rome, the lictors had their fasces made of birch branches,which they carried before the magistrates to clear the way, beating the peopleback with the boughs. Pliny says that the birch was brought to Italy fromGaul; though, considering that it is a native of the Apennines, it is surprisingthat it should not have been known to the Romans as an indigenous tree.The birch was formerly used in England for ornamenting the houses duringRogation Week, in the same manner as holly is at Christmas. Gerard saysthe branches of the birch “ serve well to the decking up of houses and ban-quetting roomes for places of pleasure, and beautifying the streetes in the Crosse,orGang,Week, and such like.” The Cross, or Gang, Week, Phillips tells us, wasthe same as Rogation Week; which was called Gang Week from the crowds, organgs, of penitents going in that week to confession, before Whitsuntide. Itwas called Cross Week, from the crosses carried before the priests in the pro-cession on Ascension Day; and Rogation Week, from the Latin verb rogo, toask or pray. (Syl. Fior., i. p. 133.) Coles, writing in 1657, observes that, atthis season, as he “ rid through little Brickhill, in Buckinghamshire, everysign poste in the towne was bedecked with green birch.” We have observedthe same custom in Poland, at the same season; where, also, large boughs arefixed in the ground, against each side of the doors of the houses. The birchhas been used as an instrument of correction at schools from the earliest agesAnciently, says Evelyn, “ birch cudgels were used by the lictors, as now thegentler rods by our tyrannical pedagogues, for lighter faults.” The sight of abirch tree, observes the writer of the article Birch in the Nouveau Du Hamel,“ offers a vast subject of interesting meditation: but happy the man to whomits flexible pendent branches do not recall to mind that they were formerlyinstruments of punishment to him !” Gerard observes that, in his time,schoolmasters and parents do terrify their children with rods made of birch.”The use of these rods, however, both in schools and private families, is nowfast passing away, together with many other barbarous practices of our an-cestors. At present, the tree is planted in Britain in poor soils, and in exposedsituations, for sheltering others; in copses, for producing brooms, and for manyother valuable purposes; and, in favourable soils and situations, as being or-namental. On the Continent, and more especially in France and Germany, itis extensively planted as a fuel tree, on the poorest soils; and, in good soils,as a nurse for hard-wooded and resinous trees. In the north of Russia, andin Sweden and Norway, the natural woods of birch form the principal suppliesof fuel for large towns; and, in many places, also the principal timber forbuildings, furniture, and rural implements.

Properties and Uses. Naturally, the birch forms the food of various insects,when in leaf; and the buds and catkins, in the winter season, are eaten by nu-merous birds. The siskin, or aberdevine (Fringilla Spinus L.), feeds upon theseeds, which are its favourite food. The tree, when old, forms the habitat of va-rious lichens, mosses, and fungi; particularly Daedalea ftetiilina, and the fungus(Polyporus fomentarius) that produces the rnoxa. The leaves and young shootsare also occasionally eaten by cattle, sheep, and swine, though they are not fond

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