CHAP. CIV.

ketula'ceaj. BE'TULA.

1701

not abound naturally, no British tree is more ornamental; and the commonsort may there be introduced singly, and in groups and masses, along with allthe different species and varieties of the genus. Sir Thomas Dick Lauderobserves that some birch trees should always be planted near a house, forthe very purpose of filling the air with their fragrance, which is given out ingreat abundance, particularly after rain or heavy dew; more especially inspring, when the resinous matter which produces this fragrance is most abun-dant on the buds and young leaves.

Poetical Allusions. The birch does not appear to have been celebrated byany ancient writers, though it has been mentioned by most of the modernpoets. Shenstone introduces it in his Schoolmistress, when alluding to thebirchen rods : —

“ And all in sight doth rise a birchen tree,

Which Learning near her little dome did stow;

Whilome a twig of small regard to see,

Though now so wide its waving branches flow,

And work the simple vassals mickle woe :

For not a wind might curl the leaves that blew,

But their limbs shudder’d, and their pulse beat low ;

And, as they look’d, they found their horror grew,

And shaped it into rods, and tingled at the view.”

Pope has also immortalised birch rods in his Dunciad. The beauty of the birchtree, and the extreme gracefulness of its foliage, render it a fitting emblemof elegance. Coleridge calls it —

— ** Most beautiful

Of forest trees —the Lady of the woods.”

and Keats describes —

— ” The silvery 6temsOf delicate birch trees.”

Professor Wilson, also, gives a beautiful description of a birch tree in his Isleof Palms.

— “ On the green slopeOf a romantic glade we sate us down,

Amid the fragrance of the yellow broom ;

While o’er our heads the weeping birch tree stream’dIts branches, arching like a fountain shower.”

Many other modern poets have mentioned this tree, and described its varioususes. Phillips says : —

-“ Even afflictive birch,

Cursed by unletter’d idle youth, distilsA limpid current from her wounded bark,

Profuse of nursing sap.”

and Leyden : —

** Sweet bird of the meadow, soft be thy rest:

Thy mother will wake thee at morn from thy nest;

She has made a soft nest, little redbreast, for thee,

Of the leaves of the birch, and the moss of the tree.”

Numerous other instances might be given; but these may suffice to show thepopularity of the tree among the observers and lovers of nature.

Soil, Situation, Propagation, Culture, tyc. In the beginning of the lastcentury (see p. 102.), the Earl of Haddington, who was the greatest and mostjudicious planter of his time, called the birch an amphibious plant; as it growson rich or poor, wet or dry, sandy or rocky situations, nor refuses anysoil or climate whatever. Though the birch is found in every kind of soil, asSang observes, “ from that of a deep moist loam in a low bottom, to a poorsandy, gravelly, or moorish earthor, according to Ray, " in turfy soil oversand, ” alike in plains and in mountainous situations ; yet it “ luxuriates mostin deep loams, lying on a porous subsoil, or in alluvial soil, by the sides ofrivers, or smaller streams. Even in such situations,” Sang continues, “ thoughamong stones and rocks, as on the River Dee, in Aberdeenshire, in particular,the birch flourishes most exuberantly. On the sides of hills, in dry soils, itgrows slowly; but on such its timber is most durable.” {Plant. Kal., p. 51.)

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