1712

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

1561 *

1565

nearly a uniform diameter, straight, and destituteof branches for 30 ft. or 40 ft. It is particularlyremarkable for the colour and arrangement of itsepidermis, which is of a brilliant golden yellow,and frequently divides itself into very fine strips,rolled backwards at the ends, and attached in themiddle. The young shoots and leaves, at their un-folding, are downy. Towards the end of summer,when fully expanded, the leaves are perfectly smooth,except the petiole, which remains covered with fineshort hairs. The leaves are about 3j in. long, and2Jin. broad; oval, acuminate, and bordered withsharp irregular teeth. The leaves, the bark, and theyoung shoots, have all an agreeable taste and smell,similar to those of the black birch (B. lenta),though they lose it in drying. In its fructification,this species nearly resembles B. lenta. The femalecatkins are borne on short peduncles, and are twelveor fifteen lines long, and 5 or 6 lines in diameter ;straight, of an oval shape, and nearly cylindrical.

The scales which compose them are trifid, pointed, and about 3 lines inlength; viewed through a lens, they are seen to be downy. Beneath thesescales are the sinall-winged seeds, which are ripe, in America, about the 1stof October. ( N . Anier. Syl., ii. p. 104.) It abounds in the forests of NovaScotia, of New Brunswick, and of the districtof Maine. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania,it is rare, and only met with in moist and ,* -/ *

shady situations. It is confounded by theinhabitants of these countries with B. lenta,which is very abundant there, and to whichit bears a striking resemblance. In the dis-trict of Maine, it is always found in cool andrich soils, among ash trees, the hemlockspruce, and the black spruce. It attains theheight of 6ftft. or 70 ft., with a trunk ofmore than 2 ft. in diameter. It requiresa moister soil than most of the other Ame-rican birches. “ The wood of the yellowbirch is inferior in quality and appearanceto that of B. lenta, and never assumes sodeep a shade; but it is strong, and, whenwell polished, makes handsome furniture.

In Nova Scotia, and in the district of Maine,it is found by experience, to be every wayproper for that part of the framework ofvessels which always remains in the water.

In the district of Maine, it is preferred for the yokes of cattle, and for the framesof sledges; and, in Nova Scotia, the young saplings are almost exclusively em-ployed for making the hoops of casks.” (N. Amer. Syl., vol.ii. p. 105.) The woodis excellent for fiiel, and the bark is highly esteemed by tanners. Boards of thistree were formerly imported into Ireland and Scotland in large quantities, andwere much used in joinery. Michaux considers it better adapted to the soiland climate ol Germany than to those of France, on account of the moisturewhich it requires. Though this species has been in British gardens since 1767,when it was introduced by Mr. Gordon of the Mile End Nursery, yet it isnot common in collections. There are plants in the arboretum of Messrs.Loddiges, but they are small; and to us they appear to bear a close resem-blance in their leaves to B. lenta. Willdenow mentions that there are nolarge trees of this kind about Berlin. Plants, in the London nurseries, are