THE BIRCH TREE. IF you wish to see a tree that is really beautiful and elegant, go and look for a Birch tree in perfection. It is a lovely object, with its elegant shape, small neat leaves, slender twigs, and its bark, which, like layers of beaten silver, encompass the stem. But do not suppose, for all this, that the birch tree is not hardy, for if you do you will be mistaken. No tree that grows will bear the bleak blasts of winter better. It creeps up the steep sides of the snow-clad mountains, and will live even where the hardy pine would die. In the English marshes, the Irish bogs, and the Scottish mosses, it is equally hardy, covering many of them over with vegetation, which otherwise would not have a single tree growing in them. In some countries, the inhabitants are not well provided with timber, and there the birch is valued for its wood; but with us it is little estimated, having better within our reach. The wood, in England, is used for hoops and clogs; arrows used to be formed of it in the days of archery. The sap makes a capital wine. The smaller branches are cut up for yard and stable brooms. If we estimate the birch according to the money it will bring when cut down, it will not rank very high in the scale of our regard; but if we value it according to the beauty of its appearance, when standing in the wood, it will rise considerably in our estimation. THE LIME TREE. No doubt you have seen avenues of Lime trees; for the grateful shade that is afforded by the broad and beautiful leaves of the lime tree, admirably fit it for places where shelter is desired. The blossom of the lime is of a delicate light green colour, and is fragrant in its odour. We once saw, in Norfolk, a tree of this description, ninety feet high, and nearly three in circumference; but this size, great as it may appear, is not equal to that attained by the lime trees which grow in Switzerland, and in many parts of Germany. Small toys, and light wooden wares, are frequently made of the timber of this tree, it being delicately white; and another great advantage in using it is, that it does not much injure the tools employed in working it up. A good board of the lime tree, is a capital thing for the leatherseller and the shoemaker to cut upon; nor is there any better timber than this for small sculpture of an ornamental kind. Indeed it has been called "the carver's tree," on account of its suitability for carved work, and for moulds used in casting ornamented iron articles. The bark of the lime tree is used, abroad, for packing up hemp, flax, and other commodities, being prepared in a particular manner, and formed into matting. You must have seen matting of this description used in covering the furniture of the upholsterer, and the fruit trees of the gardener. THE BAY TREE. THE Bay tree is one of those trees which can never be seen here flourishing in its full growth. It is, indeed, with us merely a bush, or shrub; but, in climes more congenial to its nature, it spreads forth its branches abroad, and attains a height of twenty or thirty feet, presenting an appearance of great elegance and beauty. This tree is the laurel of the ancients, but its leaf is not so large, nor does it carry that smooth, glossy surface, that is so peculiar to the leaf of the common laurel. The vast variety among trees is a source of much gratification: even to the eye of a common observer, the different character of trees affords pleasure; but to the man of science and reflection, it yields a much more exalted delight. The bay tree is a native of warm climates, thriving in the open air, and |