The Birch-Tree.
Botanical name:
Betula.
A TALL and handsome tree, common in our woods and hedges. The bark is smooth and white. The young shoots are reddish, and they are small and long. The leaves are beautiful; they are short, roundish, of a fine bright green, and notched about the edges. The flowers are inconsiderable; the fruit is a little scaly globule, preceding the leaves in spring.
The juice of the birch-tree, procured by boring a hole in it in spring, is diuretic, and good against the scurvy. The leaves, fresh gathered, and boiled in water, afford a decoction, which acts in the same manner, and is good in dropsies: and in all cutaneous disorders, outwardly used.
