COMMUNICATIONS. 241 



The following lines from Mr. Longfellow's Hiawatha, are in- 

 teresting, and show how this tree is treated : 



'OJ 



"With his knife the tree he girdled 

 Just beneath its lowest branches, 

 Just above the roots he cut it, 

 Till the sap came oozing outward : 

 Down the trunk from top to bottom 

 Sheer he cleft the bark asunder, 

 "With a wooden wedge he raised it, 

 Stripped it from the trunk unbroken I 



With this he made a canoe, which 



" floated on the river 



Like a yellow leaf in autumn, 

 Like a yellow water lily." 



41. Betula excelsa, of Aiion. — Yellow Birch. 



This tree is found in the northern and central portions of the 

 State, though much less common than the last, and its bark has 

 none of the more useful qualities of that species. It may be 

 known by the sweet or aromatic taste of the young twigs, and 

 by the bark, which is more rough, of a yellowish color, and does 

 not peel off in thin layers. Emerson says of this tree, that " it 

 has not often been cultivated for ornament, but it has great 

 beauty. In traveling, we sometimes see it on the edge of a wood, 

 with its abundant, soft, green, often drooping foliage, between 

 masses of wnich is seen the gleam of the light bronze trunk with 

 its silver and pearly lustre — showing what might be its effect if 

 introduced in ornamental woods. The wood of this tree is ap- 

 plied to numerous uses. Bending readily, it is particularly 

 adapted to the making of the posts and bars of chairs. It is used 

 for the staves of small and inferior casks, for boot-trees and for 

 joists and bedsteads. It is valuable as fuel." 



Order XI. Salicace^. — The Willow Tribe. 



42. SaUxdisc'lor^ of Muhlenherg. — Glaucous Willow. 



This small tree or large shrub is very common about wet 

 springy places in Wiscon.-in. The leaves are broader in pro- 

 portion than most of the willows, and are whitish-glaucous be- 

 neath. The scales of the catkins are oblanceolate, hairy, acute ; 

 the o viaries densely silky. The swelling of the catkins gives us 

 the earliest indication of the approaching spring. 

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