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HARDWOOD RECORD 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



Red or River Birch. 

 Ha nigra — Linn. 

 The range of growth of river birch is 

 through certain sections of New York and 

 Massachusetts; southward on the east side 

 of the Allegheny mountains to Florida; 

 through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and 

 Louisiana to the Trinity river district of 

 Texas; north to Indian Territory; through 

 eastern Kansas and Nebraska; cen- 

 tral Minnesota, southern Wisconsin 

 and Ohio. 



It is known as red birch in 

 Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New- 

 York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 

 Delaware, North Carolina, South 

 Carolina, Louisiana, Missouri, Wis- 

 consin, Kansas, Nebraska and Ohio ; 

 as river birch in Massachusetts, 

 Rhode Island. New Jersey, Dela- 

 ware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, 

 Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Mis- 

 souri, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio; 

 as water birch in the southern 

 states; as blue birch in Arkansas; 

 as black birch in Florida, Tennes- 

 see and Texas; as birch in North 

 and South Carolina, Mississippi and 

 Louisiana. 



The leaves of this tree are one 

 to three inches long; alternate; 

 oval, with pointed apex; saw- 

 toothed, thin and tough; in color 

 they are shiny, dark green above 

 and pale yellowish-green below; in 

 autumn they turn a dull yellow-; 

 tlieir petioles are short and thin. 



The flowers appear before the 

 leaves, in March or April; they 

 grow in catkins in groups of three, 

 staminate ones two to three inches 

 in length; in color, yellowish-brown; 

 the pistillate catkins are' about 

 three-fourths of an inch in length, 

 erect; fuzzy; light green in color. 



The fruit ripens in" June, and is 

 erect and cone-shaped, one to two 

 inches in length; the bracts are 

 fuzzy, and three-lobed ; the nut is 

 oval and hairy, with broad wings. 



The bark is a dark reddish-brown, 

 and deeply furrowed when old, its 

 surface scaly; on the branches it 

 has a silvery tinge and rolls back in 

 tattered plates; the lenticels are 

 pronounced. It is from the bark 

 that the tree derives the name 

 "red" birch. 



In height it ranges from seventy to ninety 

 feet, .and is sometimes five feet in diameter, 

 often divided at a distance of fifteen or more 

 feet from the ground, into two or three 

 diverging limbs of equal size, which support 

 the drooping, horizontal branehlets. The 

 whole presents a slender, graceful appearance, 

 in common with the other members of this 

 familv. 



FORTT-THIKD PAPER. 



The habitat of the river birch is tin- I ks 



of streams, lakes or swamps, in deep rich soil 

 often flooded for several weeks at a time; it 

 is the only semi-aquatic species, and in fact 

 the only birch which grows in the damp low- 

 lands of the South, where it attains its great- 

 est development. It is a desirable ornamental 

 tree, and is sometimes planted in copses to 

 prevent the banks of streams from washing. 



Mississippi, where its roots and base of 

 trunk are inundated for half the year. The 

 fruits of the red birch are ripe in June, and 

 the wind, shaking the erect cones, scatters 

 the seeds on the rich land from which the 

 water iias subsided. Here they germinate at 

 iiiiit, and are rooted, vigorous little seedlings 

 by the time the floods return, able to keep 

 tlieir heads above water, and to thrive like 

 their parents, adding color and 

 grace of line and motion to the 

 landscape of many different regions. 

 It is a surprise to find this, our 

 semi-aquatic and southernmost birch, 

 growing in apparent complacency 

 and comfort in dry, upland soil in 

 the New England states and Minne- 

 sota. But so it behaves in cultiva- 

 tion. It well exemplifies the versa- 

 tility of the family." 



The wood of Betula nigra is light 

 and hard, strong and close-grained; 

 the heartwood is light brown and 

 the sapwood yellowish. It is made 

 up into furniture, wooden shoes, 

 lasts, ox-yokes, woodenware, turnery, 

 and is used for fuel. 



The halftone illustrating this 

 sketch is from a photograph taken 

 on the property of the Montvale 

 Lumber Company in Swain county, 

 North Carolina. 



TY 



PICAL 1'OIiEST GROWTH RIVER BIRCH, 

 COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA. 



SWAIN 



In writing of Betula nigra, Rogers says: 

 "No birch loves the stream borders more 

 ardently than this southern member of the 

 family. The lustrous leaves do not conceal 

 the flying silken tatt?is of bark which cover 

 the tree to its leafy twigs the year round. 

 It is foolish to call 1;his tree nigra, for it is 

 not black but red, frjia top to bottom. It is 

 at its best along the bayous of the lower 



Oak and Pine. 



Positively standing first in the list 

 oJ American hardwoods is the oak, 

 and equally certain is it that white 

 pine will always bear the distinction 

 of being the king of soft woods. 

 The timber of the oak combines in 

 itself the essential elements of 

 strength, durability, hardness and 

 elasticity in a degree of which no 

 other tree can boast. In beauty it 

 is also unrivaled. It is an essential 

 material in ship building, architec- 

 ture, cabinet makiug, carving, coop- 

 erage and innumerable other indus- 

 tries. 



To make a list of the uses for 

 which white pine is employed would 

 be well-nigh impossible. This wood 

 never has had a peer for pattern 

 making or for sashes, and although 

 substituted in some instances to a 

 considerable extent at the present 

 time, it is invaluable for ship car- 

 pentry and exterior use in house 

 building. 

 Unfortunately both of these kings of the 

 American forest are nearing extinction. Prac- 

 tically every last remaining area of oak and 

 white pine timber in the United States is now 

 in the hands of operators, and the only hope 

 of a supply beyond the immediate future lies 

 in the comparatively small natural reforesta- 

 tion that can be depended upon, and the pros- 

 pect ivf a sane reforestry regime. 



