Minnesota Plant Life. 



247 



difficulty in the others. Of the trees, the canoe birch will be 

 known by its white bark, the river birch by the stems of the 

 fruiting catkins and the brown or greenish-brown bark, the 

 black birch by the sessile fruiting catkins and the leaves of shin- 

 ing green, the yellow birch by the dull green color of the leaf, 

 otherwise like the black birch. All of these just mentioned are 

 trees, while the rest are shrubs. In the low birch the twigs 

 are not covered with glandular pimples, but such are present 

 on the twigs of the glandular birch. Of all the birches the 



Fig. 113. The paper or canoe birch. After photograph bj- Williams. 



canoe birch is the most interesting, on account of the peculiar 

 bark that plays so important a part in the domestic arts of the 

 Indians who employ it in the manufacture of a great variety 

 of useful objects. Their canoes and the houses, dishes, bas- 

 kets, drinking-cups and scrolls for writing are produced from 

 birch-bark; while from the wood they manufacture a variety 

 of tools, snow-shoe frames, sledge-runners and tepee-poles. By 

 the whites, birch wood is employed in cabinet making, for 

 spools, for shoe-pegs and for lasts. The wood of the red birch 

 or river birch is of particular value in the manufacture of fur- 



