BIRCH. 



(Betula.) 



The birches grow in Europe, Asia, and North America, 

 their ranges on the latter continent extending far into the 

 north.* Their history is remote and probably began with 

 attention to the bark rather than to the wood. 



Birch-bark is smooth, pliable, water-tight, and by reason 

 of its resinous oils so durable that it often remains intact long 

 after the wood inside of fallen trees has disappeared. ( It is 

 separable into thin layers and was early employed as a writing 

 material. t ) Houses have been covered by it and it has been 

 used for cordage, utensils, "damp courses," and even rude 

 clothing. The American Indians employed it for canoes, 

 tents, troughs, and buckets. The wood is hard, heavy, 

 strong, fine-grained, and beautiful. It shrinks^ in seasoning, 

 works easily, stands well when not exposed, vlt is used for 

 spools, woodenware, and other small articles, as well as for 

 interior finish and cabinet work. Figured birch is one of the 

 most beautiful of American cabinet woods. | Birch is often 

 stained so as to imitate cherry and mahogany; the best imita- 

 tions of the latter wood are of birch. Birch is commercially 

 divided, according to the quantity of heart wood present, into 

 white birch and red birch. The wood is " white " when the 

 amount is small, and as heartwood increases with age the 

 same tree might at one time afford white and at another red 

 wood. 



The paper birch (Betula papyrifera) is the American species, 

 most noted for its bark. This tree prefers the north and thrives 



* Birch forms large forests in the North. 



t Pliny and Plutarch agree that the famous books of Numa Pompilius, written 

 700 years before Christ, were upon birch-bark. 



t The banquet-hall of the famous Auditorium Hotel in Chicago is finished in 

 birch. 



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