CHAPTER FOUR 



BIRCHES 



The birch, most shy and ladylike of trees. 



LOWELL 



BECAUSE of their 

 grace and beauty birches 

 are a favorite subject 

 for landscape artists 

 and photographers, and 

 they are frequently 

 planted in parks and on 

 lawns. The white and 

 the paper birch are the 

 species of birch most 

 frequently planted for 

 ornamental purposes. 

 They are especially 

 effective when placed 

 among evergreens, be- 

 cause of the contrast in 

 colors. Many of the 

 white birches have slen- 

 der, drooping branchlets with deeply cut leaves that 

 might be taken for those of some varieties of maples. 

 White birch grows wild in Europe and Canada and 

 to some extent in our Northern states, but with us 

 the paper birch is more common. Where a forest of 

 spruce or of certain species of pine as white pine 

 has been burned, paper birch and aspens spring up. In 

 the abundant sunlight of the open spaces these trees 



33 



U. S. Forest Service 

 FIG. 20. White birches. 



