Birches 



35 



oil is said also to prevent damage to the books by 

 mildew. 



Birch wood. The wood of the white birch is used as 

 a fuel for smoking hams and herrings, because of the 

 flavor which it imparts. Being light colored, soft, and 

 easily worked, it is used for making spoons, ladles, bowls, 

 and fish casks. Spools, wooden shoes, ox yokes, chairs, 

 and tables also are made of it. Charcoal made from it 

 is burned, in forges, and soot made from birch fires is 

 used for making printer's ink. 



The wood of the paper birch is used for fuel, shoe 

 pegs, spools, and toys. The yellow birch and sweet 

 birch yield wood that makes fine furniture and a good 

 interior finish for houses. It is often stained dark red 

 and varnished. It is then said to have a " mahogany 

 finish." Few trees are useful for so many purposes as 

 is the birch. 



Birches in the far north. The paper birch grows in 

 Newfoundland, in Labrador, about Great Slave Lake, 

 and along the valley of the Yukon. Dwarf birches, 

 which are mere shrubs, grow even farther north. They 

 are common in Greenland and in the arctic barrens of 

 America and Asia, beyond the northern limit of trees. 

 In these frigid regions the birches have for companions 

 several kinds of willows, only a few inches tall, crow- 

 berry, bearberry, and a number of other low shrubs, 

 besides lichens, mosses, and, during the short summer 

 season, many herbs with brightly colored blossoms. 



Size of branches and size of leaves. Have you ever 

 thought of any connection between the size of a tree's 

 leaves and the coarseness or slenderness of its branches? 



