BIRCH 



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BIRCH 



BIRCHES 



Yellow Birch. The yellow birch, sometimes 

 called the gray birch, is a tree from fifty to 

 seventy-five feet in height, with a broad, round 

 top. The bark may be yellow or dark gray, but 

 on young twigs it is silvery yellow. The thin 

 layers often break, forming loose ends which 

 give the tree a ragged appearance. The yellow 

 birch is found from Newfoundland south as far 

 as Delaware, east to North Carolina and Ten- 

 nessee, and west to Minnesota. The wood is 

 valuable for furniture, sleigh frames and a large 

 number of small articles. It is one of the best 

 of timber trees. 



Red Birch, or River Birch. The bark of this 

 tree is a dark reddish-brown, varying on the 

 different branches from cinnamon to silver. 

 The red birch is a tall graceful tree, reaching a 

 height of sixty to ninety feet. It is the birch 

 of the South, being found along rivers and in 

 ponds and marshes from Massachusetts to 

 Florida and west as far as Texas. When trans- 

 planted, it flourishes equally well in the North- 

 ern states. 



Cherry Birch, or Sweet Birch. This species 

 is found throughout the Northern United States 

 and Canada, as far west as the Great Plains. 



Its branches are slender, with delicate twigs. 

 The tree reaches a height of sixty to eighty 

 feet, and has a beautiful, rounded top. The 

 wood is dark brown, hard and close-grained, 

 and is valuable especially for furniture and 

 interior decorations. Boys chew the twigs for 

 the flavor of wintergreen in the sap, and from 

 the sap the genuine birch beer is made. Much 

 of the latter, however, is made from chemicals. 

 White Birch, or Aspen-leaved Birch. This 

 is a small, graceful tree, found along the At- 

 lantic coast from Nova Scotia to Delaware and 

 northwest to Lake Ontario. It rarely grows 

 higher than forty feet, and has slender hori- 

 zontal branches and small, dainty, tremulous 

 leaves that in shape and poise resemble those 

 of the aspen. Its bark is chalky white or 

 grayish, is hard and close and not easily sepa- 

 rated into layers. Dark-colored V-shaped 

 patches appear on the bark wherever there has 

 been a bud or branch. The wood of the white 

 birch is used for making spools, shoe pegs and 

 wood-pulp and is also valued as a fuel. This 

 tree is hardy, and will thrive in almost any 

 soil, though it is generally found in dry, grav- 

 elly places. W.F.R. 



