270 FIEST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



BIRCH. — Wood heavy, hard, strong, of fine texture; sapwood whitish, 

 heartwood in shades of brown with red and yellow ; very handsome, 

 with satiny luster, equaling cherry. The wood shrinks considerably in 

 drying, works and stands well, and takes a good polish, but is not 

 durable if exposed. Birch is used for finishing lumber in building, 

 in the manufactm-e of furniture, in wood turnery for spools, boxes, 

 wooden shoes, etc., for shoe lasts and pegs, for wagon hubs, ox yokes, 

 etc., also in wood carving. The birches are medium-sized trees, form 

 extensive forests northward, and occur scattered in most of the broad- 

 leaved forests of the eastern United States. 



1. Cherry birch (Betula lenta) (black birch, sweet birch, mahogany 



birch) : Medium-sized tree ; not common. Maine to ^Michigan 

 and to Tennessee. 



2. Yellow birch (Betula Intea) (gray birch) : Medium-sized tree ; 



the common birch of the market. Maine to Minnesota and south- 

 ward to Tennessee. 



3. Red birch {Betula nigra) (river birch) : Small- to medium-sized 



tree ; very common ; lighter and less valuable than the preceding. 

 New England to Texas and Missouri. 



4. White or pater birch (^Betula papyrifera) : Generally a small tree ; 



common, forming forests ; w'ood of good quality but lighter. All 

 along the northern boundary of United States and northward, from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific. 



BLACK WALNUT. (.See AValnut.) ^ 



BLUE BEECH. 



Blue beech (C<irpinus carnlbnana') (hornbeam, water beech, iron- 

 wood) : Wood very heavy, hard, strong, very stiif, of rather fine 

 texture and white color ; not durable in the ground ; shrinks and 

 checks greatly, but works and stands well. Used chiefly in 

 turnery for tool handles, etc. Abroad much used by millwrights 

 and wheelwrights. A small tree, largest in the Southwest, but 

 found in nearly all parts of the eastern United States. 



BOIS D'ARC. (See Osage orange.) 



BUCKEYE — HORSE-CHESTNUT. — Wood light, soft, not strong, often 

 quite tough, of fine and uniform texture and creamy white color. It 



