292 AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



other's edge, like the scales of an inverted cone, the 

 tips of the upper ones concealing the bases of the 

 lower leaves, thus giving a peculiar sort of imbricated 

 appearance to the foliage. The branches, ordinarily 

 slender, spread upward evenly, when unhindered in the 

 open, and shape themselves into characteristic pyra- 

 midal forms (the wigwams of the forest), though 

 it is not uncommon to find them singularly dis- 

 torted, with the main stems of the trees a trifle 

 bow-shaped, as they reach across a streamlet. The 

 wood is very soft and brittle, and hence practically 

 worthless for commercial purposes, although, on ac- 

 count of its lightness, it is not to be despised if used 

 for a cane or a staff, and many nice straight sticks of 

 it can be found. The bark, however, though close to 

 the wood, peels off easily, like that of the slippery elm, 

 and is very tough and pliant; the inside layers, indeed, 

 being so strong that, though they are apparently thin 

 and tender, like raffia, yet, like it also, they can scarcely 

 be broken by the hardest efforts. Boys therefore often 

 make whips from long-drawn ribbons of the bark, 1 

 farmers sometimes tie their broken harness together 

 \vith thongs of it, and fishermen string their catch on 

 strips and twisted strands of it; 2 for, if you cut in 

 ^"deeply at the base of a tall, smooth sapling, you can 

 tear the bark off up to the very tips, and then, after 

 removing the rough, gray outside, there will remain 

 as strong and pliable a withe as one could wish. The 



1 "The bark," says Dr. W. C. Gray ("Musings by Camp-fire and 

 Wayside," page 127), "makes famous whistles and especially fine whips. 

 We used to make whips, the 'snap' of which could be heard a mile, and 

 would echo like a rifle-shot." 



* See Sargent's "Silva," vol. I, page 24. 



