Trees and How to Know Them [ 361 



BIRCHES FROM CANOES TO FURNITURE 



The Paper Birch: It is a pity that the bark of this graceful tree 

 appeals so much to children; the temptation to peel strips from 

 the trunk is usually irresistible, with the result that countless trees 

 are disfigured or fatally injured. Some children may have the good 

 fortune to fashion some article or other from a birch that must be 

 felled; but as a rule parents need to admonish them against mis- 

 treating standing trees. We have to hoard our natural resources 



BARK FOR CANOES 



Long before the arrival of the white man in America, the Indians were using the 

 bark of the paper birch for their canoes. Though the paper birch varies in form 

 all the way from a bushy and rather dwarfish tree to one that reaches a straight, 

 sturdy sixty feet, it can always be recognized by its white bark, which peels into 

 thin, papery layers. This may be worked into fancy objects, such as baskets. 



