362 ] Trees and How to Know Them 



nowadays, unlike the Indians and early American settlers, who 

 used birch bark freely to make canoes and a variety of receptacles. 



In the young birches the bark is smooth and peels easily. As the 

 tree ages, the outer bark rolls back in irregular, frayed sheets, and 

 the black lower trunk develops deep fissures. Aside from the 

 characteristic bark, the paper birch is distinguished by its slender 

 trunk and an open crown with small branches and a quantity of 

 flexible twigs. 



In April or May you may find it interesting to watch for brown, 

 slender tassel ends on the twigs. (These are the male flowers.) A 

 short distance back from them are the short, greenish female 

 cones. By fall these have become loose, conelike fruit. You will 

 usually find the paper birch growing among white or red pine, 

 spruce, and aspen. 



The Gray and Yellow Birches: Gray birch is much like paper 

 birch, as it also has chalky white bark; but it does not peel off 

 readily, and it has short thick horizontal lines. You can easily 

 recognize the yellow birch by the lustrous silvery yellow bark on 

 young trunks and on the limbs. Bark on older trees peels into thin 

 papery strips. Yellow birch is usually associated with maple, 

 beech, ash, and red and white pine. 



The Cherry Birch: The cherry birch (also called black birch) 

 provides furniture manufacturers with an excellent wood just as 

 nard as mahogany. Before the days of synthetics, an oil was ex- 

 tracted from it that was widely used to flavor candy and medicines. 

 Though this oil is rarely used nowadays, children still love to 

 chew the bark of tender young branches and twigs. Another 

 product of the cherry birch in bygone days was birch beer, made 

 from the tree's sap. 



HORSE-CHESTNUTSIMPORTED FROM ABROAD 



It is almost impossible to find an American chestnut tree, 



for it has been practically wiped out by the chestnut blight a 



parasitic fungus that lives on its bark. Throughout our country 



this tree has virtually been replaced by a popular ornamental 



