regions of southern California. That it will do equally well in the Sacramento 

 and San Joaquin valleys is evidenced by a sturdy row on the highway near 

 Bakersfield. Kern County has recently planted a large number of Arizona 

 ash trees on the barren seventeen-mile stretch of state highway running 

 from Bakersfield to the foot of the pass over the mountains to Los Angeles, 

 and under the care of the California Highway Commission they are doing 

 well, though struggling against extremely adverse conditions. 



BIRCHES 



There is some difference of opinion as to which tree is king, but there is 

 no doubt as to the right of the birch, the apotheosis of daintiness and charm, 

 to the title of Lady of the Woods bestowed on her by Coleridge. 



The genus Betula, to which the birches belong, embraces some thirty-five 

 species of small trees all of which, except one South American species, are 

 inhabitants of cool, northern regions. Thirteen species are found in North 

 America of which ten are trees. Two groups are distinguishable, the white or 

 paper birches, and the yellow or black birches. The white birches with their 

 pure white bark, graceful foliage and slender branches are the ones chiefly 

 used for ornamental purposes. 



From the earliest of times birch bark has served as a material on which 

 to write, and the books of Numa Pompilius of Rome, which were compiled 

 in 700 B. C., are said to have been written on it. The American Indians con- 

 sidered a birch bark canoe, ribbed with cedar, bound with larch roots and 

 with its seams made water safe with pine balsam, an ideal boat. They also 

 used the bark as a covering for their lodges. 



In times past the giving of a birch wreath was a token of love, and in 

 Wales today the Maypole is always made of this tree. It has always been 

 associated with the spirits of the dead and with those that mourn, an associa- 

 tion that a poet has thus expressed : 



"Weeps the birch of silver bark with long, dishevell'd hair." 



It is stated that the fasces carried by the lictors before the magistrates 

 of ancient Rome were made of birch rods. The Russian believes the birch 

 tree to be a symbol of good health and is flogged with birch switches until he 

 perspires when taking a sweat bath. Many youths in the region where the 



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