The Birches 



salicylic acid and wintergreen oil, used in medicine; sap made into 

 birch beer. 



The cherry birch has several common names, and each one 

 has a good reason for being. The bark is very dark, and it 

 breaks into rough, square plates with edges curling stiffly back 

 but not fraying into ribbons at all. The smooth outer layer, 

 with its prominent horizontal lenticels, reminds one of the bark 

 of cherry trees. This epidermis finally disappears from the large 

 trunks, but it may always be found covering the limbs. 



This birch is one of the handsomest trees of the woods. In 

 winter the grace of the pendulous branches and the symmetry of 

 the round head are best revealed. On the bark, from dark brown 

 trunk to golden-brown twig, a satiny sheen gives brilliancy and 

 depth to the colours. The tree seems aglow with life even in its 

 winter sleep, and the plump buds and the impatient catkins, 

 already nearly an inch long, promise what the spring fulfils. 

 The abundant sap which mounts upward in early April forces out 

 the catkins into tassels that hang, all purplish yellow, and very 

 large, from near the ends of the branches. Erect among them 

 are the green pistillate ones, rising on the ends of short side shoots. 

 The abundance of its leaves and their glossy sheen and brightness 

 set this birch apart from others in midsummer. In autumn they 

 turn to gold. 



The small boy pulls a twig off the sweet birch sapling, and 

 chews it sedulously as he fares through the woods. The stimu- 

 lating flavour of wintergreen, which is in the bark the year round, 

 is especially strong in spring. Wintergreen oil, used in flavouring 

 medicines, and esteemed in the treatment of rheumatism for the 

 salicylic acid it contains, is extracted from the bark of this 

 species. Birch beer is brewed from the sweet sap. The spicy 

 fragrance extends to the leaves also, and a twig enables one to 

 identify the tree at any time of year. In Kamchatka the 

 natives strip the inner bark of B. lenta into long shreds like 

 vermicelli. This is done in spring, when it is richest in starch and 

 sugar. These strips are dried for winter use as food. They are 

 boiled with caviar and with fish. 



The wood of cherry birch is stained to imitate mahogany and 

 cherry. This is a pity, for it has character of its own and beauty 

 that deserve recognition. It has its own good colour, reddish 

 brown, and this in "natural finish," well rubbed, is lustrous and 



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