90 FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. 



the same lines and dots which always mark the Betula 

 tribe. The tree is small, rarely reaching a height of 

 more than 30 feet. Its wood is white, soft, and is used 

 mostly for fuel ; rarely it is made into spools such 

 as are common in the weaving mills of New England. 

 European F° r the sake of comparison, I in- 



White Birch, troduce here a sketch of the Euro- 

 pean white birch. This foreign rela- 

 tive of our Betula po/mlifolia, which is indeed 

 closely allied to our tree, is certainly very beautiful, 

 and is becoming quite common in cultivation. The 

 specimen which I have sketched was taken from a 

 tree which was planted in front of a private residence 

 in Plymouth, K. H.* It is a cut-leaved variety of 

 the European birch, specifically named Betula alba, 

 var. laciniata. But when I admit its beauty (pos- 

 sibly some landscape gardener may lift his eyebrows 

 at the word admit), I must remind those who have 

 studiously observed our own gray birch that its Euro- 

 pean relative does not possess the power of flashing 

 that jewel-like green light to which I have drawn 

 attention. In a word, the foreign tree possesses a 

 beautifully shaped leaf, without the splendid lively 

 color of its American relative. These ornamentally 



* This beautiful tree, some 30 feet in height, stands near the 

 gateway entering the grounds of Dr. Robert Burns. On these 

 grounds are also several rare trees of various foreign species. 



