SILVICULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS 39 



its intolerance of shade reproduction is only successful under 

 favorable light conditions such as those obtained on burned 

 areas. These also- furnish the bed on which the seed germi- 

 nates best because the bare mineral soil is exposed. When 

 cut at an age of less than sixty years the stumps sprout pro- 

 lifically and these sprouts grow even more rapidly for forty or 

 fifty years than trees grown from seed. 



The wood of the paper birch is used principally in the manu- 

 facture of spools, bobbins, dowels, shuttles, toys, pegs, etc. 



Paper birch is very susceptible to injury by fires. 



Grown in pure stands as it usually is, this birch is one of 

 the most beautiful trees. In fact, it is difficult to imagine any- 

 thing more beautiful than such a grove with the sunlight filter- 

 ing through the foliage upon the pure white bark. In too 

 many places this beauty is destroyed by the ruthless peeling of 

 the bark for souvenir purposes. It should be realized that the 

 white bark never grows again, and that once peeled the beauty 

 of the tree is gone forever. 



On account of its rapid growth, its value for special purposes, 

 and its prolific reproduction on burns, this tree always will be 

 one of considerable importance in northern New England. 



GRAY BIRCH (Betula populifolia). 



The tree is found from New Brunswick south through Dela- 

 ware and Maryland and west through New York. It occurs 

 in all parts of New England, but chiefly in the three southern 

 states. 



The gray birch is a poor imitation of the paper birch but 

 is sometimes confused with it on account of the whitish color 

 of its bark. This, however, does not peel so readily and is 

 a dirty white compared with the clean white bark of its 

 superior. Furthermore, this tree seldom attains a diameter 

 over eight inches or a height over fifty feet, and is short 

 lived. 



The gray birch is as characteristic of the old fields of southern 

 New England as is the red cedar. It grows rapidly in such 



