FORESTRY ON THE COUNTRY ESTATE 



507 



ADIRONDACK YELLOW BIRCHES GROWING IN COMPANY WITH RED SPRUCE AND BALSAM FIR. 



leaves makes a good physic when no 

 standard medicines are available. 



THE I1LACK BIRCH 



The family of the birches is one so 

 important and its members occur so 

 abundantly in all forest estates that 

 more than a bowing acquaintance with 

 the different species is advisable. Prob- 

 ably the most universal of all of them 

 is the black birch, a handsome, feathery 

 tree that becomes a plume of pure 

 orange yellow in Autumn. Sand, clay, 

 granite and limestone soil bases seem to 

 suit it equally well, so long as the soil is 

 reasonably moist, and its range is the 

 whole of our area. To my mind ad- 

 vantage should be taken of this tree'.? 

 tendency to form a perfect crown under 

 fair sunlight conditions, as no more 

 handsome or graceful forest citizen 

 grows than this same black birch. This 

 is due to the almost mathematically reg- 

 ular forking of the end twigs of the 

 year's growth so that its age can be 

 told with reasonable accuracy by count- 

 "ig the forks on a large branch back 

 from the tip with due correction for 



the time of its appearance on the trunk 

 (usually, in a large branch, early in the 

 tree's life). Wherefore, clear away 

 conflicting trees when making a thin- 

 ning and give it a chance. It is always 

 at its best when framed in a brook 

 vista or festooning lovingly over the 

 quiet shores of your lake. 



Its fruit is a small catkin and flower 

 insignificant, best collected when ripe 

 in the fall and sifted for seeds, as the 

 forest seedlings of birch are almost 

 impossible to transplant and the nur- 

 sery saplings difficult to make succeed. 

 Sow in spots where wanted and snip all 

 but the most successful seedling when 

 they come up. 



THE YELLOW BIRCH 



The yellow birch is one of the great 

 hardwoods of the North, being lum- 

 bered extensively in the Adirondack's. 

 It is apt to make rather a crooked, ugly 

 tree, and its ragged bark adds not at 

 all to its beauty. It does not get on in 

 the Middle States, where the winters 

 are comparatively mild. It transplants 

 rather more easily than the black birch 



