SWEET BIRCH 



(Betula Lenta) 



TEN species of birch occur in the United States, including Alaska. 

 Six are eastern and four western.* Sweet birch is known by that 

 name in many localities, but in others as black birch, cherry birch, river 

 birch, mahogany birch, and mountain mahogany. Its range extends 

 from Newfoundland to northwestern Ontario, south to southern Indiana, 

 Kentucky, and along the Appalachian mountains to Tennessee and 

 North Carolina. Probably the best development of the species is found 

 in the Adirondack region of northern New York, in the northern penin- 

 sula of Michigan, through southern Ontario, and along the mountain 

 ranges southward through Pennsylvania and West Virginia. 



It attains a height of seventy or eighty feet, and a diameter of two 

 or three. It prefers deep, moist, rich soil, but will grow in comparatively 

 dry, rocky ground. Its seeds are produced in large numbers and are 

 scattered by the wind a hundred feet or more from the parent tree. They 

 lack the wing power and the buoyancy of the seeds of some of the other 

 birches, but they manage to get themselves sown in sufficient numbers, 

 and their powers of germination are good. 



The young seedling comes into existence with smooth bark, but it 

 does not keep it through life. As age increases, the bark becomes 

 rough and black. It is not shed in papery rolls and flakes as is the bark 

 of river birch, yellow birch, and paper birch, with which it is associated 

 in some parts of its range. It is generally an easy tree to identify and 

 the black, rough bark is generally a sufficient guide. 



The sweet birch is tapped like sugar maple, but not for the same 

 purpose or to the same extent only an occasional tree. Immense 

 quantities of sap will flow from it during the two or three weeks when the 

 buds are swelling in the spring. It is said that as much as two tons has 

 been known to flow from a medium sized birch in a single season. The 

 sap is made into a beer which has some commercial value, but is chiefly 

 used locally. One of the ways of making it, employed by farmers and 

 woodsmen, is to jug the sap, put in a handful of shelled corn, and let 

 fermentation do the rest. 



*The eastern species, which do not extend west of the continental divide, are, 

 Sweet Birch (Betula, lento), Yellow Birch (Betula lutea), River Birch (Betula nigra), 

 Paper Birch (Betula papyri/era), White Birch (Betula populifolia) and Blue Birch 

 (Betula ccerulea.) The western birches, none of which are known to extend much east 

 of the continental divide, are: Western Birch (Betula occidentalis) , Mountain Birch 

 (Betula fontinalis) , White Alaska Birch (Betula alaskana), and Kenai Birch (Betula 

 kenaica). The last two occur in Alaska, but not in United States proper. 



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