84 TREES IN NATURE, MYTH & ART 



making dark rings at irregular distances, the 

 brown spots, the dark colour of the small twigs, 

 the rough texture near the ground, and the 

 exquisite silky smoothness of the tight white 

 bands above, offer exactly that variety of con- 

 trast which makes us feel a rare quality like 

 that smooth whiteness as strongly as we are 

 capable of feeling it." 



In our islands the birch is most commonly 

 associated with the scenery of Scotland, where 

 it often stands out in marked contrast to a 

 background of moor or mountain ; or we 

 look from the mountain-side, between the 

 gleaming stems and network of branches, at 

 the still, dark waters of the loch far below. 

 It is in fact particularly a northern tree. It 

 is the most common tree throughout the 

 Russian Empire, and is the only tree in Green- 

 land. We have seen how robust is the 

 graceful ash. The fragile-looking birch is 

 most at home where the strongest-looking 

 trees, indeed the strongest in fact, will not 

 grow. Evelyn's contempt for it, on utilitarian 

 grounds, would not be understood in Northern 

 lands. The Canadians — as every schoolboy 

 knows — make their canoes of its bark; of 



