56 FORESTRY IN NEW ENGLAND 



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 foHage upon the pure white bark. In too 

 many places this beauty is destroyed by the ruthless peehng 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 proHfic 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 

 situations where there is plenty of light, but under shade is soon 

 killed out. It thrives on the driest of sand plains differing in 

 that respect from the paper birch, but is also occasionally found 

 in rather swampy places. The quality or texture of the soil 

 seems to be of less importance than the amount of light available. 

 It produces a large crop of seed every fall which is blown long 

 distances. This germinates best on bare mineral soil, though 



