APRIL 



203 



elms planted by Charles the Second, — sixteen hundred 

 and sixty of them, the number marking the date of his 

 accession to the throne. 



The bark of the slippery elm is "well known. The 

 tree has the characteristic elm leaf, but is larger and 

 much rougher than the American elm. 



The Birches : 



The drawing of the leaf of either the red, yellow, or 

 black birch resembles that of the elms, but the leaves 

 themselves, instead of 

 being rough and hairy, 

 are shiny. 



The leaves of the cut- 

 leaved European birch, 

 of the white birch, and 

 of the canoe birch are 

 very unlike the others. 

 There is, however, no 

 difficulty in picking out 

 members of the Birch 

 family, since the bark 

 of all of them has the 

 unmistakable horizon- 

 tal markings so notice- 

 able in the bark of canoe 

 birch. 



The birches are grace- 

 ful trees. Several of 

 them are valuable for 

 timber, and most of them for fuel. One of them gives the 

 oil to which is due the distinctive odor of Eussia leather. 

 All of them are beautiful ornaments in any landscape. 



