The Birches 



frames of sledges are made of it in the North. An infinite number 

 of small articles employ it. The burs make good mallets; the 

 fantastic arching roots sometimes show curly grain. Often a 

 great yellow birch, shaggy with age, stands long in the woods 

 after it is dead. Such a specimen was lighted on a dark night by 

 a camping party. The flames swept the trunk in a flash, turning 

 the whole tree into a magnificent pillar of fire which consumed 

 it utterly before it had time to fall! So a veracious camper 

 declared. The safety and morals of such a bonfire were evidently 

 not considered by the party. Doubtless this is a common tempta- 

 tion to camping parties in the north woods. It might be quite 

 justifiable if the fire could always be controlled. But here, as 

 elsewhere, playing with fire is dangerous business, and responsible 

 and law-abiding citizens will abstain from it. 



Red Birch, River Birch {Betula nigra, Linn.) — ^Tree 60 to 

 90 feet high, numerous pendulous branches forming round head; 

 trunk usually dividing into a few main limbs which spread slightly. 

 Bark dark reddish brown, furrowed, v/ith scaly surface; on branches 

 cinnamon red to silvery, curling back in sheets, fringed with 

 tatters throughout. Lenticels prominent. IVood light brown, 

 strong, close grained. Buds chestnut brown, shining, \ inch long, 

 ovate. Leaves alternate, i to 3 inches long, oval, pointed, twice 

 saw toothed, thin, tough, shining dark green above, pale yellow- 

 green beneath; dull yellow in autumn; petioles short, flattened, 

 fuzzy, slim. Flowers before leaves, March or April; staminate 

 catkins in threes, 2 to 3 inches long, yellow and brown mottled, 

 pendulous; pistillate catkins \ inch long, erect, green, fuzzy, 

 stalked. Fruit ripe in June, erect, cylindrical cones, i to 2 inches 

 long, bracts 3-lobed,~hairy, divisions narrow, spreading, central 

 one longest; nut oval, with broad wings, hairy. Preferred habitat, 

 along rivers, ponds and swamps inundated part of the year. 

 Distribution, Massachusetts to Florida, west to Texas, north 

 along Mississippi to Minnesota, southern Wisconsin, eastern 

 Nebraska, and in Ohio. Uses: Desirable ornamental tree; 

 planted in copses to hold stream banks from washing. Wood 

 used for fuel, furniture, ox yokes, shoe lasts, shoes and small 

 woodenwares. Branches make hoops for rice casks. 



The red birch earns its name by its bark, which is reddish or 

 chocolate coloured from root to twig. The tree is a tall, graceful 

 fountain of leafy spray; the central stem breaks into two or three 



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