48 



TREES GROWING xMEAR WATER. 





quence proclaims that it 

 has suffered all things. It 

 has braved the fierceness 

 of tempests and watched 

 the struggling of many 

 generations. But it is not 

 dismayed ; and when, espe- 

 cially in the moonlight, its 

 shimmering branches are 

 seen towering above other 

 things they testify that it 

 has triumphed. It is most 

 "f'T^^'^^f^^^hx P^ithetic to see the tree 

 •a^'s when It has at last suc- 

 ■3 cumbed and is about to die. 

 Stripped of its foliage and 

 its swinging balls of fruit, 

 it appears a gaunt figure 

 upon tht landscape. 

 The wood is reddish brown 

 and has a most beautiful grain. It is used for the interior 

 finish of houses although it is quite prone to crack. The 

 beautiful tree is also largely made into tobacco boxes. 



FicusSycomonis, sycamore, the tree to which the name is prop- 

 erly applied, is a native of J^^gvpt and Syria. It is of medium 

 size, very bushy and is closely allied to the fig tree. Its fruit 

 is much eaten, and at one time its wood was used for the cofifins 

 of mummies. 



Platdnus occidentalis. 



RIVER BIRCH. RED BIRCH. {Plate XIV.) 



Bt'inla nigra. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT 



Birch. Slender, drooping. yi-(x>feet. 



RANGE 



Mass. soutliwiird and 



westward to Minn. 



TIME OF BLOOM 

 Aprily May. 



Bark: reddish brown; dotted and peeling, i.nt as the white birches but 

 becoming loose ■\w(S hanging in thin light brown sheets, Lcai'es : simple; alter- 

 nate; often two together with short and piil)escent petioles; ovate, fre- 



