176 



TREES GROWlNrx IN RICH SOIL 



tliin papery sheets, which ate faint red in tolour and marked with kiiort, dark 

 lines. Leaves: simi)le; alternate; wilii d(j\vny jjelioles; ovale: witli pointed 

 apex and rounded, wedge-shaped, or sul)-cordate base; doidjly and unequally 

 serrate; dark green and snujolh above; dull below and pubescent in the angles 

 of the straight ril;s. /•/o-oen: monoecious; growing in sJendLr, cylindrical and 

 scaly catkins. Slrobiles : growing on slender stalks ; the wings of the minute 

 nuts broad and often fringed. 



Happily the canoe bifch wears a uniform ihat we all know ; 

 and when many of the trees are seen from afar, amid the 

 tlark shades of the forest, they appear not unlike ihe advancing 

 guard of a regiment. There is about them the same air of 

 distinction from all that surrounds them. 'J'he tree seems 

 to belong especially to the primitive ik-ojiIc of the north, 

 who must surely regard it with affection. The Indian's birch- 

 bark canoe carries him swiftly and silently over the water as he 

 perchance guides it by a i)addle made from the wood of the 

 tree. When the streams are frozen and the covering of the 

 earth is as while as the birch's bark, he is drawn on sledges or 

 glides along on snow shoes that are alike constructed in part 

 from the tree. I'"rom rough weather his wigwam is also pro- 

 tected by its resinous bark, and when the sweet sap begins to 

 fl(jw in the springtime he knows how to boil it into a syrup or 

 make it into a cooling drink. Of his life the tree is a part, and 

 from the standpoint of sentiment it seems as though it should 

 be left to the Indian rather than given over to lumbermen who 

 sell it for the making of shoe lasts, i)egs and fuel. Tourists 

 intlict great damage to the ai)pearance of the tree by tearing 

 off its bark, as its peculiarity of peeling hori/.ontally is well 

 known. In the mountainous regions of the north it is frequent 

 on wooded slopes or often by the borders of streams. 



That Hiawatha's recpiest comes so spontaneously to the mind 

 in connection with the tree seems t(^ accentuate the Indians' 

 vital love and knowletlge of it. 



" Cii.e me of your bark, O Uirch-Tree ! 

 Of your yellow bark, O llirch-Tree, 

 'rowing by the rushing river, 

 Tall and stately in the valley 1 



