i8o THE TREE BOOK 



allied to the oil of wintergreen. It is widely 

 used as a flavoring in soft drinks, candies, ex- 

 tracts, liniments, tooth powders, and gums. It 

 is also used occasionally as a medicine, partic- 

 ularly in the treatment of rheumatism and gout. 

 At the present time, distillers are getting about 

 $30 per gallon for birch oil. It retails at fifty 

 cents an ounce. The best oil weighs about 

 eighteen ounces to the pint or nine pounds to the 

 gallon. 



In ancient Wales, the Maypole was cut from 

 the "bedwen," or birch, a tree which the Welsh 

 always associate with gracefulness of motion. 

 Games of various sorts were played around the 

 "bedwen," and great vigilance was necessary 

 to keep rival parties from stealing it. If this 

 was somehow accomplished, great was the re- 

 joicing and celebrating of the victors. This ri- 

 valry for the possession of the Maypole has been 

 explained as typical of the ancient idea that the 

 first of May was the division between winter and 

 summer, "when a fight took place between the 

 powers of the air, on the one hand striving to 

 continue the reign of winter, on the other to 

 establish that of summer." 



All of the birches have thin, dainty foliage, 

 which sways gracefully in the lightest breeze. 

 "Whether their end be conversion into the ig- 



