THE BIRCHES 183 



the sweet, aromatic flavor of the leaves, twigs, 

 and inner bark. This characteristic has given 

 the tree the familiar name of sweet birch. It 

 has also given rise to the birch oil industry pre- 

 viously mentioned. Children of long ago used 

 to hear many a tale of the evil spirits which 

 lurked in the branches of the sweet birch, feed- 

 ing greedily upon its fragrant bark. 



As we sail along, we may readily recognize 

 the yellow birch by its fantastic yeUowish- 

 gray bark, which has a fashion of cracking 

 and curling up into little ribbon decorations. 

 The tree wears a lusterless gray under- 

 vest, and is often spoken of as the gray 

 birch. It is closely allied to the cherry birch, 

 but it has coarser leaves and catkins and the 

 aromatic flavor is much less pronounced. We 

 note that the yellow birch thrives best where 

 there is plenty of moisture. In Canada and 

 New England it is one of the largest trees 

 grown ; in its southward range it is often but a 

 mere shrub. The large trees are valued for 

 their excellent timber. The light reddish- 

 brown wood planes to a satiny surface and takes 

 a fine polish. It is much used in the making of 

 furniture, boxes, and the like. 



The river birch is the real southerner of the 

 family. We find it growing to its largest size 



