TREES IN UNDRESS. I49 



is seen lifted among those of the ashes and rock 

 maples, in whose company she often grows. 



How peculiar is the bark of all these birches ! 

 What has given- them their color and sheen and 

 satin-like texture, and printed it with so many 

 dots and dashes .■" The young trees are smooth and 

 oddly marked, but as the trunks become older and 

 grow longer the outer covering bursts and is sepa- 

 rated from the inner fiber, in transverse bands 

 very different from the exfoliation of the bark of 

 the buttonwood and hickory. The thick, corky 

 skin beneath is cracked in almost regular checks 

 or plates, like the carapace of a tortoise, showing 

 how Nature has provided for these fast-growing 

 plants, as she has for the growth of the shelled 

 reptiles that do not shed their armor-plated coats. 



The members of the birch family are always 

 trustful, in good heart and provident. Even in 

 the preceding summer they have formed young 

 amenta for the next spring blossoming, and all 

 through the cold season. They seem to grow 

 slowly. On some trees, by the last of March, 

 the staminate flowers are nearly two inches in 

 length, so anxious are they to be in season to 

 scatter the fertilizing dust to the winds before the 

 foliage puts forth to intercept and prevent it from 

 falling on the fertile catkin. 



The black or sweet birch is especially prolific in 

 flowering, and the spray on its brush-like head is 



