hess] THE BIRCHES 313 



Lay aside your white-skin wrapper, 

 For the summer time is coming, 

 And the sun is warm in heaven, 

 And you need no white-skin wrapper!" 

 Thus aloud cried Hiawatha 

 In the solitary forest. 



A birch which is sometimes confused, at first sight, with the 

 canoe birch is the American White. But at a second look 

 you will notice the white birch has a close-fitting bark which is a 

 dirty white in color, with triangular black blotches under the 

 branches, it is exceedingly chalky to the touch and never peels off 

 in thin lateral strips, is clear white in color and seldom shows any 

 dark blotches on the trunk. The bark of the recent shoots of the 

 white birch is rough to the touch, and that of the canoe birch is 

 smooth and sticky where the buds join the stem. Its wood is 

 soft, light and neither strong nor durable. The specific name, 

 populijolia (poplar-leaved), refers to the leaves which quiver in 

 the wind and show light under surfaces like the aspens. Through 

 it a stream of tenderness seems to flow, for its trunk too is flexible, 

 and often during the winter bends under the load of ice it has to 

 uphold. Its powers of endurance are greatly in contrast to those 

 of many of the trees, the oaks especially. 



This little birch, we are told, is perhaps the least interesting 

 member of a most attractive family. It is found commonly grow- 

 ing along the sandy banks of country roads and in waste, barren 

 places where pitch pine and blueberry bushes and scrub oaks are 

 found. It is invariably associated with sterility in our minds, 

 and seems to demand nothing of the soil on which it grows adapt- 

 ing itself immediately to its surroundings and thriving where other 

 trees would die. In southern New England it is frequently found 

 growing in the margins of swamps. 



Commercially, it is not of any very great value except perhaps for 

 wood pulp. Its soft, weak wood is too perishable. Wheel spokes 

 and barrel hoops are made from it, and upon the hearth it finds a 

 welcome place. 



And now we come to the birch which is extensively cultivated 

 in this country but is a native of Europe. This is the European 

 White Birch and is found adorning many of our parks and gardens. 

 It has a white chalky bark, long, slender, down-sweeping branches, 

 small buds and alternate leaf scars. The only fault with this birch 



