USES OF COMMERCIAL WOODS. 29 



the tree. Often a prostrate trunk is found in the woods which 

 appears to be sound, but upon examination it is discovered there is 

 little left but bark, the wood having rotted and wasted away. 



Several species of l)irch occur in this country, which are of rather 

 small commercial importance because of scarcity. Each one of 

 them, however, is put to some local use. 



GRAY BIRCH. 



(Betiihi i>fiitu]iff,1ia.) 



Gray birch, known also as white birch, old-field birch, poverty 

 birch, and poplar-leaf birch, is found in commercial quantities in 

 New England and northern Xew York, where its most noticeable 

 characteristic is its promptness in taking possession of abandoned 

 fields. It is a short-lived, rather small tree, with light, soft, weak 

 wood, which decays quickly when exposed to the weather. It is 

 manufactured into spools, shoe pegs, barrel hoops, and wood pulp, 

 and is often cut for fuel. It gi'ows near the coast as far south as 

 Delaware. 



WESTERN BIRCH. 

 (B etui a occidcntalis.) 



TTestern birch is one of the largest birches of this ccimtry, anji is 

 found in eastern Washington. Idaho, and Montana, but it is scarce 

 and can not have much value as a commercial wood. Locally it 

 sometimes serves for fencing, fuel, and rough ranch or farm timber. 



KENAI BIRCH. 



( Bet 111 a kenaica.) 



Kenai birch is a small Alaska tree for which no uses have been 

 reported except for fitel and other purposes about the camps of sur- 

 veyors and prospectors. 



WHITE BIRCH. 



(Betula alaskana.) 



"White birch is an Alaska tree with a range extending eastward 

 and southeastward across the Rocky Mountains to the valleys of the 

 Saskatchewan and Mackenzie Eivers. It sometimes attains a height 

 of 60 feet and a diameter of 18 inches, but it is usually smaller. 

 It is abundant in some parts of its range, and when convenient to 

 camps and settlements it is put to common local uses, but it has not 

 been reported in the making of any counnerciai commodity. It is a 

 most important fuel wood in interior Alaska. Its wood resembles 

 paper birch. 



