The Red Birch is known by 
its curious bark 
There is no tree more valuable than the Birch as a decorative 
adjunct to the garden 
All the Birches Worth While 
THEIR DISTINGUISHING TRAITS AND VALUE FOR LANDSCAPE 
EFFECTS—NOTES ON THEIR PLANTING AND CULTURE 
by Edward C. Carroll 
Photographs by N. R. Graves, Thomas W. Sears and others 
American White Birches add 
to any landscape 
T HE Birch is the sprite of American forests, the phantom 
of the tree world and one of the most graceful units of 
plant life which the landscape gardener may introduce into his 
plans for beautifying grounds and gardens. 1 hat writers have 
neglected the practical phases of its place in arboriculture is due, 
perhaps, to the great temptation to give the Birch its due of poesy 
to the neglect of its more prosaic features, though these need not 
detract from its charming individuality as the “little Princess of 
trees”—so Hans Christian Andersen called it. 
Indeed the cultural side of all the Birches worth while con¬ 
sidering in their relation to the home landscape is fraught with 
interest to every home-maker with the planting instinct. Our 
own country gives us some ten of the twenty-eight species known 
to the northern 
hemisphere, but 
only six of these 
need concern us, 
and a seventh,the 
European White 
Birch, which we 
have adopted for 
our gardens and 
our lawns. 
As ornamental 
trees the American 
Birches are all 
somewhat more 
graceful than the 
forest birches of 
Europe, but many 
persons have neg¬ 
lected them be¬ 
cause they are not 
long-lived like the 
oaks and the elms. 
However, this is a 
poor excuse for 
not encouraging 
Birches ; although 
The Canoe Birch is the most beautiful 
native American species 
a thing of beauty may not live to be a joy forever, still their 
twenty or fifty years of life is sufficient in its period to produce 
proof of their worth as objects of beauty. Moreover, the deco¬ 
rative features of Birches are so unique they should never be 
overlooked by the tree planter merely because they belong to a 
short-lived family. Indeed this very quality of decorativeness 
gives the Birch a place distinct from that of other trees to 
which we look for shade or protection, or fruit, or screening; it 
should be utilized to lend grace, color and interest to the landscape, 
and it is an essential thing to remember this. 
No tree is more hardy, when it has had half a start. Indeed 
the American Birches grow farther north than any other genera. 
Their foliage is rarely attacked by insects, and their branches 
require less spraying than those of other trees. Moreover, they 
thrive in almost any soil, though preferring a moist sandy loamy 
one. The following is a check list of Birches one may safely 
recommend for landscape setting: 
BIRCH BOTANICAL NAME 
1 American White Birch 
2 Canoe Birch 
3 Yellow Birch 
4 Red or River Birch 
5 Cherry or Black Birch 
6 Western Black Birch 
7 European White Birch 
Betula populifolia 
Betula papyri}era 
Betula lutea 
Betula nigra 
Betula lenta 
Betula occidentalis 
Betula alba 
Birches flower in catkins of yellow blossoms, being prolific 
seed producers, for it is estimated that a pound of Birch seed 
contains 800,000 separate seeds. When propagated by seeds 
these should be covered as soon as gathered at maturity, or else 
stratified, and sown in the early fall. With the Red Birch 
(Betula nigra), however, its fruits ripen in June, and its seed must 
be sown at once, and by fall its seedlings will have reached a 
height of several inches. All the Birches are rapid growers, and 
they are also among the trees which sprout from the stump when 
cut. Birch seed should be sown in sandy soil, slightly covered, 
if at all, and firmly pressed into the ground. It germinates best 
( 7 °) 
