The Sweet Birch, Betitbc /o/fir, is called Black Birch and Cherry Birch, because its bark is dark colored, and looks much like that of cultivated cherry trees. The name " Sweet Birch calls attention to the pleas ant, aromatic flavor of its leaves, twigs and inner bark. The most distinctive characteristic of the bark of this birch is its habit of checkine and splitting off in thick plates, but never curling back and shedding in horizontal strips. The tree rarely grows above medium height. It ranges from SGotia to Florida, and west to Minnesota and Kansas. Its wood polished is a close imitation of mahogany, and is much used in the manufacture of the cheaper grades of furniture.
The Yellow Birch, Betula lutcrt, is 11 1 UlUZ!ie y l 1,11e pueueuing However, its coarse deep cleft bark easily sets it apart from all its kin. It has a characteristic way of cracking at any angle and curling out its thick edges. The thin outer hark is yellowish or gray, tiul peels off in filmy lavers, as often vertically as lu)rizontally. The name Gray Birch is often applied to this tree because of the lusterless gray which shows under the, shiny gulden epidermis. The leaves and catkins are rather coarser than those of the cherry birch, zind the aromatic taste in the 1,,•k and twigs is much less pronounced. The tree grows to medium heivtht and ranges from _Newfoundland to Minnesota and Tennessee.
The Red or River Birch, fictala nigot, is a tree Ivhich loves to stand knee-deep in \voter. It frequents the marshy shores of lakes and streams. In the soggy bayou country of the lower Mississippi it finds a favorable environment, and there attains its greatest size. The sturdy trunk tends to break soon into slender ascending arms, which are clothed to their extremities with louse shaggy fringes. From the membranous flakes that peel from the twigs to the coarse furrows of the lower trunk the hark of the tree is red—clear bright red above, dark brownish red below. The tree is beautiful, winter or summer. No other birch shows such rich coloring. When the foliage is gone, the tree is adorned rather than defaced hy the flying tatters of bark which it wears all xvinter.
There are two little trees in the same family with the birches \vhich grow here and there in the shadows of the larger forest trees. Each is the only child of its genus native to this country, although a European • ..f . 1: pet GclUll tar, Ul Ile lute 1, .• is 1,11C 11.01111JCitI1l, 1. (l/pl/MS t. grUMI/MLU, eaueo aisu Lne Blue or Water Beech. It rarely grows above twenty
live feet high, and adapts its shape to its e»vironinent.
1 have seen it flat-topped because it grew under an oak, and oval in outline \viten growing in an open field. In Nvinter the delicate brown twigs taper out into the threadlike stems of the fruit clusters. The bark of the trunk and limbs is hard and very smooth. Swollen lines course irregularly up the trunk and out into the limbs. They look like veins on the arms of an athlete.
Through the summer the dark foliage is lightened by the feathery racemes of fruit. The nutlets are in pairs, and each one is provided \Vith a pale green halberd-shaped lving. Lung after the leaves have fallen. the fruit clusters still remain, each seed being anchored by a tough thread. When it does get free the little nut has a fine lung sail through the air on its russet shield before it settles to earth. The wood of Hornbeam is very slow of growth, and is exceptionally tough and hard. ear!y writer says with feeling : ~ The 1 fume bound tree is a. txatgli kind of Wood that requires so much 'mines in the riving as is almost incredible. being the best to make Wiles and dishes, not being subject to cracke and It was used for making rake teeth and the handles of farm tools. In Europe the wood was early used for making the "horn of ox yokes, and by age and use it came to look like horn itself. The names, Water, and Blue Beech, call attention to the blue gray bark and the leaves which look like those of the beech, and to the preference the tree shows for moist, deep soil.
The second of the little trees is the I lop Hornbeam or Ironwood, Ostrya Iiryiniam. Its fruit is borne in a hop-like cluster, each shiny seed enveloped in an inflated bag. These pale green fruits. hanging among the dark leaves, fairly illuminate the tree where it stands in the deep shadow, and give a feeling of refreshing coolness to one who comes upon it suddenly out of the glare of an August day.
The ]lop Mnrnbeam tree often twists in growing, and the hark shows the spiral windings of the grain. Of all the rough-harked trees it has the finest-textured bark. The quality of its wood is indicated by its two popular names. It is also called Leverwood. lie was a fortunate farmer in pioneer days who had a few Ironwoods in his wood lot. They were invaluable for making levers, sled stakes, rake teeth, other like implements. It required great skill and infinite patience to work the wood, but once made, the tools, if kept (ivy, lasted indefinitely.