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Briches — Part 3

The cherry birch has several common names, and each one has a good reason for being. The bark is very dark, and it breaks into rough, square plates with edges curling stiffly back but not fraying into ribbons at all. The smooth outer layer, with its prominent horizontal lenticels, reminds one of the bark of cherry trees. This epidermis finally disappears from the large trunks, but it may always be found covering the limbs.

This birch is one of the handsomest trees of the woods. In winter the grace of the pendulous branches and the symmetry of the round head are best revealed. On the bark, from dark brown trunk to golden-brown twig, a satiny sheen gives brilliancy and depth to the colours. The tree seems aglow with life even in its winter sleep, and the plump buds and the impatient catkins, already nearly an inch long, promise what the spring fulfils. The abundant sap which mounts upward in early April forces out the catkins into tassels that hang, all purplish yellow, and very large, from near the ends of the branches. Erect among them are the green pistillate ones, rising on the ends of short side shoots. The abundance of its leaves and their glossy sheen and brightness set this birch apart from others in midsummer. In autumn they turn to gold.

The small boy pulls a twig off the sweet birch sapling, and chews it sedulously as he fares through the woods. The stimulating flavour of wintergreen, which is in the bark the year round, is especially strong in spring. Wintergreen oil, used in flavouring medicines, and esteemed in the treatment of rheumatism for the salicylic acid it contains, is extracted from the bark of this species. Birch beer is brewed from the sweet sap. The spicy fragrance extends to the leaves also, and a twig enables one to identify the tree at any time of year. In Kamchatka the natives strip the inner bark of B. lenta into long shreds like vermicelli. This is done in spring, when it is richest in starch and sugar. These strips are dried for winter use as food. They are boiled with caviar and with fish.

The wood of cherry birch is stained to imitate mahogany and cherry. This is a pity, for it has character of its own and beauty that deserve recognition. It has its own good colour, reddish brown, and this in "natural finish," well rubbed, is lustrous and satiny, often showing what the cabinetmaker calls "landscape" or clouded areas of unusual beauty.

The Western Black Birch (B. occidentalis, Hook.) grows from the Black Hills westward, widening its range to south and north, into Alaska and California along the coast, and following the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico. It is widespread, but nowhere common. This graceful little tree is a true birch in habit and in the lustrous, horizontal lenticelled bark, the bronze colour of which is quite sufficient to justify its name and to identify the tree. Unlike the cherry birch, this tree sheds its bark in thin, papery layers.

The brown wood is locally used for fencing and fuel. It is too small a tree to be important for its lumber. It commends itself to planters in the Western States, especially where its roots can get water, for it is as thirsty as an alder, following streams always, or the borders of lakes.

The White Birch of Europe (Betula alba, Linn.) we rarely see. The weeping and cut-leaved varieties of this species adorn American parks and gardens--their only fault, that they are short lived. "Like a fair lady in a far country" is the white birch here, and we cherish our specimen trees with profound solicitude.

In its own country the peasants depend upon the birch forests in a great many ways. In the north of Europe birch is the principal fuel in houses and smelting works. It makes good charcoal. The Russians eat with wooden spoons, and wear wooden shoes, both made of birch. They live in houses furnished with birch furniture, and shingled with slabs of birch bark. They strip and grind the soft inner bark, and mix it with meal in their bread. Even the tiny winged seeds serve a useful purpose. Birds, especially the white ptarmigan in Lapland, feed upon them through the long, cold winters, when deep snows cover all other foods. Lopped trees send up suckers which are cut and bound into birch brooms. The inner bark is stripped into sheets and serves for paper. The famous books of Numa Pompilius were written on birch bark, if Plutarch is to be believed. Birch wood contains abundance of sap. In spring a tree will often yield its weight in sap in a fortnight. Birch mead and wine are most refreshing beverages. Birch bark yields tannin, a yellow dye, and an oil which gives Russia leather its characteristic colour and odour. Swedish farmers look for the opening leaves of the birch as a sign to sow their barley. In England the elm is watched for the same reason.