STUDIES OF TREES IN WINTER

SWAMP WHITE OAK
Quercus platanoides

STUDIES of TREES
IN WINTER
A Description of the Deciduous Trees of
Northeastern America
BY
ANNIE OAKES HUNTINGTON
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
By CHARLES S. SARGENT, LL.D.
DIRECTOR OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM AND AUTHOR OF THE
“SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA”
ILLUSTRATED WITH COLORED PLATES BY MARY
S. MORSE, AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY
THE AUTHOR
BOSTON
KNIGHT AND MILLET
1902

Copyright, 1901
By Knight and Millet
First Impression, December, 1901
Second Impression, January, 1902

TO
My Two Friends
MY MOTHER, ELIZABETH QUINCY HUNTINGTON
AND
JEANNETTE WARREN PAYSON
IN TOKEN OF GRATITUDE AND LOVE
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

INTRODUCTION

When Miss Huntington told me last year that she was going to write a book about the trees in their winter aspects, knowing how conscientiously she had studied her subject and how successful she had been in imparting the results of her observation to others, I felt sure that she would do a useful and excellent piece of work, and that her book would be of real assistance to all persons who want to gain some knowledge of the trees which they pass in their daily walks.

The promise of the book is now fulfilled, and nothing is left for the introductor to do but to call attention in a general way to the beauty of trees in winter and to the pleasure and profit of studying them at this season of the year, as well as when their branches are clothed with leaves or covered with flowers or fruits.

To the real lover of trees they are equally beautiful and interesting at all seasons of the year; and no one knows trees well who cannot distinguish the different species as easily and surely in winter as in spring or summer. Almost every tree has some special and peculiar beauty which is seen to the best advantage in winter. The fine spray of the beech is seen only at this season of the year, and there are few more beautiful objects in nature than the delicate branches of our New England beech trees seen against the clear blue sky of a brilliant winter day. The sturdiness of the oak is best realized in winter, for at other seasons its massive limbs are often hidden under their covering of leaves. The birch is far more graceful and attractive in winter than at any other period; and there is nothing more stimulating to the lover of nature than to stand on a bright winter’s day and look up into the marvellous structure of one of the great elm trees which are the pride of New England. The bark of most trees appears more beautiful in winter than at other seasons of the year because the eye, undisturbed by the contemplation of the foliage, can then most easily take in all the details of its varied texture and wonderful colors.

For the student of trees searching for accurate knowledge it is as important to study trees in winter as in summer. The differences in the various families of trees, once these are understood, are marked enough to make family relationships easy to recognize at this season of the year. Nor will it be found difficult, once the characters peculiar to each kind of tree are fixed in the mind of the observer, to determine the various species; and these winter characters are often more constant and stable than characters derived from the flowers, the shape of the leaves, or from the size and shape of the fruits, on which dependence is usually placed for the identification of trees.

Each species of tree has its peculiar habit, which is best seen in winter and which it usually retains under normal conditions. The character of the bark rarely changes much on individuals of the same age, although the bark of old trees is usually very different from the bark of young trees of the same species; and the color of the branchlets and the form and size of the winter buds generally afford certain means of determining closely related trees.

In each kind of tree there is, in addition to its general habit, which with a little practice is frequently sufficient to make the recognition of a particular species easy, some special character which enables the student to confirm his determination and to distinguish a particular species of oak or hickory or poplar from every other.

A knowledge of trees, the ability at least to recognize and identify them, adds vastly to the pleasures of life. One who knows trees well meets them like old friends; each season invests them with fresh charm, and the more we study and know them the greater will be our admiration of the wonderful variety and beauty which they display in winter.

C. S. Sargent.

Arnold Arboretum, November, 1901.

Chapter I
THE STUDY OF TREES
IN WINTER

Chapter I
THE STUDY OF TREES IN WINTER

Outside my window the trees in a little wood stand leafless. Everything which made this wood a delight in June, the contrast of light and shade among the leaves, the varying tones of green in broken sunlight, the warmth and color and summer freshness, has gone, but the trees themselves, in all their wealth of foliage were never so beautiful as now. The massive moulding of their trunks, the graceful curves of their branches, the fine tracery of their little bare twigs, now clear against the sky and again lost in a tangled network of intersecting branches,—the whole beauty of their symmetry, their poise, strength, and delicacy is revealed as it is never revealed in summer.

Attracted first by the obvious grace of the forms of trees as we see them from our windows in winter, we discover that a closer study of the details of bare twigs and buds in the woods discloses unsuspected beauty in texture, form, and color. Each tree has definite traits of its own which distinguish it from every other tree, and by tracing individual characteristics in the branches, trunk, stems, buds, and leaf-scars we are able to identify every tree with certainty.

Trunk and Branches

TREE WITH A DELIQUESCENT TRUNK

By observing the shapes and general outlines of trees in winter we are able to recognize them at a distance. This study of tree forms adds much to the pleasure of a railroad journey or a winter’s drive in the country, and accuracy is acquired by constant practice when we walk in the woods and fields and can verify the name of each tree. In this way we become familiar with the common trees, and learn to know the predominating trees of the forests through which we pass, often recognizing a rare species the distance of a field away.

Cross section of a tree trunk, showing the rings of annual growth, the medullary rays, the dark heartwood, the lighter sapwood and the bark.

There are two distinct plans of branching in trees. When the main trunk extends upward to the tip, as it does in the larch and other conical trees, it is said to be excurrent, and when the main stem divides into many more or less equal divisions, as we find it in the American elm and other spreading trees, it is said to be deliquescent,—the latter form is the most common one among our deciduous trees.

TREE WITH AN EXCURRENT TRUNK

The inner structure of these dicotyledonous trunks is seen when we examine the cross section cut of a felled tree. In the centre is the heartwood, the durable wood of commercial value, the cells of which are hard and dry; next it the soft sapwood, the living part of the tree containing cells filled with sap; then the cambium layer, the zone of growing cells, and outside of this the bark. Each year new cells are formed in the cambium layer, the inner ones making new wood, the outer ones new bark, and by counting these annual rings of growth the approximate age of the tree is found. In young trees there is a conspicuous central portion of pith which remains after the tree matures, as long as the heartwood is sound. The lines radiating from the centre to the circumference are called medullary or pith rays and form the “silver grain” of the wood. As the size of the trunk increases, the bark unable to expand, cracks in fissures or peels in layers, and is pushed off by the tremendous growing power from within. The heartwood is not a living part of the structure and often trees live for years without it,—hollow shells with a normal amount of vitality so long as the roots, the cambium layer and the buds are not injured.

Branches grow from the axillary or lateral buds on the stem, continuing their growth every year by the development and unfolding of new buds, both terminal and lateral. When the growth is carried on by the terminal buds, the tree is more apt to be regular in outline than when these are injured or killed and lateral buds develop the growth instead. Branches vary in showing an upright, drooping, or horizontal habit of growth, as we see them in the Lombardy poplar, weeping willow and tupelo, and within these divisions there are other contrasts of rigidity and flexibility, with differences of color and texture as well.

Apart from the general shape of the tree, the bark on the trunk and branches is a constant help in identification. It is hard and smooth on some trees, like that of the hornbeam and beech, fissured into ridges like the sugar maple on others, it sometimes flakes off in rough plates like those of the shagbark hickory, and again in thin, brittle strips like those of the hop hornbeam, the bark peels off laterally as in the canoe birch, and occasionally becomes ridged and corky as we find it on the branches of the liquidamber and cork elm. Very often the color of the bark is distinctive as is that of the green stems of the sassafras and moosewood maple and the white, brown, pink, and yellow trunks of different birches. The taste and odor of the bark are also characteristic of certain species, as, for instance, the unpleasant, bitter taste of the black cherry, the mucilaginous taste of the slippery elm, and the aromatic fragrance of the stems of the mockernut hickory. The little dots on young bark are called lenticels, they are openings for admitting air to the inner tissues. Lenticels are conspicuous in the bark of the birches.

The presence of thorns on the trunk and branches of certain trees helps us to distinguish them from others, and the clusters of dry fruit which remain hanging on some trees through the winter are another means of identification.

Stems and Twigs

Stems and twigs vary from the finest, lightest sprays to the most coarsely moulded ones,—from the delicate twigs of the hop hornbeam to the stout shoots of the horsechestnut;—like larger branches their tips either ascend, droop, or grow at right angles from the stem, and may be smooth, downy, or rough to the touch.

The pith in cross sections of twigs shows different forms and is a means in itself of distinguishing some trees. It is usually circular, but in some species it takes the form of a pentagon or a star. In a vertical section we sometimes find it in horizontal plates, like the chambered pith of the walnuts. The color is usually white, but sometimes we find it pink, yellowish, green, red, and brown.

It is interesting to find that the history of a tree for several years past can be told by studying the scars along the bare stems. The annual growth each year is marked by a circle of scars around the stem, which was left by the scales of the buds when they opened in the spring, and these scars mark each season’s growth for successive years along the stem.

Leaf-scars

Besides these circles of scars, there are scars on each side of the stem which were left by the leaves when they fell in the autumn. These leaf-scars differ distinctly in various species and may be round, narrow, triangular, oval, heart-shaped, or horseshoe-shaped according to the species of the tree. They are either flat upon the stem or on a projection, they are sometimes concave and again convex. They may be opposite each other on the stem, as those of the horsechestnut, maples, and ashes, or the arrangement may be alternate, as that of hickories, walnuts and oaks. The places on the stem where the leaf-scars appear are called nodes, and the spaces between the nodes are called internodes.

Occasionally stipule scars are found on the stems,—inconspicuous scars left by stipules, the leaf-like bodies found at the base of leafstalks on some trees,—and sometimes we find the scars of fruit stalks.

Bundle-scars

BUNDLE-SCARS

Bundle-scars are the scars of the little fibres, the vascular bundles which fastened the leaves to the stems in summer. They are found on the leaf-scars and usually take their shape more or less. On the large leaf-scars they can be seen clearly, but on delicate twigs where the leaf-scars are small it is well to use a magnifying glass.

Buds

In our climate the buds of trees are formed in the summer during the season’s growth. The bud at the tip of the stem is called the terminal bud, the buds in the axils of the leaf-scars are called the axillary or lateral buds. Buds contain complete branches in miniature which develop in the spring into a new crop of twigs. By opening a bud in winter the little leaves can be seen and often a cluster of flowers, packed away from the cold in marvellous warm wrappings.

As a rule the terminal bud carries on the growth of the tree and the lateral buds furnish the side branches. Flowers are found in both terminal and lateral buds, but sometimes they are enclosed in buds by themselves which open before the leaves come out in the spring, like those of the red maple and American elm,—these are called flower buds. Occasionally we find two or three lateral buds together called accessory buds,—superposed, if placed one above another as they are in the butternut; collateral, if side by side as in the red maple. When several buds are crowded together one bud usually remains latent. Latent buds are sometimes caught in the growing bark of the tree and remain undeveloped for years, breaking out at length perhaps up and down the sides of the trunk as we see them in “feathered elms.” These abnormal and irregular buds are called adventitious buds.

The winter buds of trees may be large or small, they may be slender, flat, oval, pointed or round, hidden or exposed, they may be smooth, downy, sticky, or rough, covered with scales or naked, and they may differ in color from pale yellow to an inky black.

From the great outlines of the trees against the sky to the little scales of the buds on the stems we marvel to find here as in all nature, order, law, consistency out of infinite variety.

Chapter II
THE HORSECHESTNUT

HORSECHESTNUT
Æsculus hippocastanum

Page [17]

Chapter II
THE HORSECHESTNUT

Family Hippocastanaceæ

This a small family consisting of one well-known cultivated species,—the horsechestnut,—and four belonging to the Western and Southern States,—the various large and small buckeyes.

The horsechestnut is so well known and its winter characteristics so clearly marked that I have chosen it first for description, although no species of the family is found growing wild in the Northeastern States.

Horsechestnut Æsculus hippocastanum

A large tree with a pyramidal head. The bark of old trees splits off in small square pieces, and in young trees it is smooth. Very coarse twigs and large brown buds covered with a gummy substance. Opposite leaf-scars.

The horsechestnut has little grace or beauty of outline in winter. Its branches are stiff, the twigs are coarse, ending bluntly with large terminal buds, and the general shape too compact to be pleasing. The buds and recent shoots are particularly interesting however, as every scar is sharply defined and the buds are so large we can see the inner structure perfectly. In the accompanying illustration we see a two-year-old shoot with a large terminal bud and two lateral buds below the ring of scars left by the scales of the terminal bud of the year before. The bundle-scars are plainly seen on the leaf-scars, and above one of the leaf-scars there is a lateral bud ready to develop into a lateral branch when it opens in the spring. The circle of scars at the base of each lateral shoot was left by the scales of the lateral bud of the year before. There are one or two small undeveloped buds at the top of the leaf-scars which would carry on the growth of the branch if anything happened to injure the vigorous buds at the tips of the stems. The dots on the bark are the lenticels. By opening the bud with a knife we find beneath the sticky gummy substance and the numerous layers of scales a complete branch in miniature. The little leaves are carefully packed in downy wool to keep out the dampness and cold, and in their turn they protect the delicate pink spike of flowers. A German naturalist once counted sixty-eight flowers on one of these undeveloped spikes in the bud, and with a microscope he discovered the pollen of the stamens.

HORSECHESTNUT SHOOT

Page [16]

The horsechestnut came originally from Southeastern Europe and was introduced into gardens about the middle of the sixteenth century. Its wood has no commercial value. The generic name, Æsculus, comes from esca, food, the ancient name of an oak with edible acorns; it was probably given to this tree on account of its large chestnut-like fruit. Hippocastanum, from hippos, a horse, castanea, a chestnut, alludes to the fruit which is made into horse medicine in Turkey.

The Ohio buckeye (Æsculus glabra) is a shrub or low tree found west of the Alleghanies. Its terminal bud is frequently lacking, and the two upper lateral buds grow large and take its place. Its buds and stems resemble those of the horsechestnut, but the two species would never be confused.

Enlarged longitudinal section of the bud of a horsechestnut, showing two folded, undeveloped leaves and an undeveloped spike of flowers.

Chapter III
THE MAPLES

1. Sugar Maple. 2. Silver Maple. 3. Red Maple. 4. Moosewood. 5. Mountain Maple. 6. Norway Maple. 7. Sycamore. 8 A and B. Ash-leaved Maple, showing the varying color of the stems.

Chapter III
THE MAPLES

Family Aceraceæ

Maples have long been famous for beauty of blossom in the early spring, and richness of foliage in the late summer and autumn; but a study of the twigs and buds after the leaves have fallen, the varying colors of buds and stems, the delicacy of twigs and branches, and grace of outline as trees demonstrates effectively the unusual beauty of the maples in winter.

The family name Acer comes from the Latin word for sharp, which was originally derived from ac, a Celtic word meaning a point. The name was given to this genus because the wood was much sought after in ancient times for the heads of pikes and lances.

Among some forty species of maple there are six native species, if the ash-leaved maple is included in this genus. Two species from Europe, the Norway and sycamore maples, are planted commonly throughout New England.

All the maples have opposite leaf-scars.

Sugar or Rock Maple Acer saccharum

The general shape is erect, with smooth, clean branches. In old trees the bark breaks away in long, shallow fissures with curling ridges, giving the trunk a ploughed appearance. The buds are narrow, brown, and sharp-pointed. Delicate pinkish leaves folded inside the bud. Leaf-scars small and opposite; also the twigs branch opposite each other.

Among the different characteristics of this tree in winter, two stand out conspicuously as unfailing means of identification,—the sharp-pointed brown buds and the rough furrowed trunk with smooth places between the fissures. When young it can be distinguished at a distance by its erect habit of growth and general shapeliness, the main trunk often extending up into the tree unbroken by divisions.

SUGAR MAPLE
Acer saccharum

Page [22]

TRUNK OF A YOUNG SUGAR MAPLE

Page [22]

The sugar maple is typically American, and is especially associated in our minds with the farming and country life of New England. It is found in all the Northeastern States growing wild and extensively cultivated. Maple sugar is made from the sap of this tree in the early spring. A clear, bright day and a westerly wind succeeding a frosty night are most favorable to the flow of sap, according to Emerson. A hole is bored in the trunk of the tree, and the sap flows for about three weeks. It is collected daily in buckets, and then boiled into syrup. A sugar maple should not be tapped before it is twenty-five or thirty years old, but after that age it may be tapped annually as long as it lives. The wood of this tree is hard and smooth, and is much used for furniture and the interior finishing of houses. Occasionally a tree is found where the fibres of the wood are contorted irregularly into round points called bird’s eyes. The cause of this peculiar bird’s-eye maple is unknown, and the theory that the grain is diverted by the tapping of woodpeckers for the sweet sap is an unsatisfactory explanation, for some trees are thickly covered, while others do not have a single spot.

The Latin name, Acer saccharum—sugar maple—came from the Arabic, Soukar.

Red or Swamp Maple Acer rubrum

A low tree, with a rounded head, smooth gray bark, reddish twigs dotted with brown, and small, round red buds with smooth scales. When old the bark cracks and peels off in long, slender flakes. Small leaf-scars opposite each other on the stem. The flowers come before the leaves, from the round flower buds clustered around the stem.

Even in the middle of winter the red maple is true to its distinctive characteristic of color, and one marvels to find so much red in its buds and twigs. The gray trunks are in fine contrast, and accentuate the color, and the curving tips of the branches, with their delicate twigs and graceful outlines, give the trees great beauty.

The red maple is one of the very first trees to bloom in the early spring, and then its color is conspicuous, for, as Lowell says, it “crimsons to a coral reef.” The flowers are sweet scented, and the carrying of pollen is done on a wholesale plan over the tree by little, inconspicuous insects, which carry the pollen dust from flower to flower.

RED MAPLE
Acer rubrum

Page [24]

TRUNK OF A YOUNG RED MAPLE

Page [25]

In the autumn this tree is one of the first to turn, and its brilliant red leaves in the low swamp lands, beginning often the last of August or early September, invariably startle one with a swift premonition of winter. “How early the fall has come this year!” some one usually says, and no one realizes it is just the habit of early maturity peculiar to that particular red maple. It is a tree closely associated with Thoreau, for we read that he spent much time in extracting sugar from its sap, against the wishes of his more practical-minded father, who could not understand why his son should spend time and money over such an experiment, when he could buy better and cheaper sugar at the store.

The wood, although it is close-grained and firm, is not so much used as that of the sugar maple, owing to the fact that it decays when exposed to alternate moisture and dryness. There are several varieties of the wood. The curled maple, one of the most attractive, has wavy fibres which catch the light like watered silk, and it is much used in cabinet work. The sap is only half as rich in sugar as that of the sugar maple.

The Latin name, Acer rubrum,—red maple,—came from the Celtic word rub, signifying red.

White or Silver Maple Acer saccharinum

This tree is found growing wild in wet places throughout New England, and it is also often cultivated. The trunk is low and divided into spreading branches that form a spacious head. The branches sweep down and turn up with curving tips. Smooth, red buds like those of the red maple. It blossoms before the leaves are out, like the red maple.

It is always a delight to find this tree growing naturally where it has not been planted, for, owing to its habit of growing near flowing streams with clear, sandy bottoms, one rarely comes across it. It is a tree to look for on a canoeing trip, and when one discovers its long, drooping branches hanging over the stream, the feeling of isolation is complete; a silver maple on a river bank accentuates the sense of being in the country, just as the notes of the hermit thrush accentuate the sense of remoteness in the woods.

In winter there are two distinct characteristics by which one may distinguish the silver maple from the red which it closely resembles,—the curving tips of the lower branches which sweep down and curve up in a pronounced way unlike the red maple, and the manner in which the bark peels off from the old trunks, in long pieces which are free at either end and attached in the middle, while the bark of the red maple splits up and down the trunk without shagging in strips.

The wood of the silver maple is soft and perishable and is seldom used.

The former name of this tree was Acer dasycarpum, but it has been changed to Acer saccharinum, the old name for the sugar maple,—Acer saccharum.

SILVER MAPLE
Acer saccharinum

Page [27]

It is found growing wild along river banks from New Brunswick to Florida, and it is frequently planted in cities and towns.

Striped Maple; Moosewood Acer pennsylvanicum

A small tree, with smooth green shoots and a light green bark striped with white. The leaf-scars are opposite, and encircle the stem, and are conspicuously ridged, with two raised lines above. Smooth bud-scales, silver white leaves folded within the bud.

The moosewood is a beautiful little tree at all times, but in winter when its large leaves have fallen and the wonderful coloring of its trunk and stems is no longer concealed by foliage, one can fully appreciate its color, delicate branches and smooth stems. The trunk is an exquisite shade of green, smooth, with occasional stripes of white, and the stems and buds are also smooth and a rich rose in color.

This tree is too small for practical use, but its æsthetic qualities should cause it to be more generally planted in our parks and gardens than it is.

The name moosewood was given to it by the country people in Maine, as the moose in the woods invariably strip it for the sweet juice in the tender young shoots in winter, when there is little for them to eat.

The Latin name Acer pennsylvanicum—Pennsylvanian maple—was given to it by Linnæus.

The moosewood is found throughout the North Atlantic States growing in rich woods under taller trees.

Mountain Maple Acer spicatum

This is a shrub about eight feet high, found commonly in the mountains and hills of New England, and like the moosewood seldom found growing out of the forest. It is easily distinguished by its gray bark and pink stems covered with a delicate gray bloom, and the clusters of dried fruit left hanging on the stems.

Acer spicatum—spiked maple—refers to the spike-like clusters of flowers.

Ash-leaved Maple; Box Elder Acer negundo

A small or medium-sized tree with yellowish green or reddish brown smooth stems and opposite V-shaped, narrow leaf-scars. The buds are gray and downy and covered with two pairs of scales.

This tree is found wild in Vermont and Pennsylvania, southward and westward in lowland woods, and is more or less cultivated throughout New England.

MOOSEWOOD MAPLE
Acer pennsylvanicum

Page [27]

It is not long-lived and has small practical value, as the wood is not strong, and the sap yields only a small quantity of sugar.

The Latin name, negundo, is meaningless and its origin is unknown.

Norway Maple Acer platanoides

A tall tree, with a round head and closely fissured bark. The buds are large, round, and a dull reddish brown color. Coarse twigs and opposite leaf-scars. Distinctive characteristic is the white juice which comes after cutting off a bud.

It is particularly interesting to open the buds of this tree, and to see how carefully the leaves are protected. After removing the outer scales of the terminal bud with a knife, one discovers a pair of scales covered with soft brown hair as thick as sealskin fur and the same color. Within this warm covering there are still another pair of inner scales with fur a little darker and thicker than that of the first pair, and within these are the little leaves in embryo. In some buds one finds a tiny flower cluster instead, so small it can scarcely be seen, but perfect in every detail,—the most protected of flowers. A discovery like this makes one wonder if the dispensation of coverings is erratically bestowed, for why should we find a rugged, stalwart tree like the Norway maple with its buds luxuriously protected from the cold, while a slender, delicate tree like our moosewood has only a pair of scales for a bud-covering? There must be hidden vitality in the little moosewood, for in spring, when the leaves come out, they are as vigorous and beautiful as those of the Norway maple; perhaps, after all, it is just a matter of nationality; the Norway maple came from Europe and has kept the traditional custom of wearing warm clothing in winter, and the moosewood has lived without superfluous raiment, like an Indian in the woods.

Sugar has been made from the sap of the Norway maple, but it is produced in small quantity. The wood is easily worked, and is used in Europe for various small purposes.

Acer platanoides means platanus-like maple, and refers to an imaginary resemblance to the plane tree.

Sycamore Maple Acer pseudo-platanus

A tall tree, with a spacious head. The bark breaks off in thin plates. Coarser twigs than those of the other maples, leaf-scars opposite, and large round buds. Distinctive characteristic is its green buds, which are green all winter.

This is the “sycamore tree” of Europe, and it is found here commonly planted in gardens and along roadsides.

NORWAY MAPLE
Acer platanoides

Page [29]

It is distinguished from all other maples in winter by its unvarying green buds, and the manner in which the bark of old trees breaks off in thin, small, square pieces.

It is a favorite Scotch tree and was much planted about old estates in Scotland. Over two hundred years ago, the powerful barons in the West of Scotland used these sycamores for hanging their enemies and refractory vassals on, and these trees were called dool, or grief trees. Loudon tells the romantic histories of several dool trees which were still standing in 1844.

The wood is used in Europe for toys and other small articles, and experiments have been made with the sap, and sugar has been obtained in small quantities.

The name pseudo-platanus—false plane—was given to it on account of a fancied resemblance to the plane tree.

SYCAMORE MAPLE
Acer pseudo-platanus

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Chapter IV
THE ASHES

1. Red Ash. 2. White Ash. 3. Black Ash. 4. European Ash.

Chapter IV
THE ASHES

Family Oleaceæ

In winter there is little to attract us in ash trees beyond a certain bold strength of trunk and limb. There is no grace or delicacy whatever in the branches, the twigs are coarsely moulded, and the buds are thick and leathery. The popular prejudice existing against ash trees in summer, when the contrast of their light foliage and heavy trunks makes it less deserved, is fully warranted in winter; but if the ash is ugly, the wood of few trees is as generally useful, and its literary history dates back to the “Odyssey” and to the Eddas of Norse mythology.

The generic name, Fraxinus, comes from the Latin phraxis (separation), and probably alludes to the wood of the European species which splits easily. There are about fifteen different species in the United States, three of which are found commonly in New England. The green ash, which used to be considered a distinct species, is now thought to be a variety of the red ash.

All the ashes have opposite leaf-scars.

White or American Ash Fraxinus americana

A large tree with a straight trunk. Bark furrowed with irregular ridges, the hollows forming diamond shapes frequently. Buds smooth, thick and hard like leather, and a rusty brown color. Twigs smooth, without down. Leaf-scars opposite, and the stems are flattened at the nodes. Cross-shaped branching of the twigs against the sky.

AMERICAN ASH
Fraxinus americana

Page [36]

The white ash is a tree which we find frequently along roadsides and in the woods everywhere in New England. The characteristics which distinguish it from other trees in winter are the close diamond-shaped fissures of the bark, the rusty brown buds, and often the old clusters of paddle-shaped fruit hanging on the tree. On some ash trees black, berry-like excrescences are found hanging in dry clusters on the ends of the branches. These are not clusters of fruit, as might at first be supposed, but the diseased and undeveloped remains of the panicles of staminate flowers which have been injured by mites,—curious freaks resembling oak-apples and the outgrowths of other insect poisoned plants. Occasionally these berry-like clusters have been gathered as seeds, by mistake, instead of the true fruit, a mistake which does not seem remarkable when the fruit-like appearance of the clusters is considered.

The wood of the white ash is heavy, tough, and strong, and is much used for agricultural implements, tool handles and oars, for the interior finish of houses and in the construction of carriages. Emerson tells of an ash which was felled in Granville many years ago, the wood of which furnished three thousand rake stalks. The tree from which I took the following photograph, stands on a farm in Sterling, Massachusetts, and measures over fourteen feet in circumference, five feet from the ground. This trunk illustrates the massive strength which gives the ash its one æsthetic quality.

Red or Downy Ash Fraxinus pennsylvanica

This tree resembles the white ash, but is distinguished from it by the down on the recent shoots. It is a smaller tree than the white ash, more spreading in shape. The twigs are less coarse and branch more frequently, with less space between the buds,—shorter internodes,—on shoots of the same age. Buds inconspicuous, smaller and blacker than those of the white ash. Bark closely furrowed, like that of the white ash. Leaf-scars opposite.

The red ash is much less coarsely moulded than the white ash, and in its leafless season, particularly, the contrast between its branches and those of the white ash is plainly seen. The fissures in the bark of the red ash seem a little finer and nearer together than those of the white ash bark on trees of the same age. The soft down on the recent shoots remains through the winter; and this, with the finer twigs, which branch more frequently, and the smaller, darker buds, makes the tree easily distinguished from the white ash in winter,—more easily even than in summer.

The staminate flowers of the red ash are afflicted by mites in the same way as those of the white ash, producing unsightly clusters which hang on the tree all winter.

The wood is much less valuable than that of the white ash.

Black Ash Fraxinus nigra

A slender tree, 40 to 70 feet high. Trunk dark gray, often disfigured with knobs. The buds are black, and the young shoots greenish. Coarse twigs; opposite leaf-scars.

The black ash is distinguished from the white and red ashes by its darker buds and by having a less pinched, flattened appearance at the nodes on the stem. It grows throughout New England in swamps, in wet woods, and in moist, muddy ground near rivers. In the woods its trunk is found frequently without branches to a great height, and Emerson calls it the most slender deciduous tree to be found in the forest. It is sometimes seventy or eighty feet high, with a trunk scarcely a foot in diameter.

The wood of the black ash is heavy but not strong. It is used for fences, for the interior finish of houses, and, after being separated into thin strips, it is used in making baskets and the bottoms of chairs. Its sap was an old remedy for earache, obtained by holding a green branch before the fire.

The specific name, nigra, refers to the color of the buds.

European Ash Fraxinus excelsior

A large tree, with a lofty, spreading head and short, thick trunk. The bark is ash-colored when old, and dark gray when young. Very black buds distinguish it from the American species. Opposite leaf-scars.

The European ash is planted frequently along roadsides and in our parks and gardens. It is indigenous to Northern, Central, and Southern Europe. Its jet black buds distinguish it from other ash trees. In the chapter called “A Visit to an old Bachelor,” in Mrs. Gaskell’s “Cranford,” Mary Smith tells us how she was talking to Mr. Holbrook in the fields, and how he quoted poetry to himself and enjoyed the trees and clouds and glimpses of distant pastures, and how he suddenly turned sharp round and asked, “Now, what color are ash buds in March?”

“Is the man going mad? thought I. He is very like Don Quixote. ‘What color are they, I say?’ repeated he vehemently. ‘I am sure I don’t know, sir,’ said I, with the meekness of ignorance. ‘I knew you didn’t. No more did I—an old fool that I am!—till this young man comes and tells me. Black as ash buds in March. And I’ve lived all my life in the country; more shame for me not to know. Black: they are jet black, madam.”

The “young man” he refers to is Tennyson, and the quotation, “Black as ash buds in the front of March,” is a simile used in “The Gardener’s Daughter,” and it shows how acute Tennyson’s powers of observation were, and how true his descriptions of nature.

The buds of the ash open later in the spring than those of other trees, and the leaves unfold very slowly. Tennyson also noted this characteristic:—

“Why lingereth she to clothe her heart with love,

Delaying as the tender ash delays

To clothe herself, when all the woods are green?”

The rare fitness of this simile might pass unheeded if we did not study trees first and poetry afterwards.

In Europe ash seeds were used for medicine. They were called lingua avis by the old apothecaries, on account of a fancied resemblance to the tongues of birds; young ash seeds were also pickled and used in salads. Evelyn says the wood “is of all others the sweetest of our forest fuelling, and the fittest for ladies’ chambers.”

The horsechestnuts, the maples, and the ashes are the three genera of large trees which have opposite leaf-scars.

Chapter V
THE WALNUTS AND HICKORIES

1. Butternut. 2. Black Walnut. 3. Pignut Hickory. 4. Mockernut
Hickory. 5. Shagbark Hickory. 6. Bitternut Hickory.

Chapter V
THE WALNUTS AND HICKORIES

Family Juglandaceæ

Few trees are more lofty and majestic than certain species of walnuts and hickories. They are stately in summer, but in winter, when the foliage has gone and every branch and twig is thrown in black relief against the sky, their beauty is truly imposing.

Both walnuts and hickories are valuable timber trees, and the nuts of several species are sweet and edible.

Two genera of this family are found in America,—Juglans and Hicoria. Of the first genus there are two species native in the Northeastern States,—the butternut and the black walnut.

Butternut Juglans cinerea

A low, spreading tree, branching a short way up the trunk. Gray bark, slightly fissured, the clefts not running together. Recent shoots downy, with a fringe of hair over the leaf-scar. Leaf-scars conspicuous, alternate, the bundle-scars horseshoe (U) shaped. Light brown buds destitute of scales. Terminal bud encloses pistillate flowers, which are fertilized by the staminate flowers enclosed in the pineapple-like bud over the leaf-scars. These staminate flowers hang in one long catkin, which drops off after shedding the pollen in spring. The superposed buds (two or three over the leaf-scars) contain the side branches. Pith light brown and chambered,—by cutting a twig lengthwise this can be seen,—a characteristic of the Juglans family.

BUTTERNUT
Juglans cinerea

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TRUNK OF A BUTTERNUT

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Among all the native trees, the butternut is perhaps the most interesting for winter study. The naked buds, the irregular leaf-scars, with horseshoe bundle-scars, the superposed buds containing the lateral branches and the queerly marked buds of the staminate flowers, the chambered pith, and the little fringes of down on the stems, every structural detail of this tree is interesting and unusual. The butternut is one of the few trees among the Juglandaceæ which is not tall and beautiful in outline. It is a low tree, with wide-spreading, rather straggling branches, frequently ill shapen and uncouth in appearance. It is usually associated in our minds with country lanes, and growing by the walls and fences bordering open pastures and farm lands, and in these surroundings it seems pleasing and appropriate; but when we find it planted in parks and cultivated grounds it seems commonplace and insignificant. It is found in all the New England States, in New York, and in Pennsylvania. Very large specimens grow in the valley of the Connecticut River.

The wood of the butternut is light brown in color, it is light, soft, and easily worked, and is much used for furniture, gunstocks, and for the interior finish of houses. The inner bark is used medicinally, and a dye is made from the bark and nutshells. An excellent pickle is made from the young nuts, and the kernels are sweet and edible, although rather rich and oily. Professor Gray tried the experiment of making sugar from the sap of the butternut. He found that it took four trees to yield nine quarts of sap (one and a quarter pounds of sugar), the amount that one sugar maple yields.

The generic name, Juglans, comes from Jovis glans, the nut of Jove, in reference to the excellence of the fruit, and the specific name, cinerea (ash-colored), probably alludes to the color of the bark.

Black Walnut Juglans nigra

A large tree, 50 to 120 feet high, with spreading branches and rough bark, darker in color than that of the butternut. The buds are gray instead of light brown like those of the butternut, and they are shorter. The twigs are smooth in winter, without hair, and the pith is chambered. Alternate, conspicuous leaf-scars. Characteristic difference between the two trees is that the fringe of hair over the leaf-scar in the butternut is absent in the black walnut.

The black walnut is a striking contrast to the butternut. It is tall and erect, with a broad, spacious head and vigorous, wide-spreading branches. The bark is much darker and rougher than that of the butternut, and the buds are smaller, and gray rather than yellowish in color, like those of the other species.

BLACK WALNUT
Juglans nigra

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TRUNK OF A BLACK WALNUT

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The wood is heavy, strong, and durable, and dark brown in color. It takes polish well and is much used in cabinet making, boat-building, interior house finishing, and for gunstocks and coffins. A valuable wood in many ways, but the passing of the fashion for black walnut furniture is not to be regretted. It has been cut most recklessly in our forests during the last twenty-five years, and already it has been almost exterminated in the Mississippi Basin. Individual trees are now sold where there used to be whole tracts of black walnut forests. In Tennessee last year, dealers were buying stumps of old walnut trees which had been left when the trees were first cut, in the early days of the lumber trade. Each stump brought more money than the whole tree originally sold for.

Its fruit is edible, and an oil is made from its kernels. A kind of bread has also been made from the kernels of these nuts, and the husks are used as a dye.

The black walnut is found growing wild in the Northeastern States, but it is more common west than east of the Alleghanies.

The English walnut, Juglans regia, originally came from Persia, and is sometimes cultivated here. An interesting cross between the English walnut and our native butternut is found on the north side of Houghton’s Pond in the Blue Hills, Massachusetts. Only a few of these hybrids are known to exist, and all of them are said to grow in the vicinity of Boston.

Shagbark; or Shellbark Hickory Hicoria ovata

A tall, stately tree, 70 to 90 feet high; unmistakable on account of its rough, flaking bark, which shags off in large plates. Yellowish brown buds, with two outer dark scales, which also shag characteristically. Coarse twigs; alternate leaf-scars. The husk of the nut splits and breaks off.

This is a tree peculiar to Northeastern America, and one of the most rugged, magnificent specimens to be found anywhere in the same temperate climate. It is especially adapted for broad treatment in landscape gardening, and should be planted where there is plenty of room for its full development, and where one can admire its lofty proportions and symmetry. It is one among many trees, which is seen at its best in winter unhampered by foliage, and then its naked boughs are so inky black, that it seems as if it were etched against the sky. These very dark colored branches are characteristic of the hickories, and help one to distinguish the trees at a distance. The rough bark shagging off in curving plates, and the buds with the same shagging, curving outer scales are the distinctive characteristics of the shagbark in winter.

SHAGBARK HICKORY
Hicoria ovata

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TRUNKS OF SHAGBARK HICKORIES

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The wood is heavy, hard, tough, and close-grained, and it is used for agricultural implements, axe handles, wagon stock, walking sticks, and baskets. In tensile strength and in the weight of compression, a block of hickory is as strong as wrought iron of the same length and weight. No other American wood burns with such brilliancy or gives out so much heat as the shagbark. The fruit of this tree is edible and sweet, and the nuts have greater commercial value than those of any other hickory.

The generic name, hicoria, is of Indian origin and comes from powcohicora, the name of an oily emulsion made from the pounded kernels of mockernuts by the Virginian Algonkins. Ovata (egg-shaped) refers to the shape of the leaves.

The shagbark is found from Southern Maine to Florida and westward to Central Kansas. The forests of Indiana, once the centre of the hickory trade, are now exhausted. The hickories are confined to Eastern North America alone, and are a genus of rare and very valuable trees.

Mockernut; or Whiteheart Hickory Hicoria alba

A tall tree 60 to 100 feet high, with a lofty head. Bark smooth, with close, wavy furrows,—a distinctive characteristic of the tree. Large, hard, round buds, without the dark outer scales peculiar to the shagbark, but with downy, yellowish brown scales. Coarse twigs; alternate leaf-scars. Nut somewhat hexagonal, with a very thick shell, and a hard, thick husk.

The mockernut is one of the most interesting of the hickories in winter. Its bark has a peculiar wavy appearance, entirely unlike any other member of the family. The hollows are close together in sinuous, shallow furrows, and the bark is so smooth over these fissures that it looks as if the ridges were trying to grow over and close up the hollows,—the effect is that of a thin, silk veil drawn over the trunk. The twigs are large and heavily moulded, with large oval buds, but they produce a pleasing effect of strength, instead of seeming ugly and coarse, like those of the horsechestnut. The curves and irregularities the stem takes in growing, and the general alternate plan of branching save the mockernut from being rigid and upright like the horsechestnut.

The mockernut is easily distinguished from every other hickory by its peculiar bark, its smooth, large buds, and coarse stems.

MOCKERNUT HICKORY
Hicoria alba

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Its wood is used for the same purposes as that of the shagbark and is equally valuable. Its nut is large and sweet, and if the tree were put under cultivation, it would probably equal that of the shagbark in commercial value. As it is now, however, the shell is too thick, hard, and difficult to crack, and the kernel too small in proportion to the shell to make it marketable. The experiment of cultivating the mockernut to improve its fruit would be an interesting one, and certainly both the nuts of the mockernut and shagbark deserve as much attention as the English walnut.

Both the specific names,—the Latin alba, and the English white-heart—refer to the color of the wood. This tree is found in New England and also in the West and South.

Bitternut Hickory Hicoria minima

A large tree, with a light, granite-gray bark. Slender twigs, the recent shoots orange-green and dotted. Alternate leaf-scars. Buds long, curved, flattened, and pointed, the lateral ones shorter and more round than the terminal buds; all are orange-yellow in color,—the distinguishing characteristic of the tree. The nuts are bitter.

If the characteristic of the bitternut’s flattened, orange buds is remembered, this tree can be distinguished not only in winter, but at every other season of the year. The hickories are constantly confused, and the fact that they often hybridize complicates matters still more. Such an unfailing means of identification as these yellow buds is, therefore, a great help, and as there are always one or two lateral buds lying dormant along the stem, after the buds have opened in the spring, and as new buds are formed by the middle of the summer, there is scarcely a lapse of time when they fail to distinguish the tree. The bitternut is the most graceful of all the hickories. It has a smooth, tapering trunk and delicate twigs.

Its wood is heavy, hard, tough, and close-grained, and is used for the yokes of oxen, for hoops and fuel. The nuts are so bitter that squirrels refuse them as food.

The specific name, minima (the smallest), refers to the branches and foliage of the tree, which are more delicate than those of other hickories. The range is the same as that of the shagbark and mockernut.

Pignut Hickory Hicoria glabra

A large tree, 70 to 80 feet high, with a tapering trunk and smooth gray bark, which does not shag. The buds are yellowish brown, and smaller than those of other hickories, with no black outer scales like those of the shagbark, and smaller than the mockernut buds. The buds are either round, or egg-shaped. Delicate twigs; alternate leaf-scars. The nut has a thick shell and poor kernel; the husk does not split all the way down as it does with the shagbark.

BITTERNUT HICKORY
Hicoria minima

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If it were possible for trees to have negative characters, the pignut would be eminently negative. In fact, its distinguishing characteristic is that it has no one distinctive feature to identify it in winter, as all the other hickories have. Its bark is not wavy like the mockernut, and it does not shag like the shagbark; its buds are not yellow like the bitternut, nor large like the mockernut, nor has it black outer scales like the shagbark; its nuts are neither bitter nor sweet,—and yet these very negative qualities are a sure means of identification. One knows the pignut in much the same way that David Harum knew he had bought a horse, “the only thing to determine that fact was that it wa’n’t nothin’ else.” All praise, however, to the outline of the pignut against a winter sky. The tracery of its twigs and branches is delicate and graceful, and it looks as if it were drawn with the blackest India ink. Michaux calls the pignut one of the largest trees in the United States, and it certainly compares well with the three other native hickories in its general bearing, for it is as stately and beautiful in outline as they, in spite of its negative characteristics in details.

The wood is like that of other hickories and it is used for the same purposes. The nuts vary much in shape and size. Some of them are oval, others broader than they are long, others perfectly round, and the sizes vary as much as the shapes. The nuts are not marketable, although they are not unpleasant to the taste and afford squirrels a supply of food for winter.

The specific name, glabra (smooth), refers to the shoots and leaves, which are smoother than those of other hickories.

The range of the pignut is the same as that of other members of the genus; it is found throughout New England and in the West and South.

PIGNUT HICKORY
Hicoria glabra

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Chapter VI
THE BIRCHES, HOP HORNBEAM, AND HORNBEAM

CANOE BIRCH
Betula papyrifera

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Chapter VI
THE BIRCHES, HOP HORNBEAM, AND HORNBEAM

Family Betulaceæ

The birches are a family of exceedingly graceful and attractive trees, and charm us quite as much in winter by the color of their stems and the delicacy of their twigs, as they do in summer by the fresh green of their foliage. Like other trees, birches vary in appearance according to the place where they grow. If they are shaded by other trees in the woods their trunks are tapering and tall and free from branches, but when they grow in open fields and the lateral branches develop, their general outline is bushy and far less attractive; unlike other trees, birches are improved by not having full development.

The birch has been known from the earliest ages, and it is found in Europe, Asia, and North America.

There are distinguishing characteristics in the details of buds and stems, but the color and texture of the bark on the trunk and branches of the different species are the most obvious and certain means of identification in winter.

There are in all six native species in New England, and one from Europe which is planted in our parks and gardens.

Canoe, Paper or White Birch Betula papyrifera

A large, graceful tree, 60 to 75 feet high, with wonderfully white bark splitting into thin, tough layers. Branches thicker, buds larger, catkins larger than those of other birches, and the upper part of the twigs is hairy. The buds are sticky and greener inside than those of other birches,—less silvery and soft. The leaf-scars are alternate.

GRAY BIRCHES
Betula populifolia

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In winter, as at every other season of the year, few trees surpass the canoe birch for beauty and delicacy. No other tree has a bark so shiningly white, and even the snow is unable to dim its purity. We usually think of this tree as being fragile and delicate, especially when we recall it as it grows along the edge of woodlands where the shade of other trees has forced it to grow slender and tall in reaching for the light. The canoe birch is really a large tree, however, and often grows to an enormous size among the northern hills where it seems to thrive best. The feminine characteristics associated with this tree in our minds—“Most beautiful of forest trees, the Lady of the Woods,” etc.—receive a curious shock when we come suddenly upon a huge old birch growing in a clearing in the woods, for all the world like a middle aged and corpulent matron among the younger trees.

The wood of the canoe birch is light, but it is hard and strong. It is used for making shoe lasts and shoe pegs, spools, wood pulp, and for fuel. The Indians use it for making sledges, paddles, the frames of snowshoes, and the handles of hatchets. They also use the bark for making canoes, wigwams, and baskets, and they make a drink from the sap of the tree.

The generic name, Betula, probably comes from the Celtic name for the birch, betu, or it may possibly have come from the Latin batuere, in reference to the birch rods with which the Roman lictors drove back the crowds of people. The specific name, papyrifera, refers to the paper-like bark which peels off in thin lateral strips.

This birch is found in the mountains of New England and generally throughout the Northern and Northwestern States.

American Gray or White Birch Betula populifolia

A small, slender tree, 15 to 30 feet high, with an erect trunk, It grows in poor soil and is found growing commonly along sandy roadsides. Several shoots spring from the trunk near the ground. Bark close fitting, with a chalky white surface. Black triangular spaces below each branch. The ends of the twigs are very rough to the touch. Alternate leaf-scars.

This little birch is perhaps the least interesting member of a most attractive family. It is found commonly growing along the sandy banks of country roads and in waste, barren places where pitch pines 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, adapting itself immediately to its surroundings, and thriving where other trees would die.

BLACK BIRCH
Betula lenta

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Although the bark is white and might be confounded with that of the canoe birch at first sight, the trees can easily be told apart. The gray birch has a close-fitting bark which is dirty white in color, with triangular black blotches under the branches, it is exceedingly chalky to the touch and never peels off as it grows old, while the bark of the canoe birch 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 gray 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. It is used for wood pulp, shoe pegs, spools, barrels, and for fuel.

The specific name, populifolia (poplar-leaved), refers to the leaves which quiver in the wind and show light under surfaces like the aspens. The gray birch is found throughout the Northeastern States.

Black or Sweet Birch Betula lenta

A tall, round-headed tree. The branches twist in different directions, but are pendulous and graceful. The young shoots are brown, dotted with white, and smooth. The bark is smooth, dark brown, and resembles that of the garden cherry. The buds are conical and pointed. The twigs have an aromatic taste. Alternate leaf-scars.

Few trees deserve greater appreciation than the black birch and few receive as little from people in general. It is always beautiful, but in winter when the smooth golden brown stems are bare and the sun strikes it squarely, it glows to the tip of the smallest branch with a wealth of radiant, living color.

The black birch is easily distinguished by the dark color of its bark, which is smooth on young trees and cracks into rough square plates on old trees, but which never peels off in strips. Its gray stems have a sweet, spicy taste, which is also a means of identifying the tree.

The wood is heavy, strong, and hard, and its surface after being polished is like satin. It is much sought after for furniture and is excellent for fuel. An oil made from the wood is used medicinally and as a flavoring extract, and a sweet beer is made by fermenting the sugary sap.

The specific name, lenta (pliant), refers to the flexible stems and branches of this tree. The black birch is found in rich woods throughout the Northeastern States.

Yellow Birch Betula lutea

A beautiful straight tree, 50 to 90 feet high. Distinguished from the black birch by its yellowish or silver-gray bark, which, unlike the brown bark of the black birch rolls back and peels off in thin, filmy strips from the trunk. The bud scales overlap each other. Alternate leaf-scars. Delicate twigs with an aromatic taste, not as sweet as the black birch. The catkins are larger round than those of the black birch.

YELLOW BIRCH
Betula lutea

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This is in every way a worthy sister tree of the black birch, and the rich yellow of the trunk, but partially revealed through the gray, shaggy, outer layers of the bark, is quite as beautiful as the rich red-browns of the black birch bark. Thoreau felt the charm of yellow birches. In his journal, Jan. 4, 1853, he says: “To what I will call Yellow Birch Swamp, E. Hubbard’s in the north part of the town, ... west of the Hunts’ pasture. There are more of these trees in it than anywhere else in the town that I know. How pleasing to stand near a new or rare tree; and few are so handsome as this: singularly allied to the black birch in its sweet checkerberry scent and its form, and to the canoe birch in its peeling or fringed and tasselled bark. The top is brush-like, as in the black birch. The bark an exquisite ... delicate gold color, curled off partly from the trunk with vertical clear or smooth spaces, as if a plane had been passed up the tree. The sight of these trees affects me more than California gold. I measured one five and two-twelfths feet in circumference at six feet from the ground. We have the silver and the golden birch. This is like a fair flaxen-haired sister of the dark complexioned black birch, with golden ringlets. How lustily it takes hold of the swampy soil and braces itself. In the twilight I went through the swamps, and the yellow birches sent forth a yellow gleam which each time made my heart beat faster. Sometimes I was in doubt about a birch whose vest was buttoned, smooth and dark, till I came nearer and saw the yellow gleaming through, or where a button was off.”

The yellow birch is one of the most valuable timber trees of the North. The wood is heavy, hard, and strong, and is used for making furniture, the hubs of wheels, and boxes. Few hard woods of a light color make as attractive flooring as polished yellow birch.