The _wood_ is strong, hard, durable, light brown to white, with thick pale sapwood. It is often used for fence posts, handles of tools, mallets and other small articles. The white birch, _Betula papyrifera_ Marsh., of the North Woods is rare in Illinois. It is found in Jo Daviess and Carroll counties and along the shores of Lake Michigan. The white papery bark distinguishes it from all other trees and was used by the northern Indians for covering their canoes and for making baskets, bags and other useful and ornamental things. +RIVER BIRCH+ _Betula nigra_ L. THE river, or back birch, is at home, as the name implies, along water courses, and inhabits the deep, rich soils along the borders of the larger rivers of the State and in swamps which are sometimes inundated for weeks at a time. [Illustration: RIVER BIRCH Two-thirds natural size.] The _bark_ provides a ready means of distinguishing this tree. It varies from reddish-brown to cinnamon-red in color, and peels back in tough papery layers. These layers persist on the trunk, presenting a very ragged and quite distinctive appearance. Unlike the bark of our other birches, the thin papery layers are usually covered with a gray powder. On older trunks, the bark on the main trunk becomes thick, deeply furrowed and of a dark reddish-brown color. The _leaves_ are simple, alternate, 2 to 3 inches long, more or less oval in shape, with double-toothed edges. The upper surface is dark green and the lower a pale yellowish-green. The _flowers_ are in catkins, the two kinds growing on the same tree. The _fruit_ is cone-shaped about 1 inch long, and densely crowded with little winged nutlets that ripen from May to June. The _wood_ is strong and fairly close-grained. It has been used to some extent in the manufacture of woodenware, in turnery and for wagon hubs. The yellow birch, _Betula lutea_ Michx., one of the most valuable hardwood timber trees around the Great Lakes, is represented in Illinois by a few small trees in Lee and Lake counties. It may be known by its bark becoming silvery-gray as the trunk expands and breaking into strips curled at the edges. The wood is strong and hard, close-grained, light brown tinged with red. It is used for interior finish, furniture, woodenware and turnery. It is prized as firewood. +BEECH+ _Fagus grandifolia_ Ehrh. THE beech is found from Maine to Wisconsin south to the Gulf and Texas, growing along with maples, oaks and tulip trees. It occurs in the ravines of the southern Illinois counties up to Vermilion County. It is one of the most beautiful of all trees either in summer or winter. [Illustration: BEECH One-half natural size.] The _bark_ is, perhaps, the most distinctive characteristic, as it maintains an unbroken light gray surface throughout its life. So tempting is this smooth expanse to the owner of a jack-knife that the beech has been well designated the "initial tree."