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. [Sidenote: 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._ [Illustration: GRAY BIRCHES _Betula populifolia_ Page 62 ] 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.