Of late years, a new use has been found for birch, deserving attention from owners of land whereon this tree grows naturally. The small branches and spray are found serviceable in the preparation of steel plates, the price given at present being about 46s. a ton. The trees should be cut before the sap rises, else the bundles will lose weight in drying. In dealing with a birch wood for this purpose, the crop may be considered recurrent at short rotation; for numerous suckers arise from the roots after the tree is felled and grow very rapidly. It is to be noted with satisfaction that the well-nigh omnivorous rabbit cannot digest the young growths of birch; at least, it does not devour them wholesale. The birch is very impatient of the shade of other trees. In its turn, although its delicate foliage might not be supposed to stop much light, its shade is very injurious to all other deciduous trees except the beech; a quality which causes one to wonder that such an experienced observer as P. J. Selby should have recommended it as a nurse for oak.[12] It is liable to be disfigured by the morbid growths popularly known as "witch's brooms." Authorities differ as to the cause of these fascinated bundles of twigs, some attributing them to the action of a fungus, _Exoascus betulinus_, others to the irritation brought about by a gall-mite (_Eriophes rudis_) attacking the buds. Probably both are contributory agents. The Gaelic for birch is _beith_ (pronounced "bey"), and may be recognised in numberless Scottish place-names, such as Drumbae, Auchenvey, Largvey, etc. The derivative _beitheach_ (pronounced "beyoch"), signifying a birch wood, appears as Beoch in Ayrshire, Galloway, and Dumfriesshire. Of exotic birches suitable for cultivation in the United Kingdom, there is a very complete collection in Kew Gardens. Among the North American species the black or cherry birch (_Betula lenta_) probably produces the best timber, but the most ornamental is the paper birch (_B. papyrifera_). The Japanese (_B._ _maximowicsii_) seems to promise better bulk than any other as a forest tree in this country. [Illustration: WILLOW BY THE STREAM] The Willows "I offered him my company to a willow-tree, either to make him a garland, as being forsaken, or to bind him up a rod, as being worthy to be whipped."--_Much Ado About Nothing_, Act ii. sc. i. "Willows whiten, aspens quiver, Little breezes dusk and shiver Through the wave that runs for ever By the island in the river Flowing down to Camelot." _The Lady of Shallot._