On the sandy plains of many parts of New England, some of the most
prominent objects are coppices of slender White Birch trees,
intermingled with pitch-pine. These trees are seldom more than four or
five inches in diameter, rising to the height of about twenty feet, with
a grayish-white trunk, and, as may be observed in winter, a dense and
dark-colored spray. This species is called Poplar Birch, from the
tremulous habit of the foliage, but is never assembled in large forest
groups. Like the alder, it is employed by Nature for the shading of her
living pictures, and for producing those gradations which are the charm
of spontaneous wood-scenery. In all the Northern States, a pitch-pine
wood is generally fringed with White Birches, and outside of them is a
still more humble growth of hazels, cornels, and vacciniums, uniting
them imperceptibly with the herbage of the plain.
The White Birch is remarkable for its elegance. It seldom divides the
main stem, which extends to the summit of the tree, giving out from all
parts numerous slender branches, forming a very neat and beautiful
spray, of a dark chocolate-color, contrasting finely with the whiteness
of the trunk. This tree, when growing as a standard, has more of a
pyramidal shape than in a wood; but it does not attain in this country
the magnitude of the same species in Europe. The durability of the bark
of the White Birch is said to be unsurpassed by that of any other
vegetable substance. Selby records a fact related by Du Hamel, which is
remarkable. In the ruins of Dworotrkoi, in Siberia, a piece of birch
wood was found changed into stone, while the outer bark, white and
shining, remained in its natural state.
So many of the most delightful scenes of nature are in my own mind
allied with the different birches, that there is not one that does not
immediately call up some charming scenery and impress my mind with
pleasant memories. He who in his early days was a rambler in the woods
is familiar with the White Birch trees. They have shaded him in his
sylvan researches and his solitary musings, his social walks in quest of
flowers with the sex for whom the flowers seemed to be created, or with
his male companions in pursuit of game. When journeying, these graceful
trees, in company with the fragrant pitch-pines, have offered him their
flickering shade, and along the sandy plains have defended him from the
scorching heat of the sun, and spread a leafy canopy over his rustic
path. In the sultry heat of summer noonday, I have often followed the
course of some humble cart-path through their tangled undergrowth,
gathering wild fruits from bush and bramble, or watching the singing
birds that nestled in their boughs and blended their wild notes with the
sound of the green rustling leaves.
All the birches are graceful trees. Their branches are finely divided,
like those of the elm and the lime, and many of them incline to a
drooping habit. There is a remarkable airiness in their slender feathery
spray, rendered still more lively in the White Birch by its small
tremulous leaves. This species is found in the highest latitude in which
any tree can live. It is the last deciduous tree in the northern
boundaries of vegetation in America and Europe, before we reach the
Arctic Circle, and the last that appears when we ascend high mountains,
occupying the belt just below the line of perpetual snow. It is worthy
of notice that the small White Birch in this country, though considered
identical with the White Birch of Europe, is greatly inferior to it in
size. In America, however, the white canoe birch, a very similar
species, equally surpasses the European White Birch. It seems as if the
thrifty habit of the canoe birch had some mysterious influence in
dwarfing the other species in America.