THE BIRCH LEAF CURE

His nephew tells the story:

By the time Henry had passed his mid-thirties, his body was being progressively bent with crippling pain - his arms, shoulders, back and legs. Nearly bed-ridden he was staying with his brother-in-law.

One day Old Man Ross was visiting and noticed Henry slowly shuffling along with the aide of home-made Willow crutches. Old Man Ross was at that time known for his herbal treatment for assorted "ills". He told Henry he'd soon fix him up.

The next day they procured a 45 gallon drum, filled it with water and added an unknown amount of birch leaves - unknown, by the fact that the young nephew, though fascinated with the procedure being undertaken, did not pay that close of attention to some details, and the fact that he is now recalling an event that happened at least 60 years ago.

They heated the barrel of water and birch leaves. Once the hot water and birch leaves reached a temperature that a body could stand, they carried Henry from the house and immersed him up to his neck in the barrel. They kept him in there for somewhere around a half hour to forty-five minutes. Then they lifted his now green body out of the barrel and scrubbed and rubbed him down with cool water in the steam bath.

They repeated this procedure once a day for three or four days in a row. On the last day Henry walked from the steam bath on his own.

From then on he led an active outdoor life of work and play, eventually dying at the age of 75 - never having a recurrence of pain.

THE POSSIBLE SCIENCE THAT MAY BE BEHIND HENRY'S "CURE"

While I was researching my firewood birch Post, I had come upon 'oil of Wintergreen" as one of the uses of birch leaves and twigs. I remembered my neighbour telling me the story of Henry so I put 'Oil of Wintergreen' into the search box on my computer.

The active 'ingredient' methyl salicylate is in the leaves and bark of some plants of the Genus Betula; Family: Betulaceae; sub Genus: Betulenta especially the Black Birch. In plants it acts as an anti-herbivore defence. In humans it has a use as an anti-rheumatic, anti-arthritic application (among a great many other ills).

Birch and Wintergreen were the best Essential Oils for pain prior to the 1920's when synthetics were created.

CAUTION

Today TRUE Wintergreen Essential Oil is not commonly used. The British School of Aroma Therapy site safety concerns. It can be Toxic if improperly used. In 2007 one death was attributed to the too liberal application of a topical muscle pain relief product.

So, while it is tantalizing to think a pain-free-life is just sitting in a tub of hot birch tea away, not knowing the amount of leaves to use could prove fatal.

FATHERS KNOW BEST

I think I missed HUG A TREE WEEK so this is my contribution.

This is me hugging the Black Walnut 45 years after I shot the top off
 when it was a mere sprout about a foot high.
My father couldn't scold me because he was the one who told me to shoot it.
Me being not that much older than the tree they didn't think I would hit it.
So it grew two heads.

This is me hugging the other Black Walnut that graced our front lawn
about 35 years after it had all its bark stripped off.
One spring my father tied the dog to this tree while we went visiting.
When we got home that night
 the rope had twisted off all the bark and it was hanging in shreds.
My father never scolded the dog. He gathered the bark like a jigsaw puzzle
 and tied it around with rags, waxed and painted to keep out the air.
A small seam can still be detected.

Both these trees are still growing - without the house and barn - in MacGregor Point Provincial Park - or whatever designation it has now. Lots of little Black Walnut trees have sprouted and grown since these photos.

A DOMINO FALLS

The much talked about "Socio-Economic Impact" of the loss of the Northern Ontario Forest Industry now has a stat.

Headline of page A5 of the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal, Friday October 12, 2012 reads:

"Snowmobile Clubs Lose Trails, Gear"

Carl Clutchey is with the North Shore Bureau of this paper, he interviewed the North of Superior Snowmobile Association president in Nakina.

She said, "We've really been pinched by the high level of unemployment in our region, which is something we have no control over."

HOW BIG A PINCH?

In order to drive your snowmobile over the groomed trails of the district, NOSA charges a fee of $250 for a yearly permit.

District 16
Trail permits sold in the year 2000: = 3,500
At $250 a pop that's $875,000.00

Trail permits sold in the year 2011: = 311
At $250 a pop that's $77,750

District 16 Woes

District 16 trails that covered 2,200 km in past years are now down to 800 km of groomed trails.

District 16 now only has operating clubs in Longlac, Geraldton and Marathon.

Thunder Bay transferred to District 17 - west of the city.

The Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs only provides groomers to Clubs that sell at least 50 trail permits a year.

50 x $250 = $ 12,500

This year the OFSC is removing 10 groomers from District 16

10 groomers x $12,500 = $125,000 missing from some organizations just in District 16.

GAS DOLLARS

If at today's price of gas ( a little over $6 per gallon) a snowmobile used only 10 gallons those 3500 permits would equal $210,000.00 in gas sales; the 311 permits would equal $18,660.00 in gas sales.

OUR WOES ARE YOUR WOES

With the destruction of our Forest Industry, Tourism was proposed as a prop for our economy in our one-industry towns that lost their Industry.

The Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs was great for winter tourism with all their connected communities. All those groomed trails connecting one Snowmobile District with another. These Clubs and their groomers were mainly operated by VOLUNTEERS. Volunteers are people and if their jobs are gone, they have to leave to find work. So when a Club closes, the trails un-connect, the tourist that may have come to that community, passes on and on.

Some Clubs may have been in trouble before the Mills closed:  paying for trail permits and then having no snow to sled on half the time -some winters- cheesed a few members off . That is another  "Beyond Our Control" deal. Except they were hoping for half their money back.

Some Clubs had trouble with local By-laws restricting operation of their snowmobile within their communities.

Some Clubs had trouble connecting their trails if land owners objected, but for the most part cooperation was there.

THE BEST THING TO DO

If you want to snowmobile north of Superior check out the local web pages or Chamber of Commerce to see if the trails are open - that's if there is SNOW.

A LESSON IN FIREWOOD



Birch Family: Betulaceae

Family members: Birches, Alders, Hornbeams, Hophornbeams, Hazelnut.

Flowers in Catkins

Fruit in Nutlets or nuts



Genus: Betula
Birches

 Genus = 40 species (trees and shrubs)

Of the seven tree species 3 are important.




Betula papyrifera
Paper Birch



Paper Birch Common names: Canoe Birch, Silver Birch, White Birch

Paper Birch Range: Trans-continental almost to the northern timberline.



Paper Birch is a cold climate species, found at all elevations in their northern range.

Survives under varied precipitation.

Likes dry sites on glacial tills -  but in Northern Minn. they thrive in the poorly drained soil.

The Operator

The Company They (the paper Birch) Keep

• Jack Pine
• Aspen/Poplar
• Balsam Fir
• White Spruce
• Black Spruce

The Life of Betula papyrifera:

Seed dispersal by wind begins about age 15 during August into September.  Seed production peeks from age 40 to age 70 years..

A study done in the state of Mass. U.S.A. in 1955 counted 36 million seed per acre. They were using one-chain wide strips cut in the 70 year old birch stand.  From that , 36,000 seedlings per acre, became established, growing three to four inches the first year. Compare this to sprouts that grow up to 2 feet the first year. But sprouts have a high mortality rate.

Seed Size ? 1.5 million to the pound.

Diameter growth hinges more on temperature changes than rainfall.

Paper Birch can be propagated by cuttings treated with a growth promoter.

These trees mature at 60 to 70 years - that makes them a short lived species?

Some reach 140 years and a few go over the 200 year life.

50.2 cm.

On the OMNR Web Site - Ontario's Tree Atlas - White Birch - the oldest white birch tree in Ontario is recorded in Rainbow Falls Provincial Park as a living , 240 year old birch with a possible diameter of 35 cm.  As you can see this birch log in our firewood pile has a Red-Heart stain of 25 cm in a maybe not-so-round diameter of 50.2 cm. I don't think they really looked that hard for a big birch.

The truck bed is swept of debris.
A good stand of birch can run 31 cords to the acre in 50 years.

From LOG BOOK January 1950 page 4

"Woods Used in Northwestern Ontario Pulp and Paper Industry"

By : Alex Johnson, Pulp Mill Superintendent, Provincial Paper Mill,

Port Arthur, Ontario

"Pulp making separates the tree fibres so they can be reformed into a sheet of paper."

Birch was not used extensively in the past (before 1950) but now more and more is being used for that.

There is a large quantity of it available (1950).

It can be peeled by hand (springtime) or in the drum barkers.

It being a heavier wood = great yield per cord. Oven dry weight = 31 pounds per cubic foot being one third heavier than poplar.

Fibre length = 1.2mm  20% greater than poplar and half as long as spruce. This makes birch "one of the more desirable hardwoods for pulpmaking."

All set to go home.

SUFFERING BIRCH

Paper Birch need 'space" to grow and suffer from competition, however 'thinning' doesn't seem to help birch put on growth rate as that process does other species. In natural succession it usually is replaced after one generation by another species. It's part of our "climax" forest of White Spruce and Balsam Fir.

POST LOGGING DECADENCE

When stands are opened up they develop lowered vigor, reduced growth, dying back of twigs and branches followed usually by the death of the tree. (One sees this happen all the time as new country homes landscape to keep their beautiful birch only to have them die within a few years.)

BIRCH DIE BACK

"What's wrong with your birch?"

A visitor to the Nipigon Museum (from Virginia) asked.

Birch die back has nearly the same symptoms as logging decadence .

The tree seems to die from the top down.

However, it can occur in undisturbed stands - so declaring the Boreal Forest off-limits to Industrial activity wouldn't save them.

In the 1930's and 40's an outbreak of birch die back in Eastern Canada and Maine took down almost 70% of the birch trees by 1951.

NO KNOWN DEFINITE CAUSE HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED TO DATE.

While checking out the Internet I found reference to an article "Potential Role of Calcium...reversing die back, but I couldn't get the Site to open. I really wanted that one because when we were mixing cement for our house foundation in 1975, we did it next to a birch clump with die back advancing on the main stem. Lots of 'cement water" flowed around the mixer every day we rinsed it out. The next year that tree took on new life and never looked back. A few years later it did get Bronze birch borer but continued to grow even with its speckled leaves until we had a winter of minus 30 to 40 degrees in January and February - that was the end of the borer and the tree had healthy green leaves from then on.

ROOTLET MORTALITY

Similar symptom to die back ( I can attest to this as I accidentally chopped off a root of the above Birch clump - like twenty feet away from its base. One can't stick a root back together. So I watched as the next few years, one stem lost first one limb and then another until we had to cut that stem off for safety reasons.)  Rootlet mortality can come from increased soil temperature - so now we add Climate Change into the mix.

FIRE

Fire is both a killer and a regenerator as it opens areas for airborne seeds to land and germinate.

ANIMALS

Mice, voles, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, Porcupine, beaver, deer, moose

SONGBIRDS (not really destructive)

Black capped Chickadee, purple Finch, Common Red poll, Yellow bellied Sapsucker, Pine Sisken, Fox Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Ruffed Grouse, Spruce Hen, Sharp tailed Grouse.

INSECTS

Luna Moth caterpillar food. Gypsy Moth and the Forest Tent Caterpillar Malucasoma disstria, or as we like to call them Army Worms - march, munch or die. After three years of continued attacks growth falls 86%.

Bronze Birch Borer Agrilis anxius, comes right along after die back or logging decadence sets in - its an insect that infests weakened trees. Not the cause of die back it may aid in the tree's death.

MAN

Besides the obvious tree cutting - stripping the bark from live trees will kill it.

Red Heart is a reddish-brown discolouration.
 This defect limits the use of Paper Birch for  speciality products.
It's wetter and more extensive than heartwood.
Cause believed to be a parasite.

John McLaughlin, OMNR, OFRI, - "White Birch is one of the least defective species averaging less than 5% of 100 year old merchantable volume."

Red Heart is a stain from reaction to enzymes released by non-decay fungi coming in through wounds.

Those of you who followed Walt Kelly's "Pogo" in the 1950's, may remember Albert, the Alligator's impersonation of a dog:

"Birch! Birch!" said Albert, it was the only bark he knew.

A lot of this information comes from 'Silvics of Forest Trees of the United States Agriculture Handbook, No. 271"  Forest Service 1965  U.S. Dept. pf Agriculture, Washington D.C. 20250  Pages 93 to 97.

Prepared by the Division of Timber Management Research, Forest Service

Complied and revised by H.A. Fowells, Chief, Branch of Silviculture

Completed by Carl E. Ostrom

Started in 1955 by Division Director F.H. Eyre from information supplied by 10 regional Forest Experiment Stations equalling 127 reports.

Range maps by E. L. Little, Jr. , Forest Service Dendrologist.

THE NEW DICTATORS

A new book just out written by Elizabeth Nickson titled "Eco - Fascists"

'How Radical Conservationists are Destroying our Natural Heritage"

Published by Broadside Books  an Imprint of Harper-Collins Publishers

ISBN: 978-0-06-208003-5

As part of her investigations she tracks a lot of "results" of the loss of WATER RIGHTS in the U.S. western states.
Remember PEW and their FOREST OF BLUE?  maybe we can be prepared if we read this book by Elizabeth and recognize the symptoms before our rights are stripped from us.

I got my copy from Amazon Books.

MAYBE I SHOULD TAKE UP SMOKING, just to be safe in the bush

ALBERT SIDEEN tells this tale in LOG BOOK , January 1950

Down at the Black Sturgeon some years ago during a bad fire, Albert was down checking fire pumps, and Dave Graham, who was walking boss at the Sturgeon, used to drop over frequently to see the equipment was O.K.

 This day, Albert was sitting on a log when he heard footsteps behind him. Thinking it was Dave, Albert, who was smoking his corn cob pipe, moved over on the log to make room for Dave to sit down. Nobody came but Albert could feel something licking  the back of his neck, so he turned around to investigate.  All he could see was a pair of cold beady eyes and then he distinguished behind the eyes a large black bear. 

Albert had left his axe in a log about 15 feet away and had no other weapon or means of defence with him. True to the bush tradition, to make use of anything at hand, Albert drew deeply on the corn cob pipe and blew a super smoke ring. As the ring settled firmly around the bear's jaws, holding them firmly shut, Albert secured the axe and polished off Mr. Bruin.

 Albert is not too sure tobacco is as strong today as it used to be, so doesn't advocate this means of defence, except as a last resort.

LOG BOOK  was a Thunder Bay Timber Operators Association magazine
The magazine was printed on "Thrift-Coat Enamel" produced at the Provincial Paper Limited, Port Arthur Mill, Ontario, out of wood produced in Northwestern Ontario and printed by the Consolidated Press, 137 South May Street, Fort William, Ontario   1950.

THE COLOURS WERE BEAUTIFUL, and then

The First Week of October 2012

Poplar and willow, spruce and Jack Pine.
Centre tree is the Winter Burn Spruce across our garden.

The black of the spruces set off the yellow poplars.

Blue skies work as a background too.

The short stuff is where the bright colours are found.

A sunny morning helps.

Red Osier Dogwood lives up to its name.

Really short stuff.

This was the Pin Cherry on Thursday.

This is the Pin Cherry this morning, Saturday Oct. 6, 2012.