Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

236 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTone who has no botanical knowledge can soon leariihow to identify the different species of trees by^nerely examining their leaves ; or, late in the season,by their bark, buds, and habit of growth.But no book gives the other information that Ihave referred to; so J shall offer, in the present chapter,a little rudimentary instruction in this im.portantbranch of woodcraft.It is convenient for our purpose to divide the treesinto two great groups, hardwoods and softwoods,using these terms not so loosely as lumbermen do,but drawling the line between sycamore, yellowbirch, yellow pine, and slippery elm, on the oneside, and red cedar, sassafras, pitch pine and whitebirch, on the other.As a general rule, hardwoods make good, slowburningfuel that yields lasting coals, and softwoodsmake a quick, hot fire that is soon spent.But each species has peculiarities that deserve closeattention. The knack of finding what we wantin the woods lies a good deal in knowing whatwe don't want, and passing it by at a glance.Uninflammable Woods.— The followingwoods will scarcely burn at all when they aregreen: basswood, black ash, balsam, box elder, buckeye,cucumber, black or pitch pine and white pine,poplar or aspen, )^ellow poplar or tulip, sassafras,service berry, sourwood, sycamore, tamarack, tupelo(sour gum), water oak. Butternut, chestnut,red oak, red maple, and persimmon burn veryslowly in a green state. Such woods, or those ofthem that do not spit fire, are good for backlogs,hand-junks or andirons, and for side-logs in a cookingfire that is to be used continuously. Yellowbirch and white ash, on the contrary, are better fora campfire when green than when seasoned. Adead pine log seldom burns well unless split. Theoutside catches fire readily, but it soon chars andgoes out unless a blazing fire ^^ sticks is kept upagainst it.