CHAPTER X--A Few Native Trees
It was the qualification in the Instructor's remark, "when the sun isshining," that gave the quick-witted Mike his clue.
"My first plan was to climb to the top," said he with that gravity whichhe knew so well how to assume, "but I feared I should tumble before Icould complete the measuring of the same, as me mither's second cousindid whin he tried to climb the lightning rod of the church backward.Obsarve me."
Every eye was fixed upon the Irish youth who, while speaking, had beenscrutinizing his surroundings. The pine towered fully twenty feet aboveany of its near neighbors. The wood was so open that the shadow of thetop fell athwart a small natural clearing to the westward. Mike walkedto the conical patch of shade, stood on its farthest edge, and facingthe puzzled spectators, crooked his finger.
"Have one of ye sich a thing as a measuring tape in yer pockets?"
The majority carried the useful article, coiled around a spring in aflat, circular metal box. Three boys started on a trot toward Mike, butKenneth Mitchell out-sped his companions.
"Now, if ye'll measure the precise distance from the tip of me shoe tothe fut of the pine, ye'll have the satisfaction of doing a good turnfor the rest of the byes, as me dad did whin he fixed things so that sixmen instead of two had a share in the shindy at Tipperary on hisbirthday."
While Kenneth was carefully stretching the tape over the ground in astraight line to the base of the pine, a couple of the boys smiled, forthey had caught on to the ingenious scheme of Mike. The yellow tape wasa dozen feet long and divided as usual into fractions of an inch. Whenthe owner after using the full length several times grasped it part waybetween the ends with his thumb and forefinger, so that they touched thebark near the ground, he straightened up and made a quick mentalcalculation.
"How fur are we apart?" asked Mike from his first position.
"Sixty-two feet, eight inches," was the reply.
"Come hither and while me young friend is doing the same, the rist of yemay get your pencils and bits of paper riddy."
When Kenneth reached the master of ceremonies, he was standing in theoasis of sunlight. Resting one end of the buckthorn cane which hecarried on the ground, he held the stick exactly vertical.
"Will ye oblige me by measuring the shadow of the same?"
It was done in a twinkling.
"It is one foot, one inch."
By this time every one of the smiling scouts understood the simplemethod by which Mike proposed to solve the problem. He called to them:
"The length of me shillalah is three feet, two inches; the length of itsshadow is one foot, one inch; the length of the shadow of the pine issixty-two feet, eight inches: what more can ye ask of me?"
"Nothing," replied Scout Master Hall, "figure it out, boys."
This is the "statement" which the lads jotted down in their note booksor on pieces of paper:
Length of Length Length of Height cane's shadow of cane pine's shadow of pine 1 foot, 1 inch 3 feet, 2 inches 62 feet, 8 inches ?
The fractional ratios made considerable computation necessary, andseveral boys erred in their work, but when nine of them reached the sameresult, and a comparison proved their accuracy, there could be noquestion as to the correctness of the result, which was that the heightof the noble pine was more than one hundred and eighty feet. (Figure outthe exact number of feet and inches for yourself.)
"You did well," said the pleased Instructor to Mike, who made a quicksalute and gravely remarked to the scouts:
"Don't be worrying, byes; I'll recognize ye the same as before."
At a nod and wink from Patrol Leader Chase, the whole troop lined up infront of the astonished Mike and silently made the regulation salute. Sofar as it was possible to do so, his red face blushed and for the firsttime the waggish youth showed slight embarrassment, but he was instantto rally.
"Comrade," said Colgate Craig, "you can tuck in the end of yournecktie."
"And why should I do the same?"
"You have done your good turn for today."
"I'll let me banner wave on the outside, for who shall say how many moregood turns I shall have to do ye before night?"
"There may be more truth in that remark then he suspects," remarkedUncle Elk, who now gave the word to push on to his home, still fully amile away. The Instructor kept pace with the scouts, walking a little totheir right, while the Scout Master did the same on the left of thelaughing, chattering, straggling party. All, however, made good use oftheir eyes and nothing worth seeing escaped them. It must be rememberedthat a goodly number of the boys lived in the country and had a more orless knowledge of the woods in the neighborhood of their own homes.Moreover, there is no marked difference between most of the trees intheir neighborhood and those of Maine. Thus, a superb black walnut,nearly as tall as the giant pine, was identified at a glance by severalof the youths, and Ernest Oberlander told of its hard, close-grainedwood, dark, purplish gray in color and very durable; and of its fruit,two inches round, the stain from whose green husks has a way of stickingto one's hands until sandpaper and soap are necessary to remove it.
Every one was familiar with the white walnut or butternut. Its height isgenerally about half that of the walnut, its bark is smoother and itsleaves similar in shape, but larger and coarser. Its leaflet stalks andnew twigs are covered with a sticky brown substance. The leaves are verylong, though the leaflets are less than six inches in length.
"You know the delicious, oblong fruit with its prickly shell," said theInstructor; "when you lay the nut on its side to break it open----"
"No, you don't," interrupted Corporal Robe, quick to detect the littlesubterfuge of Uncle Elk to draw them out: "that isn't the right way tocrack a butternut."
"It isn't!" repeated the old gentleman, in pretended surprise; "will yoube good enough to explain the proper method?"
"I don't think there is much need of explaining, for every fellow knowsor ought to know that you should stand the nut on one end and strike thetop."
"What advantage do you gain by that plan?"
"The meat is not broken,--that is if you are careful. I have oftencracked a butternut so that the meat came out without a break."
"I like the butternut more than the walnut," remarked Alvin Landon.
"So do I, but it has another use than to serve as food or a luxury. Ofcourse you can tell me what that is."
He looked into the expectant faces, but no one could answer him.
"The oil is, or once was, very popular with jewelers. I remember that myfather would squeeze out a drop, which was sufficient to lubricate allthe works of the family clock. He applied the oil with a tiny featherand never needed more than the single drop. The jewelers have a refinedfluid which serves their purposes, but father would never admit that anyoil equaled that of the butternut. It has always been one of myfavorites, much more so than that small tree growing in that dry sandysoil, which we call--what?"
Considerable discussion took place before the Instructor accepted thename and description of the common or aspen-leaved birch, whose wood issoft, close grained, weak, splits in drying and is valueless for weatherand ground work. Each armpit has a black, triangular scar, which doesnot appear in the canoe birch.
Uncle Elk gave the boys a brief talk on the genus of trees known as the_Betulaceoe_ or birch.
"Its flowers grow in catkins--so called from their resemblance to acat's tail--whose scales are thin and three-lobed. With one exceptionthe species grows beyond the tropic in the northern hemisphere."
"Will you tell us something about the birch from which canoes are made?"asked Scout Master Hall, and the faces of the boys showed theireagerness to hear the explanation which they knew awaited them.
"The paper or canoe birch is the most valuable American kind. Cabinetmakers sometimes use the wood, but it quickly decays when exposed toclimatic changes. It sounds strange, but the bark is most esteemedbeca
use of its durable nature. Many times I have come upon a fallenbirch which appeared to be perfectly sound, but on examination, I foundthe wood entirely rotted away, with the bark as firm and perfect as whenthe tree stood erect and was growing. You can easily see why it is sovaluable for canoes. Would you like me to tell you how we make a birchcanoe?"
Every head nodded.
"Of course I pick out the largest trees with the smoothest bark. In thespring I make two circular incisions several feet apart, with alongitudinal incision on each side. Pushing a wedge under the bark, itis easily lifted off. With threads prepared from the fibrous roots ofthe white spruce fir, the pieces of bark are sewn together over aframework of wood, and the seams are caulked with resin of the Balm ofGilead fir. Such boats are so light that they are readily carried overthe shoulders of a boy when he finds it necessary to make a portage. Mycanoe weighs less than fifty pounds and will bear up four or five boys."
"I obsarved, Uncle Elk," said Mike, who was one of the most interestedof the listeners, "that ye have no seats in yer boat, which the same Ifail to understand, as Jerry Hooligan said whin his taicher told himthat if ye multiply one fraction by anither, the answer is less thanaither of 'em."
"A birch canoe has no seat because the craft is so unstable it is almostcertain to tip over with you; you have to sit as low as possible. Thebirch not only serves well for canoes, but log houses are often thatchedwith it, and small boxes, cases and even hats are manufactured from thesame material. You are all fond of sweet birch and I can see you chewingthe tender, aromatic bark, when you were barefooted boys on your wayhome from school.
"The canoe is so unstable and sensitive that care is necessary to avoidaccidents. In the first place there is the right and wrong way to enterit, with the probability that you will take the wrong one every time.This is what you should do: take the paddle in your right hand and layit across the gunwale. Seize the outside gunwale with your left hand,resting the right on the other gunwale. Then put your left foot gentlybut steadily into the boat, being careful to place it exactly in themiddle and follow with the other foot, after which you will kneel or sitas you prefer and can push away from the float. By this method you willpreserve the equilibrium of the canoe and escape mishap.
"By the way, you should never let the paddle pass out of your grasp, forin case of an upset, it will keep you afloat until help arrives. Norshould you go far without an extra paddle in case of breakage. If youhave a lady companion, regard safety before grace. Grasp the nearestgunwale with your left hand, reach up your right and take her nearesthand. She should step in right foot first, grasping the outside gunwaleto balance herself. Thus steadied, she can easily lift the left footinto the boat and sit down comfortably, using her right hand to arrangeher skirts.
"You should sit near the middle when alone, for, if too far toward thestern, the prow lifts up, and a puff of wind is sufficient to tip overthe boat. If an upset occurs, don't forget to keep a firm grasp uponyour paddle, and don't swim away from the overturned canoe. One of thecraft seldom overturns completely, because you are pretty sure to plungeoverboard so suddenly that the boat hasn't time to take in much water.It is easy to climb in again, provided you know how to do it. Lay yourpaddle across the gunwale, your left hand grasping the paddle and middlebrace; bring your legs sharply together as you do when climbing aboard araft. This will lift the body far enough out the water to enable you toreach for the farther gunwale and you can roll yourself into the boatwith no trouble at all.
"Suppose you fall overboard with a companion. Remember the canoe willnot sink of itself and each of you has retained his paddle. You approachfrom opposite directions, and one holds down his side of the canoe,while the other carefully climbs in, after which he can readily preservethe equilibrium while his friend joins him.
"Remember these precautions: never change places in a canoe afterleaving the shore, and avoid moving quickly. It is the easiest thing inthe world to grasp a pond lily in passing and by means of the suddenpull overturn the craft; don't even turn your head suddenly to look atanother canoe that is passing; don't frolic or try to stand up in thecanoe, and in no case take out a lady without having a cork-stuffedpillow with you. Finally, no person should ever have anything to do witha canoe until he has learned how to swim."
"What kind of birch produces the most valuable timber?" asked ScoutMaster Hall.
"The black or mahogany. Its reddish brown wood is hard andclose-grained. When it attains the height of seventy feet, with adiameter of three feet, it is one of the handsomest trees in the forest.It buds early in spring, at which time its leaves are covered with ashort thick coat of down, which disappears later in the season andleaves them of a vivid green color."
A little way ahead, the Instructor halted the scouts again. This time itwas no pretence on his part when he expressed himself as surprised bywhat he saw. He stood for a minute or two viewing a tree some thirtyfeet high, with a score of green prickly burrs scattered here and thereamong the branches.
"Why are you surprised?" asked the Scout Master.
"Maine lies above the range of the chestnut, though now and then youcome upon a specimen in the southern part of the state. That is thefirst one I have seen in this section and I doubt if another exists. Ishould be glad to welcome this tree, did I not know that it is alreadydoomed. We have plenty of horse chestnuts, however."
"The chestnuts in the Middle States have suffered a good deal during thelast few years," said the Scout Master. "I had a couple of fine ones inmy yard at home but some pest attacked them. I called in a tree surgeon,after doing all I could to save them, and he confessed that he waspowerless. The disease first appeared in the neighborhood of New York in1904. Two years later a hitherto unknown fungus was discovered growingin the substance of the bark of the tree, and it looks to me as if theblight will follow the chestnuts all the way to Tennessee, which istheir southern range. Even your horse chestnuts do not escape and theall-pervading spruce is threatened with extinction from a vicious moth."
"That's too bad," commented more than one boy, who recalled the delightsof chestnut hunting and the delicious flavor of the fruit itself, bothraw and roasted; "we used to have such big crops of chestnuts that itdidn't pay the farmers to gather them."
"As plants, flowers and trees increase, so do their enemies," commentedUncle Elk, "until it has become a constant fight for life. But man willalways be the victor so long as he does not grow lazy or indifferent.Now we come upon several specimens of the white and the red oak. Willone of you point out the chief differences between them?"
Alvin Landon nudged Mike, who saw that the eyes of the Instructor werefixed upon him.
"You know the two colors; he is expecting you to answer."
Mike promptly fell into the trap.
"One of 'em has red leaves and the ither white."
The reproving look of Mike in response to the general merriment causedeven Uncle Elk and Scout Master Hall to laugh. Kenneth Henke and BobbySnow between them explained that the grain of the red oak is hard,strong and coarse but warps and has little value for weather or groundwork. Its acorns require two seasons to ripen, whereas those of thewhite oak mature in one season. The latter is called white because ofthe pale color of its bark and wood. This kind is fine-grained, heavy,strong, very durable and of great value. When we speak of "hearts ofoak" it is always the white variety we have in mind. You know howimportant it is for ship building and other enterprises. There are toomany varieties to be named in this place, and I fear an extendeddescription would prove tedious to you.
Tramping a short distance farther the Inspector directed the attentionof the boys to a broad, spreading symmetrical tree fully a hundred feethigh and with a trunk more than three feet in diameter. The bark wassmooth and ash colored and the foliage purplish. It ranks among thehandsomest trees of the American forest and every boy identified it atonce as a beech, of the _Fagus_ genus of trees. It is so common that Iam sure you are all familiar with it. Possibly you are unaware that theroots do not de
scend deeply into the soil but extend to a considerabledistance close under the surface. The beech is a favorite, and severalbeautiful varieties are cultivated, some displaying purple, silver, andother colored foliage. I recall a beech whose leaves in the autumn,after being touched by frost, were so vivid and blood red, that theyresembled a huge cone of flaming fire when seen among the differentlytinted foliage.
One of the chief uses of the beech from the viewpoint of boys is tofurnish an admirable surface upon which to carve their names with theirjack-knives. I cannot compute the number of beech trunks in the woods ofmy boyhood home which display my initials. Only the other day I cameacross the bark, now bulging, contorted and overgrown, upon which Ibroke the blade of my new knife, when I was so young that I didn't knowany better than to form two of the letters backward. Moreover, a fewfeet above my name was that of my grandfather, which he cut into thebark when he was a youngster fully sixty years before.
"The beech," remarked Uncle Elk, "furnishes fire wood, though mypreference is apple wood, followed next by hickory, sugar maple andbeech."
Uncle Elk was too wise to weary his young friends with much scientificdescription. As he strolled forward, he made his talk more general andasked fewer questions. He reminded them of the excellent appearance ofthe white elm, which often grows to a height of a hundred feet or more.It is not valuable, however, because its reddish brown, coarse wood soonrots near the ground. A peculiarity of the sycamore, which often attainsa stature of a hundred and fifty feet, is that it sheds its bark as wellas its leaves.
The black locust is another tree with which I am sure you are allfamiliar. You have seen rows of them lining the highways and growingabout old lawns. The timber is close grained and tough and good forplanking vessels. The mealy fruit is sweet, and we used to try topersuade ourselves that we liked it, but I don't think any of us boysever wholly succeeded.
When boiled and fermented the juice forms an intoxicating drinkresembling beer.
I was always fond of the red and water or swamp maples. The sap fromthem when boiled down furnishes us the most delicious syrup and sugar inthe world. When we seek the sugar, however, it is from the variety knownby that name. The manufacture of maple sugar is a leading industryduring the spring months in many sections, especially in Vermont, andsome parts of New York and other states.
Have you ever taken a hand in the making of maple sugar? If so, you willnever forget its delights. In March, when the first signs of thawappear, you bore only a little way with an auger into the juicy wood,when the sap comes bubbling down the small wooden spout driven into theopening, and is caught in the trough or kettle waiting below. As thesefill up the sweet fluid is carried to a huge iron kettle suspended overa roaring fire, and poured into the vessel. It boils steadily away, butthe supply is kept up, the steam diffusing a most fragrant odor throughthe surrounding atmosphere. The sap slowly grows thicker as the waterypart is given off in vapor, until it granulates and syrup and sugarresult.
After the thick syrup is poured out of the big kettle there is always aconsiderable quantity left clinging to the interior. Balancingthemselves over the edge of the iron reservoir, the heads of the boysused to disappear with only their feet showing while they scraped offthe saccharine coating within and ate and ate until nature protested andwe had perforce to cease, but were soon ready to resume our feast at thebanquet of the gods.