The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-06-28
BOY SCOUTS
EDITED BY
ONE OF THEM

Many will find their way into the
woods within the next few months,
consequently, advice on forestry as
given by Clifford Pinchot, who has a
summer home at Milford, Pa, is of
especial interest at this time.
Mr.. Pinchot was formerly chief
forester of the agricultural depart
ment and now chief scout forester of
the Boy Scouts of America. He
urges upon the youthful scouts and
the boys in general the need of
knowledge of forestry. He tells the
boys how they may learn the age
of tree, estimate the size of the
tree ten, twenty, or thirty years ago,
and how to gain practical and valu-
able knowledge on their excursions
into the woods, says the New York
Herald
"lf you can get into the woods"
said Mr.. Pinchot. where cutting is
going on, even if it is only of small
stuff for firewood. | suggest that
you do this: Count the rings of
growth on the stump of a tree, first
making sure what kind of tree it is.
Count the rings from the center out
ward. Each ring means a year in
the life of the tree, and the whole
number of rings means the age of
the tree.
Then measure the thickness of
the tree across the stump. If the
tree has not yet been worked up in
to logs or into firewood, you can
easily measure its height by run
ming a tape line or a piece of string
from the butt of the first log to the
top of the crown. adding the height
m oil al
of these stem analysis on trees of
different sizes and then compare the
results, you will find out many in
teresting things about how that
kind of tree grows; for example
that it may grow fastest when it is
young, fastest in diameter when it is
older, and that later on in life di-
ameter growth falls off and height
growth is very, very slow
But even a stem analysis of one
tree teaches you a great deal. 1t
tells you not only how old was the
tree when it reached the size at
which it was cut, but also how old
the tree was at all sizes since it was
little seeding, for every tree has
its own life history written on its
ring of growth. Suppose you have
measured an oak and found it to be
fourteen inches thick and 20 years
old. All you need to do to find out
how thick that oak was when it was,
say, 30 years old, is to measure out
from the centre the distance covered
by the first 80 rings, multiply that
distance by two and add an inch for
the bark. That tells you very close
ly how big the tree was 40 years ago,
long before you were born.
while you are making the stem
analysis, don't fail to study the
woods in which the cutting goes on.
How do they look? Will they grow
trees again like those that have
been cut or has the forest been de-
stroyed by cutting? Is the brush
piled so that it can be burned up,
or are the big tops Topped so that
they will not quickly, or is all this
trash strewn over the ground where
it would burn fiercely and kill what
trees are left standing.
Have too many trees been cut, SO
that instead of a forest there are
only few scattered trees left, or are
there enough to shed seed to plant
the land to forest again? Have the
trees been felled carelessly, so as to
injure other trees or crush down
young growth, or have they been
felled skillfully. Are the stumps cut
close to the ground so as to waste
no timber, or have they been cut
high up in lazy-man's fashion? Have
the logs all been taken out, or just
the best ones, leaving a lot of wood
lying on the grOund?"
The department of forestry OF
Pennsylvania has issued a pamphlet
urging boys to become forest fire
fighters and teaching them how to
prevent and fight fires.