FOOD AND TREE CUTTING VAL 
in diameter are cut into one-foot lengths, four inch logs into 
eighteen-inch and three inch into two-foot lengths. This 
hardly seems correct to me, for I have seen good-sized logs 
cut from eight to twelve feet long. I consider it most 
likely that the ease with which a log can be carried to the 
water has much to do with the matter. Where brush, 
fallen logs, or other obstructions interfere with getting the 
harvest to the water the animals may clear the way some- 
what by cutting out bushes or roots. These trails often 
pass under fallen logs, as mentioned elsewhere. Much of 
the smaller brush, or its bark, is eaten when cut. 
Most of the tree cutting is done in the late summer and in 
autumn in preparation for winter, and the wood so cut is 
stored in the pond for the winter’s food, usually close to the 
lodge or conveniently accessible to it. The fact that this 
material is stored under water has given rise to some absurd 
fables to account for its remaining beneath the surface. 
Thus it was said, and I have seen it repeated quite recently 
in a sportman’s magazine, that the beaver sucks the air out 
of the wood in order to cause it to sink! Certainly a remark- 
able performance when one considers the size of a beaver’s 
mouth and the size of some of the logs. The real explana- 
tion is that the green wood is so heavy that it soon becomes 
waterlogged and sinks. The lowest layer probably is 
forced into the bottom and the other stuff piled on it, very 
likely in such a manner as to entangle it with that below, 
and soon absorbs enough water to keep it down. 
Mills says that the first portions of the foodpile consist 
of entire trees, limbs and all, which are usually placed in a 
rude circle with the butts inward and the tops outward, and 
this forms an entangling foundation which holds in place the 
succeeding material. Morgan states that freshly cut yellow 
birch will barely float. 
The size of some of these foodpiles is sometimes quite 
