474 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



A RELIC OF OLD CUSTOMS AND TIMES 



These twin barns have stood a third of a century on a mountain in North Carolina without the expendi- 

 ture of one dollar for repairs and they show it. The most prominent feature is the clapboard roofs 

 which, though somewhat tattered, promise to outlast the walls of the buildings. The clapboards are of oak. 



cans in the United States at the present day. The 

 writer of this has seen a human abode, intended to be 

 more permanent than a temporary camp, made of brush, 

 both walls and roof, and within three miles of a sawmill 

 with a daily capacity of 40,000 feet of spruce, hemlock, 

 and white pine lumber. Thus have habits of life and 

 methods of using forest resources came down from men 

 of the stone age to their descendants who live in the age 

 of air travel and electricity. 



Bark peeled from trees has always been a better roof- 

 ing material than brush, but not always so convenient. 

 Bark was the Indian's chief 

 stand-by in making shelters, 

 though the tribes of the tree- 

 less plains where bark was not 

 to be had, used skins. The red- 

 men were adepts in bark peel- 

 ing. Most trees peel easily in 

 summer, but few can be stripped 

 in winter without breaking the 

 bark in pieces too small for roof- 

 ing stuff. The Indians knew the 

 trees which could be peeled in 

 winter, and attacked them with 

 hatchets and wedges to pry the 

 bark off. Basswood was such a 

 tree, and they knew how to heat 

 the trunk of white elm with fire 

 and hot water to loosen the bark 

 for winter peeling. But they 

 usually peeled in summer what 

 bark they expected to need the 



following winter, and they kept 

 it under water till they needed it. 

 This was to prevent the bark 

 from drying and rolling up in 

 cylinders. The Indians knew 

 that trees growing on the im- 

 mediate banks of streams could 

 be peeled later in summer than 

 those trees of the same species 

 which grew on high and dry 

 land. Bark usually constituted 

 both the roofs and the walls of 

 the Indians' flimsy houses. 



Bark is still being used ex- 

 actly as the redman used it. 

 Temporary shelters and cabins 

 are built of it by woodsmen and 

 campers. Nearly every person 

 who has spent much time in the 

 forest, either on business or for 

 pleasure, has had experience with 

 bark houses. In summer when 

 the peeling is good, a man with 

 a hatchet can strip bark, cut 

 poles, and erect a penthouse for 

 a night's shelter in less than one 

 hour, if conditions are favorable. 

 The camper follows the Indian's 

 example and makes his bed as well as his roof of bark. 

 It is nearly impervious to water, and protects the sleeper 

 against wet or frozen ground below or rain or snow from 

 the clouds above. Both walls and roofs of bark are 

 more durable than might be expected, particularly if so 

 situated that sun and wind will dry them after each 

 soaking. The bark of some trees is more durable than 

 the wood under similar conditions. The bark of birch 

 logs lying in the forest may remain sound and retain the 

 log's form after the wood within has decayed and fallen 

 to powder. Bark is usually rich in tannin and this may 



A ROOF CONSTRUCTED OF COMMON LUMBER 



Such roofs are easily put on, and when lumber is plentiful, they are cheap. They give fair service while 

 they last, and they are not expected to last long. They are often seen on portable sawmills, as in this 

 one. Softwoods are preferred to hardwoods because they are less apt to warp and check in the weather. 



