THE PINE WOODS FOLK 



I 



"Well, well, well," said Porky, " I guess 

 it's the only good thing that he ever did." 



Squeaky felt a little taken back. "But 

 you will kill it that , 

 way," he remonstrated. /UAs.\-\* 



Porky looked thought 

 fully at the four 

 feet of trunk 

 that he had skin- 

 ned. "I expect it 

 will," he said in- 

 differently, but I 

 have to eat some- 

 thing." 



"Why 

 don't you 

 eat some of those 

 little popples?" 

 Squeaky suggest- 

 ed. "They grow 

 faster and no one would miss them. That 

 tree there has been forty years growing up 

 and you will kill it in three or four meals." 



"That's a fact," said Porky, "I never 

 thought of it in that way. I usually do 



eat those small popples, but I saw old 

 Longfang, the wolf, yesterday and he 

 looked so hungry I climbed this big tree 

 to sleep." 



"Look 

 out!" Por- 

 ky shouted 

 suddenly. 

 There was 

 rush and a 

 vicious snap as 

 Longfang's cruel 

 teeth closed on 

 the place where 

 Squeaky had 

 been. It was 

 a narrow es- 

 cape and Squeaky 

 was huddled close 

 up in the end of 

 the long passage with his heart pound- 

 ing against his ribs. "After all, "he 

 thought, "there are some people worse 

 than old Porky, even if they do not 

 eat trees." 



Said the fuzzy pussy willow, 

 As he ruffled in the breeze, 

 "I surely am the handsomest 

 Of ornamental trees. 



THE PUSSY WILLOW 



"When the snow is mostly melted 

 And the flood is on the flats, 

 My kitten willow budlets 

 Turn to pussy willow cats." 



SWAMP TREES 

 (Answer to Boy Scout Question No. 1 in January) 



Our swamp trees do not as a rule 

 grow in the stagnant swamps because 

 they like it. They are there because 

 they have the ability to exist under those 

 unfavorable conditions where very few of 

 the other trees could grow at all. That is, 

 they have gone in there to escape competi- 

 tion. 



The tamarack, the cypress, the black 

 spruce and the white cedar are all con- 



sidered typical swamp trees. But take 

 those same trees out of the swamp and put 

 them in rich well-drained soil where they 

 will be protected from the competition of 

 their stronger enemies and what happens? 

 They grow about twice as fast as they 

 did in the swamp because the roots get 

 plenty of fresh air. The swamp is an un- 

 favorable location and no tree will do its 

 best there. 



THE EFFECT OF SHADE 

 (Answer to Boy Scout Question No. 2) 



You have probably noticed that when 

 two trees are growing close together most 

 of the limbs are on the outside and the 

 trunks of the trees will be practically free 

 from limbs on the sides next to each other. 

 This is because the limbs are unable to 

 grow in the shade. It is the same cause 



that cleans the limbs from the trees in 

 dense forests and makes them grow with 

 tall clean boles, when those same trees if 

 grown in the open and singly would prob- 

 ably have many limbs coming almost down 

 to the ground. 

 This is true to a certain extent of all 

 {Continued on Page 1016) 



