FOREST GUIDES DEPARTMENT 



SOLAN L. PARKES, EDITOR 



Boy Scouts who are enrolled as Forest Guides may write to this department and ask questions ahout 

 trees woodlands, forests, or anything relating to them, and they will be quickly answered. Every Forest 

 Guide troop in the United States should have this magazine. 



F( )REST GUIDES should be able to identify 

 every shade tree or forest tree that they see 

 and also to tell its characteristics and uses. 

 It is not difficult to acquire such knowledge, but 

 at the same time when the suggestion is made, 

 the Guide will very likely ask himself the ques- 

 tion, why should I make an effort to become 

 acquainted with trees? Are they not common- 

 place things? Does not everybody know what 

 they are ? 



These questions are very well answered by 

 Joseph S. Illick, one of the leading experts on 

 tree identification in the United States. He 

 says: "At first the Forest Guide cannot satisfy 

 himself that the study of trees is important, but 

 as he revolves the question in his mind he be- 

 gins to see what a wide and practical application 

 to everyday life this subject has, and that trees 

 ever since the creation have been among man's 

 best friends and most useful helpers, and as time 

 goes on and wood becomes scarcer they will 

 play an even more important role in satisfy- 

 ing his needs. 



"Suppose we pause just long enough to think 



about a few of the ways in which trees have 



been our friends and helpers. We cannot begin 



to take an itemized census of all the different 



benefits derived from them for we would soon 



have a list as long as our arms and only half 



finished, but in order that we may not overlook 



entirely some of their good points a list of the 



most important of them follows: 



i . Trees decorate the landscape. A treeless place 

 is indeed cheerless. 



2. Trees supply us with shade and shelter, and 

 protect our houses and other buildings against 

 storms. 



3. Trees beautify our homes, highways, and by- 

 ways. 



4. Trees give shelter to and serve as a refuge 

 for birds and other wild animals. 



5. Trees supply shade and shelter to domestic 

 animals when in the open. 



6. Trees help make, fix, and improve the soil. 



7. Trees protect steep mountain slopes against 

 erosion, and bind the soil along the banks of streams. 



8. Trees increase the run-off of water during 

 periods of drought. 



9. Trees help purify the atmosphere. 



10. Trees decrease the run-off of water during 

 periods of flood. 



11. Trees help maintain and improve the health 

 and efficiency of our citizens. 



12. Trees help raise the moral standard and social 

 worth of our boys and girls. 



13. Trees furnish the raw material for many of 

 our most important industries. 



14. Trees supply us with some of our most neces- 

 sary products of life. They supply us with the 

 wood with which to build, furnish and warm our 

 homes. They are the main source of the raw 

 material from which the paper upon which we 

 write is made. 



15. Every Forest Guide should become acquaint- 

 ed with our trees so that he can recognize the dif- 

 ference between the important timber trees and the 

 inferior (weed) species. 



HOW TO BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH TREES 



"There is more than one way for Forest 

 Guides to become acquainted with our common 

 trees. Some Guides are so fortunate as to have 

 a teacher available who knows the trees and is 

 willing to point out their distinctive features 

 and peculiar habits. Other Guides are less for- 

 tunate in that they do not have a teacher 

 familiar with the trees, but they do have avail- 

 able for use a good supply of helpful tree leaf- 

 lets and manuals. But there is a third group 

 of Guides, and this includes by far the largest 

 number, who have neither a good teacher nor 

 satisfactory literature available to pursue a 

 course of tree study. It is primarily for this 

 third class of Forest Guides that the material 

 on the following pages has been prepared. 



"One of the first things which a Forest Guide 

 should know about tree study is the fact that to 

 attempt to learn to know all the trees is a big and 

 long job. It may be well in this connection to 

 remember the old adage, 'Do not attempt too 

 much for fear of accomplishing too little.' Much 

 better results will be attained by selecting a 



ieo 



