THE CHILDREN'S DEPARTMENT 



BY BRISTOW ADAMS 



THE WOODS ARE CALLING 



BY THE time this reaches you, wherever you may be, 

 the trees will be in full leaf and calling you to the 

 woods. They will still have the tender green of 

 spring, whether they are broad-leaf trees or cone- 

 bearers. With the former the new foliage takes the place 

 of bare branches ; with the latter the tender green seems 

 almost to shine out in contrast with the older needles of 

 last year. 



Each year the ends of the branches push out a little 

 farther. Already this spring the trees have added to their 

 girth. Possibly it is only a little, some of our weeds 

 which spring from a seed and complete their whole life 

 before frost cuts them down, grow faster than most trees 

 will. The wonderful thing about the tree, however, is 

 that it keeps growing year after year, and thus takes its 

 place as the oldest living thing. All over the northern 

 half of the world at this time of year the trees are growing 

 at their fastest, whether they be tropical evergreens or 

 the little elfin trees which brave almost continuous arctic 

 winter. 



Strange as it may seem, the willows, which grow their 

 largest in the warmth of the lower Mississippi Valley, 

 can be found beyond the Arctic Circle. There, in order 

 to live at all, they are little, creeping, vine-like plants 

 almost like the trailing arbutus of our Eastern States. 



Of course, you are going into the woods these days for 

 Boy Scout hikes, or for picnics, or for the gathering of 

 wild flowers, or to see the birds. 



HOLES IN THE TREE'S ARMOR 



LAST month we spoke of the possible danger to the 

 woods from carelessness with fire. There are 

 other forms of carelessness which are likely to do 

 a good deal of harm. If you feel that you must cut 

 your initials or "Hers" in the smooth bark of beech or 

 cottonwood, do not get in too deep. The initials will last 

 just as well if they do not reach quite to the growing 

 tissue between the sapwood and the bark. You must 

 remember that the bark of the tree is its armor and its 

 protection against all sorts of enemies. The germs of 

 disease can get in through these wounds, for the tree is 

 just as likely to get diseases in this way as you are to get 

 a disease germ through a cut in your finger. Insects, too, 

 enter the wood of healthy trees when the armor furnished 

 by the bark is removed. 

 Boy Scouts should keep these things in mind also when 



they "blaze the trail" through the woods. For their pur- 

 poses, since the record does not need to be permanent, 

 a slight scar of the bark will suffice. 



Also in the care of trees about the home a coat of paint 

 or tar over a wound will help the tree recover from'injuries. 

 This is the simplest form of the tree doctoring or tree 

 surgery, about which we hear much nowadays. Long 

 before men took to the work of tree doctoring the tree 

 itself had its own way of healing wounds by throwing a 

 growth of callus over them. And their struggle against 

 insects has always been aided by the birds as policemen. 

 Doctor Allen, in the Bird Department, has told you of 

 this service of the birds. 



WHAT YOU CAN DO 



SUMMING up, every boy and girl can do something 

 for forestry and in a very practical way, by protecting 

 the birds, by avoiding or repairing injuries, by plant- 

 new trees, by protecting insect friends and destroying 

 insect enemies. If they can do no more than just pass 

 their knowledge of trees "across to the other fellow" 

 they will help create a good citizenship and an active 

 public opinion for the support of forests. 



When the writer of these articles was a boy, more years 

 ago than he cares to think about, the study of hygiene, 

 through what were known as health primers, was just 

 being introduced in the public schools. These primers 

 told a great deal about the bad effects of smoking and 

 drinking. It is not too much to say that the present 

 widespread sentiment against drinking, which used to be 

 quite fashionable, is due to the lessons learned from the 

 health primers by the children of yesterday. In the same 

 way a sentiment for the preservation of our forests is 

 bound to come, and every boy and girl can do something 

 to hasten its coming. 



LET US ALL DO OUR PART 



IF WE do our part in the woods this summer and if a 

 little more and a little better thought is given to the 

 trees not only in each succeeding summer but all the 

 year round, the. United States can still be, as it ought 

 to be, in its foremost place as a producer of the greatest 

 number of different kinds of valuable timber, and in the 

 greatest quantity. And the trees and the forest spaces 

 will react upon our people in a constantly growing love of 

 beauty and love of nature, which are very precious things 

 for a nation to have. 



359 



