108 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



exterminated there are berries and nuts 

 which make it worth while for him to 

 spend his spare time there. Further- 

 more, there is nothing as interesting to a 

 boy as the. construction of a log cabin 

 and for this purpose he must of course 

 go to the forest for his material. Many 

 Troops have constructed cabins in which 

 they hold their meetings. 



Very early in his school work the 

 normal boy takes up carpentry. This 



6*** 





Posing for Their Photograph. 



shows him another use for which he is 

 indebted to the forest. Even a little 

 work with the saw and plane soon brings 

 out the wide variations in the qualities 

 of different woods. All wood is wood to 

 the youthful carpenter who has received 

 no instruction, but a Boy Scout is early 

 taught that the hardwoods while pretty 

 to look at when polished are relatively 

 unimportant. For his camp fires, boats, 

 and log houses softwoods are better. 



If he is fortunate enough to be in a 

 community where he can go out and cut 



his own material he can carry through 

 from the stump to the finished product 

 the process of shaping the wood for the 

 end in view. 



The following merit badges, whose 

 purpose is to encourage the boy to make 

 himself thoroughly familiar with the 

 resources of the forest, are offered to 

 first class Scouts for special proficiency: 

 Angling, tree study, carpentry, crafts- 

 manship, marksmanship, pioneering, 

 stalking and taxiderming. 

 All of these studies may be 

 best practiced in the woods 

 or on raw material derived 

 from the forest. 



Since the boy repeats in 

 his development the history 

 of the race his interest in the 

 forest is an evolution. Like 

 the pioneer and frontiersman 

 he regards the woods at first 

 merely as a place in which he 

 may seek adventure. Later 

 he comes to realize that the 

 forest yields many products 

 which can be made useful. In 

 other words, he passes from the 

 point of view of the frontiers- 

 man to that of the lumber- 

 man. But the Boy Scout 

 organization has been wise 

 enough to see that these two 

 points of view .do not repre- 

 sent the highest type of interest 

 in the forest. Merit badges 

 are offered in agriculture, art, 

 conservation, forestry and sur- 

 veying through which a Scout 

 may learn something about 

 conservation of game and fish, 

 water, timber and the beauty 

 of the forest. Some branches of 

 the organization have even made this 

 interest concrete by calling in the assist- 

 ance of the boys in fire fighting. The 

 State of Michigan has made a notable 

 contribution in this way and annually 

 employs a large number of Boy Scouts 

 during the fire season to help in the 

 protection of its forests from fire. 

 Besides the active aid which the boys 

 give this campaign has also had the 

 good effect of showing that there is 

 something more worth while doing 

 than setting fires to the woods, a com- 



