GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE TREES 



attendance upon this birch feast, was a sur- 

 prising failure. I secured a picture of the 

 holes in the bark, to be sure, but the rapidly 

 moving insect and bird life was too quick for 

 an exposure of even a fraction of a second, 

 and my negative was lifeless. These same yel- 

 low birches, picturesque in form, ragged in 

 light- colored bark, give a brightness all their 

 own to the deep forest, mostly of trees with 

 rather somber bark. 



A woodsman told me one summer of the 

 use of old birch bark for starting a fire in 

 the wet woods, and I have since enjoyed 

 collecting the bark from fallen trees in the 

 forest. It strips easily, in large pieces, from 

 decayed stems, and when thrown on an open 

 fire, produces a cheery and beautiful blaze, 

 as well as much heat; while, if cunningly 

 handled, by its aid a fire can be kindled even 

 in a heavy rain. 



The great North Woods show us won- 

 derful birches. Paddling through one of the 

 Spectacle ponds, along the Racquette river, one 

 early spring day, I came upon a combination 

 of white pine, red pine, and paper -birch that 



190 



