go Ways of Wood Folk. 



above the dam. The branches with the best bark are 

 then cut into short lengths, which are rolled down the 

 bank and floated to the pool at the dam. 



Considerable discussion has taken place as to how 

 the beaver sinks his wood — for of course he must 

 sink it, else it would freeze into the ice and be use- 

 less. One theory is that the beavers suck the air 

 from each stick. Two witnesses declare to me they 

 have seen them doing it ; and in a natural history 

 book of my childhood there is a picture of a beaver 

 with the end of a three-foot stick in his mouth, suck- 

 ing the air out. Just as if the beavers did n't know 

 better, even if the absurd thing were possible ! The 

 simplest way is to cut the wood early and leave it in 

 the water a while, when it sinks of itself ; for green 

 birch and poplar are almost as heavy as water. They 

 soon get waterlogged and go to the bottom. It is 

 almost impossible for lumbermen to drive spool wood 

 (birch) for this reason. If the nights grow suddenly 

 cold before the wood sinks, the beavers take it down 

 to the bottom and press it slightly into the mud ; 

 or else they push sticks under those that float against 

 the dam, and more under these ; and so on till the 

 stream is full to the bottom, the weight of those above 

 keeping the others down. Much of the wood is lost 

 in this way by being frozen into the ice ; but the 

 beaver knows that, and cuts plenty. 



