SCOUTING FOR GIRLS 
397 
the old adage that “an ounce of prevention is worth a 
pound of cure.” Also the people are being taught cor- 
rect forestry practices, such as cutting only ripe trees 
and allowing the rest to grow, instead of clearing the 
land entirely, as was formerly done so universally. 
The life history of every tree is interesting; how it 
breathes by means of its leaves, just as the animals do 
by means of gills or lungs; how it manufactures starch 
by means of the green matter in the leaves; how the 
starch is changed to sugar and other substances which 
are carried to other parts of the tree in the sap; how 
the sap flows upward in the vessels in the sap-wood and 
downward in the vessels of the inner bark; how the 
entire heart- wood of a tree is dead and the only living 
part is the sap-wood and the innermost bark. 
One of the first things we shall want to know when 
we get out into the woods is the name of the tree that 
interests us. For this purpose the books given as refer- 
ences under “Trees” will be useful. 
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