four inches, stand erect on top of the small branches, and when young
are of a purplish color.

From Maine to Minnesota the balsam-fir grows in damp woods and mountain
bogs, and you will find it southward along the Alleghany Mountains from
Pennsylvania to North Carolina.


=Spruce=

The spruce, red, black, and white, differs in many respects from the
balsam-fir: the needles are sharp-pointed, not blunt, and instead of
being flat like the balsam-fir, they are four-sided and cover the
branchlet on all sides, causing it to appear rounded or bushy and not
flat. The spruce-gum sought by many is found in the seams of the bark,
which, unlike the smooth balsam-fir, is scaly and of a brown color.
Early spring is the time to look for spruce-gum. Spruce is a soft wood,
splits readily and is good for the frames and ribs of boats, also for
paddles and oars, and the bark makes a covering for temporary shelters.


=Hemlock=

This tree is good for thatching a lean-to when balsam-fir is not to be
found, and its bark can be used in the way of shingles.

The cones are small and hang down from the branches; they do not stand
up alert like those of the balsam-fir, nor are they purple in color,
being rather of a bright red-brown, and when very young, tan color. The
wood is not easy to split--don't try it, or your hatchet will suffer in
consequence and the pieces will be twisted as a usual thing. The
southern variety, however, often splits straight.

[Illustration: Horse-chestnut.

Sugar-maple.

Alder.

Ink impressions of leaves.]

[Illustration: Balsam-Fir.

Spruce.

Hemlock.]

[Illustration: White oak.

Linden.

Ink impressions of leaves.]

[Illustration: Pitch-pine and cone.

Sycamore leaf and fruit of sycamore.

(The buttonball.)]


=Pine=

The pine-tree accommodates itself to almost any kind of soil, high, low,
moist, or dry, often growing along the edge of the water.

The gray pine is sometimes used for making the skeleton of a canoe or
other boats, and the white pine for the skin or covering of the skeleton
boat; but for you the pine will probably be most useful in furnishing
pine-knots, and its soft wood for kindling your outdoor fire.

The trees mentioned abound in our northern forests. The birch in its
different varieties is there also, but rarely ventures into the densest
woods, preferring to remain near and on its outskirts. However, none of
these trees confine themselves strictly to one locality.

Oaks, hickory, chestnut, maples, and sycamore are among the useful woods
for campers.

Learn the quality and nature of the different trees. Each variety is
distinct from the others: some woods are easy to split, such as spruce,
chestnut, balsam-fir, etc.; some very strong, as locust, oak, hickory,
sugar-maple, etc.; then there are the hard and soft woods mentioned in
fire-making.

When you once understand the characteristics of the different woods, and
their special qualifications, becoming familiar with only two or three
varieties at a time, the trees will be able to help you according to
their special powers. You would not go to a musician to have a portrait
painted, for while the musician might give you wonderful music he would
be helpless as far as painting a picture was concerned, and so it is
with trees. They cannot all give the same thing; if you want soft wood,
it is wasting your time to go to hardwood trees; they cannot give you
what they do not possess. Know the possibilities of trees and they will
not fail you.


=How to Chop Wood=

Trailing and camping both mean wood-chopping to some extent for
shelters, fires, etc., and the girl of to-day should understand, as did