To get the birch bark, select a tree with a smooth trunk devoid of
branches and, placing skids for the trunk to fall upon (Fig. 38), fell the
tree (see Figs. 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, and 118), and then cut a
circle around the trunk at the two ends of the log and a slit from one
circle clean up to the other circle (Fig. 38); next, with a sharp stick
shaped like a blunt-edged chisel, pry off the bark carefully until you
take the piece off in one whole section. If it is spruce bark or any other
bark you seek, hunt through the woods for a comparatively smooth trunk and
proceed in the same manner as with the birch. To take it off a standing
tree, cut one circle down at the butt and another as high as you can reach
(Fig. 118) and slit it along a perpendicular line connecting the two cuts
as in Fig. 38. This will doubtless in time kill the tree, but far from
human habitations the few trees killed in this manner may do the forest
good by giving more room for others to grow. Near town or where the
forests are small use the bark from the old dead trees.
Fig. 11. Fig. 12. Fig. 13. Fig. 14.
[Illustration: One-night shelter. The fallen tree and the scout-master.]