V

WOODCRAFT

The use of an axe and hatchet--Best woods for special purposes--What
to do when you are lost--Nature's compasses


The word "woodcraft" simply means skill in anything which pertains to
the woods. The boy who can read and understand nature's signboards,
who knows the names of the various trees and can tell which are best
adapted to certain purposes, what berries and roots are edible, the
habits of game and the best way to trap or capture them, in short the
boy that knows how to get along without the conveniences of
civilization and is self-reliant and manly, is a student of woodcraft.
No one can hope to become a master woodsman. What he learns in one
section may be of little value in some other part of the country.

A guide from Maine or Canada might be comparatively helpless in
Florida or the Tropics, where the vegetation, wild animal life, and
customs of the woods are entirely different. Most of us are hopeless
tenderfeet anywhere, just like landlubbers on shipboard. The real
masters of woodcraft--Indians, trappers, and guides--are, as a rule,
men who do not even know the meaning of the word "woodcraft."

Some people think that to know woodcraft, we must take it up with a
teacher, just as we might learn to play golf or tennis. It is quite