position. This you may learn in a week or you may never learn it. It
is a lot easier to write about than it is to do.

When the tree begins to creak and show signs of toppling over, give it
a few sharp blows and as it falls jump sideways. Never jump or run
backward. This is one way that men get killed in the woods. A falling
tree will often kick backward like a shot. It will rarely go far to
either side. Of course a falling tree is a source of danger anyway, so
you must always be on your guard.

If you wish to cut the fallen tree into logs, for a cabin, for
instance, you will often have to jump on top of it and cut between
your feet. This requires skill and for that reason I place a knowledge
of axemanship ahead of anything else in woodcraft except cooking.
With a crosscut saw, we can make better looking logs and with less
work.

Next to knowing how to chop a tree is knowing what kind of a tree to
chop. Different varieties possess entirely different qualities. The
amateur woodchopper will note a great difference between chopping a
second growth chestnut and a tough old apple tree. We must learn that
some trees, like oak, sugar maple, dogwood, ash, cherry, walnut,
beech, and elm are very hard and that most of the evergreens are soft,
such as spruce, pine, arbor vitae, as well as the poplars and birches.
It is easy to remember that lignum vitae is one of the hardest woods
and arbor vitae one of the softest. Some woods, like cedar, chestnut,
white birch, ash, and white oak, are easy to split, and wild cherry,
sugar maple, hemlock, and sycamore are all but unsplitable. We decide
the kind of a tree to cut by the use to which it is to be put. For the
bottom course of a log cabin, we place logs like cedar, chestnut, or