u know, when
the bark is taken off a tree all the way around, the tree dies. That is
because all the things that a tree draws out of the ground to make it
grow and keep it alive are carried up from the roots in the sap, and the
sap cannot go up the tree trunks and into the branches when the bark is
taken off, because it is up the inside of the bark that it travels. So
when the bark is taken from a tree all the way around the trunk, the
tree just starves to death.

Now Paddy the Beaver loves the Green Forest as dearly as you and I do,
and perhaps even a little more dearly. You see, it is his home. Besides,
Paddy never is wasteful. So he cuts down a tree so that he can get all
the bark instead of killing a whole lot of trees for a very little bark,
as he might do if he were lazy. There isn't a lazy bone in him--not one.
The bark he likes best is from the aspen. When he cannot get that, he
will eat the bark from the poplar, the alder, the willow, and even the
birch. But he likes the aspen so much better that he will work very hard
to get it. Perhaps it tastes better because he does have to work so hard
for it.

There were some aspen-trees growing right on the edge of the pond Paddy
had made in the Green Forest. These he cut just as he had cut the trees
for his dam. As soon as a tree was down, he would cut it into short
lengths, and with these swim out to where the water was deep, close to
his new house. He took them one by one and carried the first ones to the
bottom, where he pushed them into the mud just enough to hold them.
Then, as fast as he brought more, he piled them on the first ones. And
so the pile grew and grew.

Jerry Muskrat, Peter Rabbit, Bobby Coon, and the other little people of
the Green Forest watched him with the greatest interest and curiosity.
They couldn't quite make out what he was doing. It was almost as if he
were building the foundation for another house.

"What's he doing, Jerry?" demanded Peter, when he could keep still
no longer.

"I don't exactly know," replied Jerry. "He said that he was going to
lay in a supply of food for the winter, just as I told you, and I
suppose that is what he is doing. But I don't quite understand what he
is taking it all out into the pond for. I believe I'll go ask him."

"Do, and then come tell us," begged Peter, who was growing so curious
that he couldn't sit still.

So Jerry swam out to where Paddy was so busy. "Is this your food supply,
Cousin Paddy?" h