excavated earth. In
those of California, no fire at all may be lighted without first
procuring a permit from the authorities.

"Fire regulations are posted on all public lands, and if campers
disregard them they are subject to arrest.

"These are wise and good laws. Every camper who loves the forest, and
who has any regard for public interest, will do his part in obeying them
to the letter. However, if he occupies private property where he may use
his own judgment, or if he travels in the wilderness far from
civilization, where there are no regulations, it will be useful for him
to know something about the fuel value of all kinds of wood, green as
well as dead, and for such people the following information is given:

"The arts of fire building are not so simple as they look. To practice
them successfully in all sorts of wild regions we must know the
different species of trees one from another, and their relative fuel
values, which as we shall see, vary a great deal. We must know how well,
or ill, each of them burns in a green state, as well as when seasoned.
It is important to discriminate between wood that makes lasting coals
and such as soon dies down to ashes. Some kinds of wood pop violently
when burning and cast out embers that may burn holes in tents and
bedding or set the neighborhood afire; others burn quietly, with clear,
steady flame. Some are stubborn to split, others almost fall apart under
the axe. In wet weather it takes a practiced woodsman to find tinder and
dry wood, and to select a natural shelter where fire can be kept going
during a storm or rain or snow, when a fire is most needed.

"There are several handy little manuals by which one who has no
botanical knowledge can soon learn how to identify the different species
of trees by merely examining their leaves, or, late in the season, by
their bark, buds and habit of growth.

"But no book gives the other information that I have referred to; so I
shall offer, in the present chapter, a little rudimentary instruction in
this important branch of woodcraft.

"It is convenient for our purpose to divide the trees into two great
groups, hard woods and soft woods, using these terms not so loosely as
lumbermen do, but drawing the line between sycamore, yellow birch,
yellow pine, and slippery elm, on the one side, and red cedar,
sassafras, pitch pine and white birch, on the other.

"_As a general rule_, hard woods make good, slow-burning fuel that
yield