In case of fire, it should be possible to call for aid by telephone
directly from the woodland and to find within easy reach the tools
necessary to combat fire. It is also important to obtain the
co-operation of one's neighbors in protecting the adjoining
woodlands, because the dangers from insects, disease and fire
threatening one bit of woodland area are more or less dependent upon
the conditions in the adjoining woodland.

[Illustration: FIG. 143.--Poster Suitable for Private Woodlands and
Forest Parks. The translations in Italian and Polish have been used by
the writer in this particular instance to meet the local needs.]

As to other forms of protection, passing mention may be made of the
importance of keeping out cattle, sheep and hogs from the woods, of
eliminating all insects and disease, of keeping the ground free from
brush and other inflammable material, of retaining on the ground all
fallen leaves and keeping the forest well stocked with little trees
and shrubs.

Forest lands may be exempted from taxation: In New York and other States
there exists a State law providing for exemption or reduction in
taxes upon lands which are planted with forest trees or maintained
as wooded areas. The object of the law is to encourage home forestry
and to establish fairness in the agricultural land-tax law by
placing forest lands in the same category with other crop-producing
lands. For detailed information and a copy of the law, one should
address the local State Forestry Commission.

CHAPTER VIII

OUR COMMON WOODS: THEIR IDENTIFICATION, PROPERTIES AND USES

Woods have different values for various practical purposes because of
their peculiarities in structure. A knowledge of the structural parts of
wood is therefore necessary as a means of recognizing the wood and of
determining why one piece is stronger, heavier, tougher, or better
adapted for a given service than another.

Structure of wood: If one examines a cross-section of the bole of a
tree, he will note that it is composed of several distinct parts, as
shown in Fig. 145. At the very center is a small core of soft tissue
known as the _pith_. It is of much the same structure as the pith of
cornstalk or elder, with which all are familiar. At the outside is
the _bark_, which forms a protective covering over the entire woody
system. In any but the youn