COLLECTION OF WOOD SPECIMENS

During the winter months the boys may prepare specimens of wood for the school collection. These specimens should be cut when green, and dried afterwards. They should be uniform in length—not more than six inches—and should show the bark on one side. The side showing the bark should be two inches wide at most, six inches long, and running in a V-shaped, radial section toward the pith. A tangential section also shows well the rounded layers. A piece of slab as cut lengthwise off a round stick is tangential. Care should be taken not to mutilate trees in taking these specimens. Specimens of rare or foreign woods may be obtained at wood-working factories.