If you want to learn how to make a fire, then you must know what brushwood is, where to collect it and how to use it. This useful material will be discussed in our short article.
Meaning of the word "brushwood"
A person who often goes to the forest for mushrooms or berries, hunting, hiking, always notices with an experienced eye a place where it will be convenient to stop for a short h alt. It's good if you can find brushwood nearby. These are, first of all, fallen branches from various trees (birch, spruce, pine, oak, aspen), as well as spruce and pine needles, small branches of shrubs (for example, hazel) and dry leaves. This material is most often used as fuel for fires. But in some countries (for example, in India and the Congo), brushwood is also used as a cheap building material.
How and where brushwood is used
The branches are harvested already dried and ready to use. The ideal time for assembly starts from mid-summer and ends in mid-September with the arrival of rains and the first frosts. Brushwood is a dry material, it does not need to be chopped, as it breaks easily. It burns very well and is used to heat the stove, start a fire, or cook quickly.food.
Faggot is a material that is collected exclusively by hand. With the help of any technique, this is simply impossible to do. Collecting brushwood is hard work, as a person needs to walk long distances, concentrate his attention all the time, bend over and break long branches of trees or shrubs. As a rule, brushwood is collected in special bundles with the help of ropes. The bundle itself is carried either by a person or by a draft animal. A horse carrying a cart of brushwood - such a picture could often be seen in the villages before.
In wartime, fascines were made from reeds, tows and dry branches to strengthen roads, for dams and other small construction needs. Some brushwood craftsmen know how to build fences and wattle fences, although bending branches, such as willow, are better for this purpose.
The brushwood is also used for land reclamation. To stop soil erosion and fix ravines, it must be laid in a whole layer from the mouth to the beginning of the ravine. Branches should lie thin ends up the slope.
Before, brushwood, in addition to heating, was also used for military barriers. To do this, a bundle of brushwood is fixed with thick wire, and then fascinated barriers are made from such bundles. They were also used to fill ditches and ditches.
The significance of this material in the history of mankind
In the Middle Ages in Europe, pickers had to pay a tax to the owner of the forest for the right to pick dry branches. Besides,there was a special profession of a forest watchman who caught brushwood thieves.
Often in old stories and fairy tales from all over the world you can find a mention of collecting brushwood. For example, in the German folk tale for children "The House of Gingerbread", Gretel and Hansel went into the forest to gather firewood. Also, the collection of dry branches is often mentioned in the well-known tales of Gauf.
Faggot was used for funeral pyres and the burning of heretics. For this, bundles of dry branches were folded around the victim or the deceased person. Then they were set on fire. Sometimes brushwood and logs were sprinkled with oil.
