If you want to learn how to make a fire, then you need to 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, for hunting, for hiking, always with an experienced eye notices a place where it will be convenient to stop at a small halt. Well, if you can find brushwood nearby. First of all, these are 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 making bonfires. But in some countries (for example, in India and the Congo) brushwood is also used as cheap building material.
How and where is brushwood used?
Branches are collected already dried and ready for use. The ideal time for assembly begins in 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, light a fire or quickly cook food.
Brushwood is material that is collected exclusively by hand. With the help of any technique, this is simply impossible. Gathering brushwood is hard work, since a person needs to travel long distances, concentrate his attention all the time, bend down and break long branches of trees or shrubs. As a rule, brushwood is collected in special knits with the help of ropes. The knot itself is carried either by a person or by a draft animal. A horse carrying a cart of firewood - such a picture could be seen often in villages before.
In wartime, fascines were made from reeds, tow and dry branches to strengthen roads, for dams and other minor construction needs. Some brushwood craftsmen can erect fences and wickers, although for these purposes it is better to use bending branches, such as willows.
Brushwood is also used for land reclamation. To stop soil erosion and fix the ravines, it is necessary to lay it in a whole layer from the mouth to the beginning of the ravine. Branches should lie with thin ends up the slope.
In the past, in addition to heating, brushwood was also used for military barriers. For this, the bundle of brushwood is fixed with a thick wire, and then fashions are made of such bundles. They were also used to backfill ditches and recesses.
The value of this material in the history of mankind
In the Middle Ages in Europe, collectors were required to pay a tax to the forest owner for the right to collect dry branches. In addition, there was a special profession as a forest watchman who caught firewood thieves.
Often in old stories and tales from around the world you can find mention of the collection of brushwood. For example, in a German folk tale for children, “The Gingerbread House,” Gretel and Hansel went into the forest to pick up brushwood. Also, the assembly of dry branches is often mentioned in the well-known tales of Gauf.
Brushwood was used for funeral pyres and the burning of heretics. For this, bundles of dry branches formed around the victim or the deceased person. Then they were set on fire. Sometimes brushwood and logs were watered with oil.