Camping

Every camper should have a "ditty kit"—that is, a small case containing toilet articles (comb and brush, tooth paste, etc.), sewing outfit, writing pad, and such other miscel laneous articles as seem indis pensable.

" Duffle bags" reduce the transportation problem to lowest terms. A "duffle bag" is a large sack made of heavy waterproofed canvas, with handles on bottom and side; 18 by 36 inches is a good size.

One bag will serve for three or four boys, and will cost about $2. It holds an amazing number of articles, and thus eliminates the inconvenient array of suit cases and hand-bags which afflict some camps.

Every camp should also be supplied with a "first-aid" kit, containing vaseline, peroxide, aromatic spirits of ammonia, castor oil, pennyroyal, and such other medicines or lotions as are likely to be needed. There should also be absorbent cotton, antiseptic gauze, adhesive plaster, boric acid powder, sur geon's needles in a sterile tube, some good disinfectant, safety pins, artery forcepA, and scissors.

For a large camp, strong boxes should be supplied to carry the cook and mess kit, tools, etc. A full-sized, long-handled ax, saw, shovel, pick, disinfectant powder, nails, tacks, rope, twine, and a roll of stove-pipe wire should he included in the outfit.

Old clothes are not necessarily the best clothes for camping. Comfort and durability are the test quali ties. No camper should feel "dressed up" or be obliged to consider his wearing apparel unduly, but his clothes should also be able to " stand the racket." Thin woolen underwear is usually preferable, because wool, unlike cotton, permits free circulation both of bodily moisture and air, preventing satura tion and overheating. Light loosely woven woolen garments are cooler in warm weather and warmer in cold weather than those of cotton or linen.

How to Protect Your Feet Pajamas, especially in cooler climates, should be of flannel. Socks should be of soft wool and should never be worn with holes in them; that way foot trouble lies. All these garments, especially the socks, should be changed and washed frequently.

As to outer garments, the regular uniform of the Boy Scout is a good model. Soft khaki-color cotton shirt, knickerbockers, and long stockings make a comfortable costume. Shoes may make all the dif ference between content and misery. For hiking you should get a broader and longer shoe than you usually wear, to allow for the spreading of the foot in walk ing. But avoid extremes; too large a shoe may cause

an uncomfortable blister. Break the shoes in before you go to camp; take no chances on their comfort.

Keep them well oiled. If they get wet inside, heat some small pebbles or sand (not too hot or they will burn the leather) and place inside the shoes. Don't let blisters or any other form of foot trouble get headway. Treat such disorders at once.

In selecting the camp site the available wood sup ply is an important consideration. What the woods man calls " squaw wood"—loose dry underbrush or dead limbs—is usually abundant enough for the ordi nary fire. Boys are, as a rule, too prone to resort to the ax. Trees should never be cut except where there is no available loose wood, and then never without the per mission of the owner. Dead laurel branches make a quick hot, but not lasting, fire. Spruce and pitch pine also kindle quickly and burn splendidly, too splendidly for a permanent fire. Hickory, green or dry, makes the best fire of all, burns hot and long, and ends in a bed of hard long-lived coals. Next in order of excellence are the chestnut; the white, black, post, and basket oaks; pecan, ironwood, dogwood, apple, all birches, sugar maple, locust, and yellow pine.

How a Woodsman Builds a Fire Nothing betrays the tenderfoot or shows the skill of the experienced woodsman more quickly than the way he builds a fire—and also the thoroughness with which he puts it out when he retires or breaks camp.

Choose some hard wood that will not burn out quickly, for you want the backlogs to reflect heat into the tents and to last as long as possible. Place two smaller and shorter logs at right angles for and irons; then stake a forelog across the ends of these, and you have a framework to hold the fire together and insure good draft. In the center build up a pile of dry leaves, twigs, birch bark, or shavings, with a few dry sticks on top. Now lay two long sticks diagonally from the forelog to the backlogs, meeting at the back; and on these place four or five logs of hickory, birch, maple, chestnut, or oak, with plenty of air space between. Thrust a number of small dry sticks downwards into the chinks, touch a match to the tinder below, and in a few minutes you will have a pillar of flame six feet high to eat your evening meal by. Put on another load of logs before you turn in, and the blaze will last far into the night.