50 EQUIPMENT. 



In cutting down a willow blind about a boat, 

 as the common blinds are made in spring, con- 

 siderable judgment is necessary. As the ponds 

 are usually bordered with willows, it is generally 

 easy to find a group growing in the position 

 desired, the most favorable one being that where 

 four trees grow as it were in the angles of a 

 rectangular parallelogram, being apart in one 

 direction the width of the boat, and in the other 

 about three-fourths its length. If in such a posi- 

 tion that the boat must be head on to the decoys, 

 the boat should be placed between them, and the 

 trees felled towards the bow, the cut ends 

 allowed to remain on the stumps, the tops of the 

 forward trees crossing each other on the bow, 

 and the after-tops lying on the forward trunks. 

 If the tops are not sufficiently leafy and dense, 

 more branches must be cut from the neighbor- 

 ing trees and placed upon them, and it will 

 sometimes be necessary to tie these branches in 

 position to prevent their being blown off. Should 

 the trees grow the other way, i.e., the long side 

 of the parallelogram towards the decoys, they 

 should be felled, those on the same side of the 

 boat towards each other, and branches should be 

 added and fastened. The new cut ends of the 



