124 



RECREATION. 



Pluck, draw and season. Hang the ket- 

 tle over the fire, put in it some thin 

 sliced bacon and chopped onion, and let 

 brown. Put the birds in, allowing them 

 to steam a few minutes ; then add one or 2 

 cups of water with a little lemon acid. 

 Cover the kettle and let cook until done. 

 With a stick mince all, bones and meat, 

 thoroughly, and put into a can, glass or 

 box. With the hard bread it will make an 

 appetizing lunch. 



Old doves can not- be cooked tender, but 

 with 2 hours' boiling will make an excellent 

 soup, especially when you can add some 

 edible greens or mushrooms. 



In cooking fish the iron kettle will serve 

 for a frying pan, if you are bound to 

 have catfish steaks or nice looking slices. 

 But there are better and easier ways of 

 preparing fish. 



To cook small fish, such as bass, perch, 

 pike, etc. : Clean, split, and wipe dry as 

 possible. Score each side in several 

 places, and season with salt and pepper. 

 Spit each fish on a stick and stand the 

 sticks in the ground at the edge of the fire. 

 The fish will fry as quickly and as well as 

 though in a pan. 



Another way : Let a good fire burn low. 

 Dig a shallow hole in the ground near it. 

 Wrap the dressed and seasoned fishes, 

 slicing them if large, in wet leaves, wet 

 grass or wet paper. Put live coals in the 

 hole in the ground ; lay the fish on them 

 and cover well with more live coals. In 

 15 minutes or so your meal will be ready. 



A trout, pike or small muskalonge 

 boiled in salt water by a man who knows 

 just how to do it, and served with water- 

 cress, is a dish fit for a king. 



Rabbits and squirrels may be cooked in 

 this way : Skin the animals. Cut off the 

 legs and split them, taking out the bones. 

 Flatten the meat in layers on a plate or 

 stone, seasoning with salt and pepper. Put 

 thin slices of bacon or ham and some 

 chopped onion in the kettle over the fire, 

 and let brown. Then lay in the meat, 

 turning it occasionally until done. Take 

 out meat, and make gravy by adding a lit- 

 tle water to contents of kettle. All the 

 work need not take longer than 15 minutes. 



There are several ways of making coon 

 meat palatable. In all cases the legs 

 should be cut off at the knees when the 

 animal is skinned. All fat should be 

 carefully removed, the meat well washed 

 and seasoned with pepper and salt. Tie 

 the meat up with wet grass, leaves or 

 bark, and cook in live coals in a hole in 

 the ground. Or cook the coori whole, 

 trussed like a suckling pig, on a spit before 

 the fire. 



My favorite way of cooking coon, when 

 I am compelled to eat it, is to boil the 

 best parts — legs, shoulders and back 

 pieces — in salt water and vinegar or lemon 



acid. Then fry with sliced bacon or ham 

 and onions. 



In a future issue I will give directions 

 for preparing other kinds of game. 



SUCCESSFUL PLANTING OF QUAILS. 

 Wichita, Kansas. 

 Editor Recreation: 



I noticed a letter in June Recreation 

 from W. L. Harris, in which he states 

 that a club man told him they had leased 

 4,000 acres for a preserve within 5 miles of 

 Pittsburg; that they put out on it 2,000 

 quails each year, and that last year they 

 bought 2,400 in Kansas. If so many birds 

 were placed on 4,000 acres, feed and cover 

 must have been exceedingly abundant to 

 maintain them, with their increase, which 

 would be 25,060 to 40,000 birds. Too 

 many clubs overstock their grounds, and 

 the quails do not have sufficient natural 

 food. Fewer birds, well fed and cared 

 for, would give more satisfactory results. 

 I have furnished quails to gentlemen who 

 live in Pittsburg, but not such a large 

 number to be liberated within 5 miles of 

 that city. I am sorry Mr. Harris did not 

 mention the gentleman's name, so all the 

 facts could be learned. 



I have shipped live quails for nearly 10 

 years, and the reports have been unani- 

 mous that the birds have done well, often 

 raising 2 broods in one year. I nearly al- 

 ways ask my customers to write me how 

 their birds do, so I can be better informed 

 on the subject. Mr. Harris says, "Can't 

 something be done to check this slaugh- 

 ter?" I am with you, Brother Harris, 

 and have done what I could to prevent 

 quails from being killed. Have bought 

 them alive and shipped them to points 

 where they would be better protected. 

 To secure them, I pay trappers double 

 price, for it is much easier for them to 

 ship dead birds. I have saved from de- 

 struction this year over 50,000 birds, and 

 have shipped them where they would be 

 liberated and could multiply under better 

 protection. 



A fair estimate of the increase of this 

 50,000 for 3 years would be as follows: A 

 single brood of 20 each would amount to 

 500,000 the first year, and the same num- 

 ber the second and third years. Of the 

 increase the second year there would be 

 500,000 to breed from, which would result 

 in 5,000,000, and in a third year 5,000,000 

 more. The broods from the increase of 

 the second year would breed the third 

 year and would amount to 40,000,000, 

 which would make a grand total of over 

 50,000.000. At least Yj. of the birds would 

 raise 2 broods in each season, which 

 would increase this number quite a little, 

 but we will allow the second broods to go 

 as loss for all causes except the shot gun. 



As an example of what six pairs have 



