306 
FOREST AND STREAM 
July, 1922 
RAISING BREAD IN CAMP 
A YEAR ago, Henry Powell, one of 
the best cooks in the Adirondacks, 
showed me this method which he used 
to raise bread in camp. On some of 
these chill summer nights it is quite a 
problem how to set your dough away in 
a tent so that it will raise properly by 
morning. Powell went about it in the 
following manner and the success that 
he had warrants my passing it on to 
someone else : 
A barrel is first inverted and six or 
eight half-inch holes bored in it about 
ten inches from the floor, as shown in 
the accompanying diagram. An ordi- 
nary lamp is placed inside of the barrel 
and adjusted so that a moderate flame 
would continue throughout the night. 
The holes permit air to enter so the 
lamp will not go out. The dough is 
placed in a large dish-pan on top of 
the barrel and covered with a piece of 
cloth which hangs down just over the 
top of the barrel. The heat from the 
lamp rises to the top of the barrel and 
keeps the dough warm enough so that it 
will raise properly by morning. 
An Oldtimer. 
HINTS ON THE CARE OF 
PELTRIES 
care of hides includes skinning, 
curing, and tanning. As a rule, the 
first step in skinning an animal is to 
make a cut along the under side from 
chin to tip of tail, and from each foot 
E are depending upon the 
friends and admirers of our 
old correspondent Nessmuk to 
make this department worthy of 
his name. No man knew the ivoods 
better than Nessmuk or wrote of 
them with quainter charm. Many 
of his practical ideas on camp- 
ing and “going light” have been 
adopted by the United States 
Army; his canoe has been preserved 
in the Smithsonian Institution; and 
we hope that all good woodsmen 
will contribute to this department 
their Hints and Kinks and trail- 
tested contrivances .. — [Editor.] 
along the inner side of the leg to inter- 
sect the main cut nearly at right angles. 
Fur bearers, however, excepting beavers, 
the pelts of which are sent to market 
flat, are slit across beneath the tail from 
heel to heel, the skin being reversed as 
the body is withdrawn. The tail and the 
base of the ears should be skinned out. 
Eresh skins should be divested of loose 
fat and muscle, and then either tanned 
at once or cured so as to be kept without 
deterioration until a convenient time for 
tanning arrives. They are cured by 
being stretched free of wrinkles, flesh 
side exposed, and left in a cool, shady, 
airy place. In a moist atmosphere, or 
where haste is imperative, the flesh side 
may be covered with a layer of salt and 
the skin folded hair side out into a com- 
pact bundle, which should be opened and 
refolded two or three times during the 
first two days to insure salt action in 
every part. Flat skins may be stretched 
by pinning them out on a floor or frame, 
but in any case there should always be 
a circulation of air on both sides. Pelts 
of fur animals are dried, flesh side out, 
after being drawn over pieces of board 
shaped so as to stretch them uniformly. 
Wolf, fox, lynx, and wild-cat pelts are 
taken from the boards and turned fur 
side out before they are fully dried. 
Other kind of pelts go to market flesh 
side out. 
Skins may be tanned either with the 
hair on or off, as desired. Hair can 
be removed from hides by soaking them 
in tepid water made alkaline by lye or 
lime. The following recipe for a tan- 
ning liquor is in common use: To each 
gallon of water add one quart of salt 
and one-hajf ounce of sulphuric acid. 
This mixture should not be kept in a 
metal container. Thin skins are tanned 
by this liquor in one day; heavy skins 
must remain in it longer. They may , 
remain in it indefinitely without harm. 1 
When removed from this liquor, they 
are washed several times in soapy water, 
wrung as dry as possible, and rubbed on 
the flesh side with a cake of hard soap. 
They are then folded in the middle, j 
lengthwise over a line, hair side out, 
and left to dry. When both surfaces ' 
are barely dry, and the interior is still 
moist, they are laid over a smooth, 
rounded board and scraped on the flesh I 
side with the edge of a worn flat file, or ' 
a similar blunt edged tool. In this way 
an inner layer is removed and the skins 
become nearly white in color. They are 
then stretched, rubbed, and twisted until j 
quite dry. If parts of a skin are still ! 
hard and stiff, the soaping, drying, and 
stretching process is repeated until the 
entire skin is soft. Fresh butter, or other ■ 
animal fat, worked into skins while 
warm and then worked out again in dry 
hardwood sawdust, or extracted hy a 
hasty bath in gasoline, increases their 
softness. 
FOR SCALING FISH 
D EING an enthusiastic reader of 
^ Forest and Stream 1 am submit- 
ing a little kink for your Nessmuk’s 
Camp Fire which might be of use to 
fishermen. The device is used to clean 
or scale fish and may be described as 
follows: Procure two boards 1x4x10 
inches each and attach them by a hinge 
as shown in cut. Along! one 'side of 
the upper hoard place a number of six- 
penny nails (2) filed to sharp points. 
Along the edge of the lower board, in a 
position corresponding to the nails on 
the upper board, place a strip of wood 
three-quarter inch thick. Screwholes 
are bored in the lower board (6) so the 
contrivance may he fastened in a per- 
manent position. Place the fish across 
the lower board and fold the upper board 
down on it and fasten the chain (3) to 
the nail (7). Pull the fish back and 
forth until the scales are removed from 
one side and then reverse the fish and 
clean the other side. 
W, J. Nickel, Kansas. 
