August, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
429 
thread; M" and %" rope are utilized. 
In this camp the standardized pegs 
customarily supplied with tents have 
been used, except at the ends, where 
larger ones were improvised. It is pos- 
sible to employ horizontal poles at the 
eaves of the tents and eliminate the 
space-consuming use of pegs. 
A set of 3% -foot lengths of bamboo — 
from fish poles — are used as braces un- 
der the eaves. One is placed at each 
seam, lashed at the top to the fly with 
stout cord. A short line is passed from 
here downward to the guy of the tent 
itself. These braces have the double 
advantage of holding the tent wall at 
the desired height, and of supporting the 
fly a few inches away from the tent 
roof when stretched by humidity. Thus 
the maximum of space is maintained 
within the tent; and leakage through the 
fly upon the tent is guarded against. As 
seen in Fig. 3 the dry tent and fly are 
in contact, but when stretched by dew 
or rain they draw apart. The bamboo 
is of the right weight and length for 
convenience in packing or storagr. 
T O enjoy life in camp most thorough- 
ly you must reduce the insect in- 
festation to a minimum, particu- 
larly in case of the mosquito and house- 
fly. Camp-life is sometimes notoriously 
intolerable on this account, particularly 
to children too young to put up any self- 
defense. Like Achilles campers are oft- 
times confronted with the alternative of 
shutting themselves up in their tents, or 
of carrying on against the Trojans. 
(There are verbal epithets bitterer than 
Trojan often applied to these insects.) 
The type of camp herein described 
comes nearer eliminating such pests than 
any other with which I am familiar, 
simply by means of its screened-in living- 
room. It is essentially out of doors — 
to a much greater extent than within a 
tent. The writer has found it comfort- 
able in all kinds of weather, and few 
insects gain entrance. With the aid of 
a swatter these few may be readily eli- 
minated. 
The mosquito-netting used is of a me- 
dium-fine grade. The loosely-woven, 
highly-starched, cheaper grades would 
answer in keeping out flies, but not 
against mosquitoes. Furthermore, it 
would scarcely outlast a season. This 
camp has some netting that has weath- 
ered four summers and is still service- 
able. Bobinet is the most durable of 
such materials, but is expensive out of all 
reasonable proportion to the rest of 
the equipment. It is suited only to 
camps de luxe, and I am describing one 
of moderate cost. 
The mosquito netting is readily sewed 
to the canvas with darning needle and 
very coarse thread. It should be fas- 
tened both to the fly above and to the 
front margins of all three tents (Fig. 3). 
Thus if the corners have not been over- 
looked, insects are able to gain entrance 
only when the door is open. The strips 
of netting must be cut of v ample width 
to allow for the seams, to allow for slack, 
which will be taken up when it rains, and 
to allow for shrinkage of the material 
itself. On breaking camp the netting 
Fig. 2 . A view of the camp from the front 
need be loosened from the tents only, 
and may be left attached to the fly of 
the living-room. 
As a ground-strip, easily replaced from 
year to year due to decay, I have used 
coarse cheese-cloth. This is anchored 
beneath a pole or wooden strip, against 
which earth is banked up. Usually the 
ground is trenched slightly to carry off 
rain-water from the roof, as it follows 
the mosquito-netting down from the 
eaves. Rain-water may also be caused 
to follow a rope passed from the lowest 
point in the eaves out a little from per- 
pendicular at the bottom. 
The entrance is a slit in the mosquito- 
netting, preferably bound with tape. 
One side is attached permanently to the 
pole at j (Fig. 1). The movable side — 
the “leaf” of the door— is bound to a 
stout cord weighted at the bottom. When 
swung so as to overlap the pole this 
closes the aperture very effectually. 
The sleeping rooms are equipped with 
half-fronts of mosquito-netting, whose 
free margin is bound with canvas tape, 
shotted at the bottom (Fig. 1, 12). It 
swings readily into place, gives further 
security against insects, and permits the 
tent to be opened for additional ventila- 
tion day or night. The other half of the 
front may be more or less permanently 
closed. The reflection of light from 
white mosquito-netting is such that con- 
siderable privacy is afforded the occu- 
pants of the camp, while the illumina- 
tion is from without. At the same time 
there is no difficulty whatever in seeing 
through the material in the opposite 
direction. 
The ends of the sleeping- tents (Fig, 
1, b and h, and Fig. 3) are kept open at 
the bottom and also provided with net. 
In case camp is made upon a dry, well- 
drained spot I have never found it neces- 
sary to peg the bottoms of the walls 
down closely to the ground. A little air- 
space all around aids in keeping the 
canvas dry, adds to its life, and furthers 
ventilation. Mosquitoes tend to follow 
moist earth or vegetation. The ground 
about the tents may be kept drier by dig- 
ging a shallow trench beneath the eaves. 
Grass, shrubs, tree branches and fallen 
leaves should be cleaned off scrupulously 
immediately around the tents. When 
mosquitoes traveling in the grass or 
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Fig. 3 . The end of the sleeping tent is kept open at the bottom 
