October, 1320 
FOREST AND STREAM 
551 
so there are many ways of cooking; an 
experienced camper can get along very 
comfortably with a surprisingly small 
fire and with very few cooking utensils — 
a couple of pails and two frying pans 
will be about enough for him. 
For this fire use hard woods that will 
burn down into hot glowing coals, such 
as hickory, ash, oak, and locust; avoid 
the spruces which, though they make a 
quick fire, are soon burned up, and do 
not use woods that give tall, hot flames 
such as the long leaf yellow pine. 
T HE “Dingle stick” method of sus- 
pension is possibly the most simple. 
The dingle stick is merely a pole 
driven slantwise into the ground, or it 
may rest in a crotch, the lower end held 
down with a rock, the upper end over the 
fire. The pail may be hung by a wire 
pot hook but I prefer a light brass chain 
such as is used in window sashes; the 
chain I equip with hoops in each end 
for adjusting the length. You may make 
a pot hook of a branch cut from the 
nearest tree with a notch in the lower 
end for your pail handle or you may 
make a pot hook from a stick with a nail 
in each end. 
Here is another simple cooking ar- 
rangement: select two green logs, flatten 
them on top a little and set them just 
so far apart that they will support your 
cooking utensils; lay them a little wider 
at one end for the fry pans — a little 
closer together at the other end for the 
smaller utensils. Dig out the earth a 
little between them and build your fire 
in this trench. Let the wood burn down 
to glowing coals, you won’t need a high 
flame, and if you have a reflector baker, 
set it up facing the fire. 
If you have the means of carrying a 
little extra weight, two irons, or fire- 
dogs, may take the place of these logs. 
If for a small fire they do not weigh very 
much or take up very much room. These 
fire-dogs are merely two iron rods the 
ends bent at right angles and pointed 
to stick into the ground over the fire. 
A good arrangement is to have the 
ends fastened to the long bar by a screw 
and nut, the legs may then be folded in, 
out of the way in packing. 
As I have mentioned fry pans two or 
three times, let me add a little warning 
to the new chef. It seems to me, that 
in nearly every movie or picture illus- 
trating camp cookery, the fry pan is over 
emphasized. Don’t they ever eat any- 
thing but bacon and eggs? Never I am 
sure, in the movies. Now you just try 
a steady diet from that same fry pan 
and your trip will be spoiled, so will 
your digestion. Get away from too much 
fried stuff, use as much boiled or broiled 
food as you can — it’s usually more ap- 
peasing anyway; try planking your game 
or fish, make plenty of stews or “Mulli- 
gan”; it’s easy. 
During a heavy rain there should be 
some way of heating food in the tent; 
it is not a good thing to go to bed with- 
out something warm in your stomach. A 
Iron fire dogs and fry pan 
little outfit using solidified alcohol is good 
to have along— then you may easily make 
a cup of soup or chocolate and on a cold, 
raw night just before retiring, this is a 
real life saver and will warm you up. 
If you are not packing light, one or 
the various forms of tent stoves is the 
thing for the tent; it is usually made 
without a bottom and is to set on a flat 
stone or on the ground; some are made 
to fold up flat — the pipe is constructed 
of sheet iron and telescopes into two 
foot lengths and weighs, with the stove 
from 10 to 20 lbs. The usual sheet iron 
stove may be fed with short lengths 
which burn down to a bed of live coals, 
making it ideal for cooking. Fed at night 
with small logs, which will burn slowly 
upon the coals until morning and give out 
a steady heat all night long, it will be 
ready for its job at breakfast time. 
J UST a word right here about your 
matches; a single match may. some- 
times stand between the traveller and 
death; it is important therefore that 
A clay oven 
you should, at all times, carry upon 
your person some matches to be used 
only in an emergency. These matches, 
it need not be said, must be kept abso- 
lutely dry; they must be in some sort 
of a case that will float should they be 
dropped overboard too. They may be 
carried in a tightly corked bottle but the 
risk of breaking the glass seems to me 
to make this a poor method; a hard rub- 
ber case with a screw top is fine, or 
an empty shot gun shell tightly corked 
is a good makeshift. I generally take 
several cards of the usual cigar store 
matches made up into a flat package 
wrapped with oilskin and carried pinned 
into a pocket of my flannel shirt. 
A fire may be started even if you do 
find yourself without a match; rub some 
gunpowder into a rag, stuff it into a shell 
from which you have drawn the shot. 
Fire it off into a heap of light inflamma- 
ble material — dry leaves and fine shav- 
ings or shredded dry bark. 
Your hunting knife and a flinty stone 
may be used to strike a spark into tinder 
-^tinder, of course, you vmst have for the 
flint and steel method so its well to 
always carry a bit of tinder stowed away 
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 570) 
