28G 
FOREST AND 
STREAM 
JJNE, 1919 
FOUR KINKS 
I F you should happen to lose your bee’s 
wax fall back on the butt end of the 
old reliable candle to grease your thread 
for sewing. 
* * * 
Emery cloth should always be around 
your house, tent or pack. I have several 
times put a shaving edge on my razor 
by using a piece tacked on a board for 
a strop. Emery cloth is good for scour- 
ing aluminum ware, steel camp tools and 
knives. 
* * 
A good way to dry a sweater after 
washing is to lay it on a piece of mos- 
quito netting stretched between supports. 
This allows the air to circulate all 
through it and drys it quickly, with- 
out stretching. 
4 : * ^ 
Before crawling in your tent at night 
ri-ach a stick in and pound the ground. 
This will scare the snakes away. They 
like to ^ri.vel around on hot, clear nights. 
I have never met one on dewy nights — 
they object to getting their feet wet. 
Jim Ferguson. 
A HANDY SEWING OUTFIT 
A METAL shaving stick container can 
be made to serve a useful purpose 
by maki;.^ it the receptacle of a compact 
little sew ;i*j; kit for the outdoorsman. 
Inside place a spool made over, as shown 
in cut, by burning or boring out the 
hole, which runs through the spool, to a 
larger diameter and insert corks in the 
ends. Pins can be nicely kept in one 
end by pushing them through the cork 
until their heads are flush with the top 
and in like manner needles can be kept 
in the cork at the other end, which should 
be pushed a little farther into the hole 
so the eyes of the needles will sink be- 
low the rim. Around the spool wind 
whatever thread is needed. Strong, 
black thread for buttons and khaki-col- 
ored thread for mending, as that color is 
the predominant one for outdoor clothes 
nowadays. Those who have been incon- 
venienced on the trail through the loss 
of a button or by having a rent torn in 
coat or trousers will appreciate what it 
would have meant to have had just such 
a little outfit along with which the miss- 
ing button could have been supplied or 
the torn place patched. The old proverb 
about the stitch in time is a good one 
to remember when contemplating a trip 
away from tlie conveniences of civiliza- 
tion. J. P. H., New Jersey. 
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 woods 
better than Nessmuk or wrote of 
them with quainter charm. Many 
of his practical ideas on camping 
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 . — [Editors. ] 
COOLNESS IN WING SHOOTING 
C OOLNESS is an important quality of 
the mind in wing shooting. It is a 
matter of temperament, but it can be 
sometimes acquired. A French writer 
says; “After the bird rises take a pinch 
of snuff before you shoot.” Seneca. 
NOW IS THE TIME TO BUILD 
BLINDS FOR BAY SHOOTING 
B linds or bough houses should be 
built on the shooting grounds before 
the season commences, as birds will avoid 
any new structure after they arrive. 
They may be made of logs, brush, grass, 
cornstalks, etc., and should completely 
conceal the hunter. A box sunk in the 
sand is the most killing device. The box 
should be long enough to allow the gun- 
ner to lie in it comfortably, and its width 
should be several inches in excess of the 
breadth of his shoulders. From 10 to 15 
inches will be of sufficient depth. It 
should be made of %-inch stuff, calked 
and pitched on the outside and in, thus 
making it thoroughly watertight. At one 
end, near the top, an iron staple should 
be clinched, to which a %-inch rope of 
about 7 feet in length should be fastened. 
This will be found useful in towing the 
box behind a skiff, or for dragging it 
over the sand. Other blinds are easily 
constructed out of cedar boughs, cut 
about four feet in length, stuck in the 
sand or mud. They can also be made, 
when the wind is not blowing too hard, 
out of long reeds cut on the marsh. 
Painted canvas screens, hinged so as to 
fold up, have been used, and one of Long 
Island’s famous gunners once used an 
umbrella painted green. The fact is, it 
depends very much upon the place, and, 
moreover, on the conditions of wind and 
weather where to stool. While a vast 
number of birds in their autumnal flight 
follow the irregularities of the coast 
there are countless numbers who make 
their migration far to sea, or take short 
cuts over the mainland. Those passing 
to sea only touch at the projecting points, 
and are consequently tame, while those 
who have run the gauntlet of an even 
shore or beach are wild, and less likely 
to stool. All these things must be taken 
into account, and the wilder the birds the 
better you must be hid. Sometimes it is 
impossible or inconvenient to construct a 
box such as described, or find suitable 
stuff to build a blind ; then a rubber 
blanket can be spread on the marsh, and 
a few sedge bushes or heaps of seaweed 
placed around you. 
Bayman. 
TO KEEP WORMS FRESH 
I N Forest and Stream for April I read 
an item on “Canned Worms for Bait.” 
I have always kept worms in the same 
way only I get a pound of Indian or 
corn meal and put it in the can. If left 
there for a day or two the worms mul- 
tiply and grow in a surprising manner 
and keep fresh and lively. 
Patsy Tremont, New York. 
