12 
fT -■ - v m American Agriculturist, July 5, 1 
Summer Means Picnics and “Vacations ’ * 1 2 3 * 5 
Some Aren’t as Jolly as They Seem in Advance, But Still We Like ’Em 
TLJAVE you ever really planned on a 
. n ice, restful vacation where such a 
thing as time was unknown, with no 
alarm clock to break in upon your morn¬ 
ing slumbers? So have I, 'and when 
hubby announced his intention of going 
to Dyke s Channel, to fish and loaf around 
for a week, I decided to go too. I wanted 
to buy a good tent by mail order but he 
said no; that he knew where he could 
borrow an old one which could be patched 
up to do just as well as a new one. 
So I found him one morning sitting on 
the back porch with the tent, or the 
remains of one, while strips of white 
material were scattered far and wide. 
“What on earth are you up to now?” 
I asked, as I picked up a piece of his 
patching material and examined it. 
“Patching this tent up,” he mumbled 
between his teeth. 
“Where did you get this white goods?” 
I found it in the bottom drawer of the 
chiffonier in the dining-room.” 
I looked at him fiercely. “Do you 
know what you’ve done? ' You’ve torn 
up one of my grandmother’s best linen 
sheets.” 
Then he began to tell me that he hadn’t 
watered the pigs yet, that the back fence 
needed fixing and that there were a 
dozen things he hadn’t done but must 
do at once if I would only fix the tent! 
Well I fixed it, only to discover that 
he had been sitting on the front gate, 
talking to his brother-in-law and hadn’t 
been near the pigs nor the fence. 
garments he had with him and gently 
shooed him to the river. 
“Oh, Didn’t It Rain!” 
Later at night it began to rain—not a 
gentle, little sleepy rain, but a regular 
dcm npour, and that tent leaked worse 
than a sieve. 
Some few of my garments escaped, but 
the only clothes Jack had he had on and 
they were soaked. He demanded dry 
clothes. That’s all you have with you,” 
I reminded him. “I packed just what 
you told me to.” 
So, at last, he put on one of my bunga- 
wouldn't tell anybody about the un¬ 
pleasant details of our little camping 
trip.—P auline Carmen. 
A July Picnic 
A NY lake is a charming spot for a 
picnic, but if there are no amuse¬ 
ments already there, one must plan all 
fun beforehand. Even old games take 
on a new interest in the out-of-doors. 
, A very simple game will start the fun. 
The crowd may be lined up while a slip of 
paper is pinned on the back of each 
person (old and young) on which is 
rose or other flower decorations, napkin 
and plates to match and sanitary drink 
ing cups. In the center, a small “well’ 
could be made of rough stones on a center, 
piece of ferns or easily gathered leaves. 
The napkins at each place may bj 
folded so that each holds a small icec 
cake. Small fern or maple leaves art 
arranged under the plates, each one oi 
which holds a bit of “sardine relish” to 
begin the meal Then have— 
Packing the Fourth of July Picnic Basket 
Individual Chicken Pies 
Lettuce Sandwiches Coffee 
Pickles Jelly Olives 
Deviled Eggs Cart-Wheels 
Berries and cream 
Cakes 
“Don’t Take Many Clothes” 
(( When it came time to pack, he said: 
Now, don’t put in any finery for me. 
I’ll just take a couple of overalls, one 
colored shirt and two sets of underwear.” 
I followed his orders. 
Dyke s Channel is an island, of possibly 
five acres, the river surrounding it on three 
■ sides and a large swamp on the other side. 
It is covered with timber and grass and 
is a pretty place to survey from a dis¬ 
tance. 
So we started out, in a little old low- 
wheeled^ wagon and soon arrived at the 
ford. The water wasn’t very deep and I 
was looking down at some pretty shells 
when an exclamation from my husband 
reached my ears. 
In some way, he had dropped the lines 
and in trying to recover them, frightened 
the horses (one of them a skittish young 
colt) and they had broken the double 
trees and had walked upon the bank, 
leaving us sitting in the middle of the 
river. But when I laughed it made Jack 
angry! At last for the lack of anything 
better he removed the strings from his 
shoes and mine and fastened the double 
tree back in place, waded ashore, caught 
the horses, hitched them up again and 
we were pulled safely over. 
He selected a camping site, put the 
tent up and turned the horses loose. 
A little to the right of the tent door were 
two holes in the earth, apparently rabbit 
burrows. After supper and when Jack 
had set his lines, he came back and sat 
down in front of these two dens. The 
mosquitoes got so bad he decided to build 
a little fire. Then I heard a yell, followed 
by some sulphurous language, together 
with an unmistakable odor. After the 
smoke cleared a little, I saw several 
black-and-white “wood pussies” large 
and small, disappear in the underbrush. 
The sardine relish consists of a toasted 
saltine spread with melted cheese and a 
sardine on top, moistened with a few 
drops of lemon juice. These can be 
made at home, and if carefully packed, 
transport in good shape. 
The cart-wheels are large cream 
crackers covered with peanut butter and 
decorated with a ring of sliced stuffed 
olives. The eggs may be in parafin paper 
and covered with gay colored tissue tied 
and fringed, and the dish decorated with 
ferns. 
After supper if it is too warm for a fire, 
light some tallow candles, stick them on 
plates and have the guests sit in a circle 
on the grass toasting marshmallows, and 
telling stories and jokes until it is time to 
go home.—H. A. Lynan, Pittsfield, Mass 
QF course there will be a picnic on the Fourth, and on such a very special occasion 
it pays to take a little extra trouble to have things not only good to eat but good 
■ ° ook at ‘ A stout ’ substantial basket, with compartments for the different edibles 
™ th ^ hC investment - 9° ld milk and iced drinks, or hot coffee if desired should 
be taken m generous quantities. The inevitable picnic hard boiled eggs are wrapped 
5 e f d ’ ™ hlte and blue tissue paper, each home-made cup cake has a gay little paper 
completed th^patriotic effect' ^ ° r b ° W ° n the handle ° f the basket 
He Drowned Those Clothes 
The fire, built so close to their dens, had 
driven them out, perfuming husband 
nicely as they departed. He made a 
hurried dash for the tent, but I met him 
at the door with an axe. 
‘‘You’re not coming in here,” said I. 
“Yes—but I must change my—” 
“ Take those clothes off and throw them 
in the river,” I ordered. 
I can t do that! Somebody might 
see me.” 
I flung out the only pair of under- 
low aprons and went out to see if he 
could kill a squirrel for breakfast. After 
he had been gone a couple of hours, he 
came back without the squirrels, but 
he had the nicest looking face you ever 
saw. He had run into a hornets’ nest 
and they certainly did enjoy his morning 
call. ^ His eyes were almost swollen shut. 
If he’d looked that way the first time I 
ever saw him, I doubt if I would have 
married him. I told him so, with a laugh. 
. “If I were dying, you’d laugh about 
it,” he snapped. 
“Well,” said I, “I am ready to go 
home; if something is going to happen 
all the time—” 
“You go down to the river and look 
at my lines.” 
So I went. 
Just one line had anything on it and 
it was a job for me to haul it in, for a big 
yellow catfish was on the hook. But after 
a great deal of puffing and pulling I got 
him • out on the bank and half-carried, 
half-dragged it to the tent. 
Jack was just tickled to death about 
that fish. I hitched up the horses, packed 
everything up and we started out for 
home, taking a back road for fear some¬ 
one would see Jack’s face or his pink- 
and white apron. 
He put his fish (it'weighed 12 pounds, 
and had tried to swallow a little 3-pound 
fish and got fast on the hook and couldn’t 
get loose) in the horse trough and ex¬ 
hibited him to the whole neighborhood 
for a week. 
But he didn’t tell them anything about 
the skunks or the hornets or the gingham 
apron. He’s advised everybody, from the 
doctor down to the blacksmith, to be sure 
to spend a vacation camping on the 
island, but he gave me a new angel- 
food-cake pan and a new percolator if I 
written the. name of a familiar song. 
The object is to guess the name of your 
■slip as you move around and hear a 
phrase of it whistled by some one. So 
many strains whistled at once make it 
confusing, but only add to the merriment. 
^ When all succeed, an old-fashioned 
.Track Meet,” may be announced. 
Sides should be chosen, captains and 
referees appointed and the sides pre¬ 
sented with their colors—strips of ribbon. 
Programs of the events should be pre¬ 
pared in advance, the entries to be filled 
in by members from each side before the 
game starts. Nobody will dream that 
the events are all jokes. 
1. A relay race. Five people may be 
chosen from each side, lined up facing 
each other and a cracker handed to each. 
At a signal, No. 1 on each side has to eat 
his cracker and whistle a recognizable 
tune before the one beside him can begin. 
The side finishing first scoring a point. 
2. One yard dash, 2 entries. Push a 
penny a yard with a match. 
3. Tug of war, 2 entries. A long string 
with a raisin in the center. Contestants 
to strive to reach it first—by chewing 
the string. 
^4. Hurdle race, 2 entries, men only. 
Threading twelve needles each. 
5. Drinking race, 2 entries. Drinking 
a glass of water with a teaspoon. 
Other events can be added or sub¬ 
stituted. The side having the greatest 
score wins the trophy (a “cup” made of 
tin-foil and reposing in a satin lined, 
leather case, or in a box stuffed with 
tissue paper). 
Preparing Plants for Winter 
A BEAUTIFUL window this winter 
depends on our preparation this 
summer. We may pot plants from outside 
in the fall or buy some from the green¬ 
house, but if we want nice young plants 
of our own favorite bedders we should 
make cuttings in midsummer. This ap¬ 
plies to geraniums, begonias (semper- 
florens), impatiens sultana (Zanzibar bal¬ 
sam) and our choicest annuals. 
July is the month to take cuttings of 
geraniums. A few of each kind you can 
root in sand in a flat coffee can.' Make 
holes in the bottom and fill nearly full 
w ith clean sharp sand. Set the cuttings 
an inch deep. Water enough so the leaves 
will not wilt nor the stems wither but 
keep moderately dry. There is danger of 
watering too much. Geraniums will rot 
readily if kept wet. Cuttings will root in a 
few weeks. I use three or four inch pots 
and repot later to five or six inch. Let 
these fill with roots, for geraniums must 
be root-bound to bloom. Cuttings of 
snapdragons, begonias, petunias, ver- 
benias, and a host of others of our garden 
flowers can be rooted the same way but 
most of these will need the sand kept 
fairly moist. 
Cuttings of coleus make fine winter 
plants and are pretty from the start. This 
is true also of begonias and sultanas. They 
are always in bloom from time the cut¬ 
tings are growing until planting out time 
again in the spring. 
The \ iolet is a pretty winter bloomer. 
The clumps should be grown during the 
summer. Set small plants in the garden. 
The longer they have to grow the larger 
the clumps will be, but small clumps 
bloom.— Rachael Rae. 
About the Canary Bird 
QE\ ERAL of our readers, wrote asking 
^ where the Canarv Bird Flower 
where the Canary Bird Flower could 
be obtained and the author of the article 
writes as follows: 
Take Pains Preparing the Supper 
Supper should be as attractive as 
possible. If you use a picnic table, set it 
with a crepe paper cloth having wild 
“All the larger seed houses catalogue the Canary Bird 
viTh r Js h ?cV Y °rn- CaU P rc, hably get it from the 
Vaughan Seed Store, Chicago or New York. It belongs 
to the tropaeolum family but grows much faster and 
ranker than the tall nasturtium, but with fine cut foliage. 
I he flowers are not showy but bear a fancied resemblance 
to a bird flying, which accounts for the name. I have 
never had them ripen seeds at all, but they will not self- 
sow even if they did. They make a nice annual porch 
vine. r 
