May, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
293 
Umbrella for Summer Hikers 
HOF fall traveling when the rains are 
L cold and disagreeable a rubber rain 
oat is the only thing to use, that or the 
ubber poncho, as one desires. But in 
ummer either of these garments is too 
ot and when I go hiking I carry along 
good-sized umbrella. Around camp in 
ainy weather, the drizzling kind, I mean, 
then one is trying to get a good hot 
aeal together, if the umbrella is handled 
ightly one can cook over an open fire 
airly well. And when tramping at a 
ood pace the umbrella is not such a 
indrance as a raincoat or poncho; it 
eeps not only myself dry but my bun- 
les also, when I have been in to town 
ar grub to use in camp. I have told 
eaders of Nessmuk’s Campfire how I 
■amp and camp in the summer time, 
ome days are too stormy to move camp 
nd we stay in one spot until it clears 
ff. There is nothing nicer than walking 
p and down the road for exercise'on 
ne of these days and to relieve the mo- 
otony of sitting in the small tent. But 
y putting on a cold, clammy wet rubber 
Dat on one of these days and see how 
ncomfortable it feels. I am sure you 
ill agree that the umbrella is the thing 
> take on a summer tramp, for it not 
ily protects from the rain but from the 
>o fervent heat of the sun on a hot, 
isty road. 
Jim Ferguson, New York. 
Barbecuing a Steer 
\ URING the winter of 1906 I was in 
* an' Oklahoma town. They were 
mining the place and had frequent bar- 
cues on the new ground towards the 
irthwest outskirts of the town. This is 
e way a steer was roasted. A deep 
mch was dug and in it a big fire of 
ckory logs was burned all night; by 
xt morning there was a mighty bed of 
ds. The steer had been killed, skinned 
i drq^sed, the legs cut off flush with 
: body and head removed. Through 
length of the body a well seasoned 
1 ce of timber was placed, the carcass 
\ s then stuffed and sewed up and sus- 
oded over the bed of coals by. supports 
as shown. Toward the end of the day, 
after much selling of lots to eastern peo¬ 
ple looking for western homes, each had 
more or less slices of broiled meat, bread, 
and tin cups of black coffee. It was a 
great treat to many to see so much cow 
meat roasting in one chunk. The same 
idea could be applied to a deer. 
“Wandering Buckeye.” 
Plugs Made From Mother’s Clothespins 
A GG'OD weedless plug for bass can 
be made by the man or boy who 
likes to whittle, from one of the old-fash¬ 
ioned clothes pins found in nearly every 
country home. I whittle one in the shape 
shown in the drawing, crooking the end 
up a trifle and cutting the pin off at a 
slant just below where the crotch starts. 
This left the crotch looking like a small 
Top View 
trough across the plug. In here at an 
angle I put a small screw eye through 
which the line is fastened. I used a 
treble hook on the bottom of the plug, 
attaching it by means of a wire up 
through the plug. It is best to burn the 
hole for the wire by means of a redhot 
knitting needle; in this way there is litttle 
danger of splitting the wood. I painted 
my plug a light yellow and ornamented it 
with red and green markings. The color¬ 
ing has a great deal to do with the suc¬ 
cess of the lure; it might be a good plan 
to make several and paint differently and 
then keep score to see which accounts 
for the most bass. 
Harry Wheeler, Lewistown, Maine. 
A Solid Bed of Coals 
V/OU often read in cook books for 
campers that all cooking should be 
done over a “solid bed of coals,” but un¬ 
less you know this little kink it is not so 
easy to get the coals just where you want 
them. When making the fire on which 
to broil some of those little brook trout 
which you have just taken off the hook, 
this is the way to manage. Place two 
short logs of even height where you 
want your fire and place an even layer 
of green hardwood sticks about the size 
of your wrist between the logs. The logs 
must not be farther apart than the size 
of your camp grid allows. Then build 
your fire on top of the green hardwood 
sticks and start to clean your trout. By 
the time you have them ready for the 
pan, all rolled nicely in corn meal—if you 
wish to fry. them—or neatly scored 
through the backbone in several places, 
so they will not curl, and strips of bacon 
pinned to them with hardwood pins—if 
you wish to broil them—the sticks,will 
have turned into the solid bed of coals so 
much talked about and so seldom 
achieved. 
Carl Brown, Minnesota. 
To Repel Blackflies 
LIKE to go fishing in the early days of 
*■ June, but the bite of the blackfly is very 
poisonous to me. I have tried all kinds of 
“fly-dope,” both patented preparations and 
the results of my friends’ experiments in 
that line, and I consider oil of citronella, 
which can be procured for a few cents at 
any drugstore, to be the best of all. It is 
effective, cleaner than tar preparations, and 
the scent is not unpleasant and does not 
pervade one for hours after one's return 
from fishing as is the case with penny¬ 
royal. But even when using citronella 
the pests will crawl back of the ears and 
at the base of the hair. The rig used by 
the miners around Nome to protect from 
mosquitoes is a handy one to know about. 
They take a large blue or red bandanna 
handkerchief, tie a knot in one corner and 
put the resulting hood on the head so 
that the ends of the bandanna come under 
the chin. There it is tied or pinned to¬ 
gether. Then the hat is put on, well over 
the eyes to protect the forehead and a dash 
of “fly-dope” does the rest. This rig is not 
very warm and enables one to fish in com¬ 
fort. A large square of cheesecloth might 
be carried for this purpose and would be 
cooler than the bandanna. 
H. F. L., Maine. 
