it’s better to have it to waste toward 
the end of the season than to starve 
about that time. 
Naturally the trapper cannot afford 
to take expensive foods but he can man- 
age to include a few delicacies which, 
if apportioned throughout the season, 
are surely appreciated. Take the mat- 
ter of tinned jams for instance: this 
sort of stuff is not affected by freezing 
and therefore to be recommended. Sup- 
pose (as in our list) the trapper has 
allowed room for 20 lbs. of jams. 
OW, if he likes that sort of stuff 
pretty well, he could clean up on 
‘that amount during the first two 
months, going without any sort of de- 
sert for the remainder of the trapping 
season. But how much better to have 
a little now and again, as a treat. The 
great drawback, as we have experi- 
enced it, in taking canned goods on a 
trapping expedition, is that one will 
always find some excuse to open a can 
when “in a hurry.” As a result it dis- 
appears pronto and in a comparatively 
short time “beans,” is the only desert 
one has left. 
One won’t feel the need of relishes 
for whetting the appetite, but some- 
thing of the sort is surely appreciated 
once in a while. If you like mustard 
it is nice with meat now and again. 
We mention mustard on our list in the 
unprepared form principally because 
the powder is easy to carry and a little 
goes a long ways. The question of 
transportation must be in mind while 
selecting a grubstake, otherwise one 
might throw in a case or two of eggs. 
Bottled relishes in any quantity must 
be taboo because of the packing prob- 
lem and the additional danger of freez- 
ing with the first cold snap. 
We have given a proportionally large 
amount of coffee in our list of drinks 
and, of course, this must be arranged 
to suit the individual taste. We have 
always found the need of something 
stimulating in cold climates and coffee 
answers our own purpose pretty well. 
Cocoa is also an excellent stimulant 
and nothing tastes better over an open 
fire in the dead of winter when the 
trees are popping with the frost all 
around you. 
EA is the trapper’s stand-by and his 
pack is never complete unless there 
is enough of it to make several “bilings.” 
There is quite an art to melting snow 
and heating it, over the campfire, to 
the proper temperature for making 
good tea. Snow water generally tastes 
of leaves, needles or wood and only 
care and practice can accomplish what 
we allude to. 
Many trappers don’t bother with 
milk, figuring it is too much of a lux- 
ury. There are just two kinds of 
canned milks which are of use to the 
trapper; condensed and powdered. The 
evaporated kinds will freeze and be- 
cause of that can only be used in -sum- 
mer, early fall and late spring. Con- 
densed milks have enough sugar in their 
composition to keep the frost from 
bothering and the additional value of 
the sweetness helps out. The pow- 
dered form is made into milk merely 
by adding water of a proper amount. 
It is really the most convenient for the 
trapline, though some don’t like it’s 
flavor, or rather its lack of flavor! 
In the north country trappers live 
largely on meat, that is, on the game, 
but personally we like to have a mod- 
erate supply of salt pork in our grub- 
stake. A little goes a long way and 
for cooking with beans is excellent. A 
small slice of bacon or salt pork will 
add a tasty flavor to the mulligan. And 
right here is a good time to remark on 
the advisability of smoking moose, deer 
or bear meat in the fall. Cut the meat 
off the bones, lay the strips on the flesh 
side of the hide as it lays spread out 
on the ground, work in a quantity of 
salt, let alone for a few hours and then 
hang the strips over a slow fire of birch- 
wood, until they are well dried on the 
surface. Meat prepared this way makes 
a change from the diet of fresh meat 
later on and does very well in leu of 
salt pork. The idea, as I have remarked 
previously, is to so arrange your plan 
of living as to have a variety of food 
at all times, not merely at the start of 
the season. 
ORN starch makes a sort of filling 
which, mixed with most any kind 
of dried fruit, results in a first-class 
pudding. A little desert now and again 
is appreciated, even by a rough and 
ready trapper. Tapioca, especially of 
the “minute” variety, is ideal for use 
‘on the trapline, and even if a person 
has it but a dozen times during the en- 
tire trapping season it is well worth the 
trouble. Variety is the spice of life. 
We have mentioned soap in our list 
of foodstuffs but don’t take this as an 
indication of hard luck—a bird of ill 
omen! We sincerely hope you won’t 
get to a point where you have to eat 
soap! But cleanliness is just as essen- 
tial on a trapline as anywhere. Keep 
your cooking utensils clean and even if 
you can’t keep track of the time you 
should be able to tell when washday 
comes ’round. 
We have also mentioned candles as 
some sort of light is very necessary. I 
spent one winter in the wilds when we 
had no light except pitch-pine splinters 
and the cabin would get so smoky we 
had to leave the door open. Not pleas- 
ant, either, in mid-winter! 
It is well-nigh impossible to carry 
vegetables into the wilds, not only be- 
cause of their bulkiness, for in addition 
it is hard to make a place suitable for 
storing them. In consequence the trap- 
per must depend on whatever substi- 
tutes he can manage with. Pot barley 
is excellent in making soups or “mulli- 
gan,” as the trapper says. Rice is also 
a stand-by. Oatmeal and cornmeal will 
help to regulate the diet and, in a meas- 
ure, take the place of vegetables. 
RAISINS are highly nutritious and a 
pound of them goes a long ways. Of 
the dried fruits prunes and apples are 
used considerably, in fact they make a 
good combination when stewed together. 
Figs are excellent and being moderately 
laxative are surely worth while. Trap- 
pers go heavy on hotcakes usually and 
most people like syrups with such food. 
Of course one can make syrup by boil- 
ing sugar and a delicious maple-like 
quality can be obtained with a flavor 
prepared for the purpose. If one likes 
corn syrup it is cheaper often than 
sugar. 
Bread has rightly been classed the 
staff of life and in a pinch the regular 
dyed-in-the-wool trapper could live for 
a long time on flour and meat. Every 
tyro should know how to make bread. 
The ordinary ‘method of making what 
we call “bannock” is as follows. For 
filling an ordinary pan, eight by ten 
inches: 14% pints (3 cups) flour, 1 heap- 
ing teaspoonful baking powder, 1 tea- 
spoonful of salt, lump of grease half 
the size of an egg, and enough water 
(about % pint) to mix into a stiff 
dough. Mix flour, baking powder and 
salt thoroughly, work in the grease with 
the hands, add water and mix all well. 
Spread evenly in warm floured or 
greased pan and bake in a fairly hot 
oven. Most of the camp stoves are apt 
to heat too quickly and you will have to 
practice in order to know your own 
stove. If you want biscuits, spread the 
dough out on a board and cut with an 
empty baking powder can. On the trail 
one doesn’t bother with a pan. Roll 
down the sides of the flour sack, hol- 
low out and mix your ingredients, be- 
ing careful'to work up all the moisture, 
and fry in a pan before the open fire. 
If the bannock shows signs of scorching 
turn it. This requires patience for if 
you don’t take a little time the outside 
will be done and nothing but raw dough 
within. No one but a hungry trapper 
can appreciate a hot, well-done bannock. 
VER watch an experienced woods- 
man flip pancakes in a smoky-bot- 
tomed fry pan, over a bed of coals in 
the trapper’s country? It’s an educa- 
tion, and a treat to help devour the 
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