FOREST AND STREAM. 
SEA ANID JRINVTETR TFTISTIMING 

A Midge-proof Tent. 
As IN the spring a young man’s fancy lightly 
turns to thoughts of love, so the thoughts of the 
angler naturally and inevitably turn to his fa- 
vorite sport, and with grateful memories of de- 
lightful days in the past, and a still more lively 
sense of pleasures yet to come, he overhauls his 
fishing tackle in anticipation of the longed for 
day when he shall deliver the season’s maiden 
cast over some well remembered pool, the scene 
of former joys and triumphs, or upon new water, 
where he hopes for still better success. 
The old rod is jointed and poised (enele 
Each ferrule and every wrapping is closely scru- 
tinized, and any suspicion of anything wrong is 
carefully corrected. Reel and line are looked to, 
and the stock of flies examined and replenished 
with due regard to the waters to be fished. But 
all this, delightful as it is, is only preparatory to 
the accomplishment of the angler’s real purpose, 
which is, of course, to reach the place where the 
trout are, and at a time when they are rising. 
All of us who fish with the fly would be glad to 
get into the woods and on the stream when the 
fly-fishing is in its very highest state of perfection, 
but alas! some of us have too wholesome a fear 
of the great insect pest to venture far from civil1- 
zation when it is at its worst, and yet this is the 
very time of all others to enjoy the acme of fly- 
fishing. I say ‘‘enjoy” advisedly, for though I 
know, as well as most men, what black flies, mos- 
quitoes and midges can and do accomplish in the 
way of interfering with the angler’s pleasure, I 
know, too, from personal experience, that their 
united efforts can be successfully combatted, the 
discomfort minimized, and a sojourn in the woods 
in fly-time most thoroughly enjoyed in spite of 
them. 
For more than ten years I have been making 
trips into the wilderness after trout, at the sea- 
son when the flies-—-under which generic term I 
include all the various species that bite and annoy 
—are most in evidence, and the insect problem 
has been forced upon my attention, as it has upon 
ihat of many another, and the purpose of this 
article is to describe, for the benefit of my fellow 
anglers, one of the devices which I have used to 
promote my comfort, and with pronounced 
success. 
The great question of protection against flies 
may be divided into two parts; the defense of the 
person while out of doors, and the exclusion of 
flies from the tent, so that sleep, by day or by 
night, may be enjoyed in peace and a refuge may 
be provided against the eternal attacks of the 
persistent and industrious little rascals. 
As to the first proposition I could write much 
of the various methods I have devised or elabo- 
rated, and habitually use in the way of headnet, 
gloves and culexifuge (“bug juice,” we call it in 
Maine), but all these have received considerable 
attention from many sources, while, so far at 
least as my knowledge goes, the matter of pro- 
viding a fly-less shelter, has been greatly ne- 
glected It is my device for this purpose that I 
wish to describe. Let me premise that the idea 
is not by any means my own invention, nor even 
particularly new. I saw it first more than ten 
years ago on a river in Quebec, where I found it 
in use in the tent of a Canadian gentleman whose 
camp I visited, but the form in which he used it 
has been improved upon by the united experience 
and experiments of my wife and myself, until 
now we have an arrangement which excludes not 
only mosquitoes and black flies, but even midges, 
those most annoying of all the insects in the 
Maine and Canadian woods, and that with very 
little trouble or annoyance to ourselves. 
With the aid of five simple diagrams I will 
endeavor to make plain the construction of this 
fly-proof tent, but must warn whoever reads the 
directions for making it, not to be alarmed by 

their length. The construction is somewhat com- 
plicated to describe, but I think that if the direc- 
tions are read carefully they will be easily under- 
stood, and the actual making found not difficult 
to accomplish. 
First as tc the material. There is a famous old 
receipt for compounding some table delicacy of 
whtch the principal ingredient is hare, which be- 
gins, “First catch your hare.’ So in this case. I 
searched tor weeks bofore finding what I wanted 
and what would satisfactorily fullfil the condi- 
tions, and as I have found but the one material, 
I may perhaps be permitted to say that I found it 
at the store of Mr. John S. Gage, 510 Broadway, 
New York, a dealer in mosquito canopies. He 
calls it “Olcott netting.” It was originally made 
for him as an experiment, and the tent 1am now 
using—and which has been in use, and hard use, 
for more than seven seasons, and is still good— 
was made from the first piece manufactured. It 
is not unlike cheesecloth in general appearance, 
though much stiffer when purchased. This stiff- 
ness, however, soon leaves it when it has been ex- 
posed to dampness, and it then becomes as soft 
and pliable as cheesecloth, but with this differ- 
ence, which is vital, that the mesh does not pull 
apart easily, as cheesecloth does, and is therefore 
a much surer protection. Should:you have the 
misfortune, however, to tear it, it can be readily 
repaired with court plaster. It is six feet wide 
—about—and costs 25 cents a yard, and I presume 
Mr. Gage will furnish any quantity wanted. 
Let us suppose your canvas tent to be 74x74 
feet with 7 feet 6 inches ridge and 3-foot walls. 
Your inner or fly-tent must then be 64x64 
feet with 7-foot ridge and 3-foot walls— 6 inches 
smaller all over, except the walls, which are the 
same as in canvas tent. Now refer to the figures, 
which are not drawn to scale at all, only about 
right. 
Fig. 1 shows the head-end of fly-tent. The ma- 
terial is not wide enough to make it full width— 
6% feet from A to C—so it must be pieced as 
ecard in figure by line MN. Line AB is 3 
feet, EF 7 feet, AC 6% feet. 
Fig. 2 shows the front or door end of fly-tent. 
A BC Dis a piece of the stuff the full width 
(from A to B) and 7 feet long from A to C. 
Cut the corners off this breadth, making cuts EM 
and EN at such an angle that lines MD and NC 
shall each be 3 feet. The triangle EBM which 
you have cut off is to be sewed on, selvage to 
selvage, at MDG, and the triangle EAN at NFC. 
The completed piece will then look like Fig. 3, 
with seams at lines ED and FG. 
Having ‘prepared these two end pieces, take 
one breadth of your stuff as long as the total 
measurements of lines AB, BE, ED and DC 
(Fig. 1) added together, with 3 inches additional 
to allow for three '%-inch tucks across breadth, 
one each at B, E and D (Fig. 1). These tucks 
will run along eaves and ridge pole respectively, 
and in common with every seam except those 
made selvage on selvage, are to be bound with 
white twilled tape one inch wide—creased length- 
ways in the middle to make a half-inch binding— 
stitched strongly on machine. One breadth of the 
stuff is not wide enough to make the length of the 
ridge—6'4 feet—therefore a part of a breadth 
must be added—selvage on selvage—and double 
stitched on machine, as shown in Fig. 4, the sel- 
vage edges being lapped one inch for the purpose. 
This double ‘stitching and lapping will be found 
necessary because of flaws occurring along the 
selvage. 
Having sewn this seam, double the material to- 
gether lengthwise, and stitch a half-inch tuck 
across the breadth at center, which is to lie along 
the ridge pole. Then seam one edge of this 
breadth to back—shown in Fig. 1—placing the 
ridge-tuck at the apex of the back—E in Fig. 1 
—and being careful not to stretch the seams in 

sewing from E to B and E to D, and making sure 
that the tucks for the eaves (which are to be 
made and bound same as the ridge tucks), come 
exactly at the angles B and D (Fig. 1), and are 
sewed all the way across breadth, exactly parallel 
to the ridge tuck. 
Next sew the other edge of the long breadth 
to the front piece—Fig. 3—as you did to the back, 
placing the ridge tuck at the point B, You will 
find the straight edges shorter than the bias. 
Therefore slope the bottom of the front, as indi- 
cated by dotted lines GN and DM, Fig. 3. Seams 
joining front and back to roof and walls must be 
bound with tape, as already described. 
' After you have bound these seams—not before 
—bind the ridge and eave tucks as described. 
These bindings are absolutely necessary to give 
the requisite strength, and prevent tent from 
coming to pieces in use. Sew a half breadth of 
cheesecloth around the bottom of tent for a sod- 
cloth, as shown in Fig. 5, leaving the selvage on 
the lower edge. Sew tapes to ridge tuck, as in- 
dicated by crosses in Fig, 5—say seven tapes. 
These are to tie around ridge pole of canvas tent 
when set up. They should be of half-inch tape, 
and about two feet long, to give ample room for 
tying, and should be sewed at a point about six 
inches from one end of tape. There will then 
be two ends, one 6 inches, and the other 18 inches 
long. Tle long end then goes over the ridge pole 
and comes down to the short end, and can then 
be easily reached to tie. As it is easier in erect- 
ing the tent to tie the tape at the head end first, 
it is well to have that tape a colored one, that it 
may be readily found. 
Sew loops of iape about 4% inch wide and 
about an inch long on the eaves tuck of fly-tent— 
same number as on ridge tuck, and in correspond- 
ing positions (see Fig. 5). Obtain fourteen pairs 
of the ordinary snap hooks and eyes, such as 
dressmakers use. Now make fourteen loops of 
the narrow tape about 2 inches long, sewing one 
of the above-mentioned eyes on each one, and sew 
these securely to the inside of the canvas tent, 
just under the eaves on each side (that the 
needle holes may not come in the roof and cause 
leaks), beginning at a point six inches from head 
end of tent wall, and placing loops same distance 
apart as those on eaves tucks of fly-tent. Fasten 
each of the fourteen hooks to the end of a piece 
of the narrow tape about eighteen inches long. 
These pieces of tape are to be tied to the loops 
on eaves of fly-tent by bow knots, and when the 
fly-tent has been tied to the ridge pole by the 
tapes along the ridge tuck, the hooks are snapped 
into the eyes on loops sewed at the eaves of the 
canvas tent, thus holding the fly-tent in the shape 
of the canvas one. The bow knots on tapes allow 
for lengthening or shortening as may be required 
in setting up the tent, according as the walls: of 
the canvas tent may be stretched apart more or 
less. 
First, lay your rubber blankets (rubber side 
down) on floor when the canvas tent has been 
set in place. You should have blankets enough 
to cover the floor and about a foot more, so that 
at both sides, and at the head, the rubber will 
extend about six inches up the walls of the can- 
vas tent. The sod-cloth of the canvas tent will 
then be under the rubber blankets. 
Second. Tie the ridge tapes around the ridge 
pole, beginning six inches from head wall of tent, 
and snap the catches on the eaves tapes on the 
fly-tent, into the eyes on the eaves of the canvas 
tent. Your fly-tent will now be the shape of the 
canvas one and you will have plenty of head 
room inside. 
Third. Spread the cheesecloth sod-cloth of 
your fly-tent (on the back and sides, but not on 
the front), inward over the rubber blankets, and 
lay your bedding over it. We find it advisable to 
have an extra blanket the whole size of the tent 
