Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

420 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTframe, the less material needed. Five feet to theridge is high enough for a "one-night stand."Any such bower is delightfully woodsy and sweetscented,but it is not good protection against longoi heavy rain. Of course, it lasts only so long asthe browse remains green.Bough Beds.—Balsam makes the best bed, as ithas thick, flat needles, soft and fragrant. Hemlockis next choice, then arborvitae (white cedar) and.spruce. Pine sprays are too scraggly. A bed ofboughs or leaves will spread from under one if notheld in place by something at the ends and sides;.so, if practicable, cut four logs and stake them in arectangle to keep the stuff in place. The fewerthick stems there are in your mattress, the easier you-will sleep ; but it takes a long time to make a browsebed of only the feathery tips; and you may be toohurried and weary.For the first course use branchlets from eighteeninches to two feet long. Begin at the head end,lay them against the log, butts down, bottom orconvex side up, and stick them in the ground withbutts slanting only a little to the front, to make thebed springy. Then shingle another row of the fansin front of these, and so on down to the foot, leavingonly the tips exposed. Then take smaller onesand stick them upright, tips inclined slightly to thehead, all over the bed, as thickly as time and materialwill allow. Such a bed is luxurious in proportionto its depth and freshness. If the browsewere merely laid flat on the ground it would packhard and lumpy, and the sticks would soon find yourribs. The bed should be renewed with fresh stuffevery two or three days.Balsam twigs should not be cut, but snapped off,Grasp the stem with two front fingers underneath,pointing toward the tip, and thumb on top, thenpress downward with the thumb and give a quicktwist of the wrist.Where there are no evergreens, collect small greenbranches of willow, cherry, alder, or any tree or