Scouting, Volume 3, Number 2, May 15, 1915 Page: 2
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SCOUTING
PRACTICAL HINTS FOR SCOUT ENCAMPMENTS
extent on the transportation available for
getting it to the camp site. It is safer to
take too much than to take too little, and
for that reason it is advisable to arrange
for plenty of transportation facilities.
When it is convenient to take cots, by all
means take them, for comfortable sleeping
in camp is essential, and scouts who have
bad little experience in camp life will find
it difficult to get sufficient rest sleeping on
the ground. Enough lumber should be
taken to build a camp table, a kitchen table,
and a latrine with a few extra pieces for
general use around the camp. An axe, a
couple of lanterns, a spade, a hammer, a
saw, nails, a coil of wire, plenty of extra
rope and stout twine, and other such handy
articles should be included. A complete
first aid outfit should also be included.
The individual equipment of each boy
should receive careful attention. Each boy
should be instructed before starting for
camp just what he is expected to provide
himself with, and his kit should be inspected
to see to it that he has not forgotten any-
thing and that he has not included anything
which should not be there. In most troop
camps it has been found advisable to have
each scout provide his own table dishes.
These should be of enamel ware and should
include the following articles: one large
plate, one large cup, one cereal bowl, one
small bowl, knife, fork, teaspoon and table-
spoon. Other articles should be
2 heavy woolen blankets, preferably of a dark
color.
i rubber poncho.
i suit of underclothing.
i flannel shirt.
i pair of trousers.
i night shirt or pajamas.
1 old hat or cap.
Extra shoes, stockings and handkerchiefs.
Swimming trunks.
2 towels.
Toilet kit, including soap, toothbrush, tooth
powder, vasoline or mentholatum, comb,
needle, thread and buttons.
Such articles as compass, canteen, scout
axe, baseball equipment, fishing tackle, etc.,
may be made optional. Other articles, for
which the Scoutmaster plans some special
use in camp, may, of course, be included.
Many Scoutmasters, for instance, have their
boys take individual cooking kits to camp
for practice in camp cooking.
In case cots are not to be used, it will be
almost necessary to have each scout bring
a bed tick six feet long and three feet wide.
This tick, when stuffed with straw' or hay,
makes a fairly comfortable camp bed, and
it is certainly a wonderful improvement
over the hard ground.
The Scoutmaster's individual equipment
must be more elaborate, for he must furnish
special materials for scout games and
activities, and must keep a record book, etc.
In many cases each patrol keeps its own
equipment, such as patrol pennant, signal
flags, etc., in one particular place, and in
charge of the Patrol Leader.
Location and Arrangement
This subject is covered in a splendid
article by Scout Executive H. H. Simmons,
of St. Louis, Mo., in this issue of Scouting.
Commissary
No other one thing in camp is more im-
portant than the commissary department,
for on no other one thing does the health
and happiness of the scouts so largely
depend.
First of all, it is important to have a real
cook. Scores of troop camps are spoiled
every season by poor cooking. Unless the
scouts have had considerable experience in
out-door cooking, it is unwise to entrust to
the boys the duty of providing their own
meals. Most Scoutmasters find it possible
to obtain the services of some man in their
community who has had experience in out-
door cooking. Scoutmasters in the larger
communities will be able to obtain from the
local representative of the Pullman Car
Company the names of dining car cooks
who are frequently furloughed at this sea-
son of the year.
In a great majority of cases it is unneces-
sary for the camp cook to bake bread in
camp, since the camp is located near enough
to a source of supply, so that this impor-
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SAFETY IN CAMP.
THERE is one supreme thought that
every scout official should have in mind
when taking a group of boys to camp,
and that is SAFETY. Every other con-
sideration is of secondary importance.
Fathers and mothers have a right to ex-
pect that the man who has charge of their
boys in camp will see to it, above all things
else, that his charges are not exposed to
unnecessary danger.
In past seasons, scout camps have been
conducted with so surprising a minimum
of serious accidents that it almost seems
superfluous to give any warning. Ex-
perience of scout camps has proved that a
scout is in as little danger of injury in
camp as he would be in his own home.
Such a record should be an inspiration
for making camp life even safer than it
has been in the past. Every official who
plans to take scouts to camp this season
should begin NOW to devise plans and
regulations for guarding the lives, health
and morals of the boys who will be in-
trusted _ to his care. It is a tremendous
responsibility.
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tant itern of the camp menu can be obtained
fresh daily. For this reason it is usually
unnecessary to provide any elaborate baking
equipment. It is possible, of course, to do
all of the cooking over an out-door range,
but the majority of successful Scoutmasters
agree that it is much more satisfactory to
have some kind of a camp stove. The top
from an old cooking range, set up on a
clay bank or side of a hill, with a space
scooped out beneath it for a fire box, and a
length of stove pipe to provide for the
draughty is very convenient. Other articles
of cooking equipment for a standard size
troop should be:
2 large iron kettles with covers.
2 or 3 large frying pans, with covers.
2 dish pans.
2 large galvanized iron pails.
i or 2 tin wash boilers for keeping bread and
other supplies.
i garbage can.
i butcher knife.
i bread knife.
i corkscrew.
i pan cake turner.
i large coffee pot.
i can opener.
1 or 2 big forks.
3 or 4 big spoons.
2 or 3 dippers.
doz. wiping cloths.
doz. dish cloths.
i galvanized iron wash tub.
i wash board.
Laundry soap.
The cook will find that a half dozen small
syrup pails will come in handy. There
should also be a good sized grub box which
can be made fly-proof and waterproof, and
still allow a circulation of air to prevent
the contents from becoming mouldy. Three
or four small milk cans should also be
included, and they should be fitted with
tight covers so that they can be sunk in
cold running water in order to keep the
contents fresh.
Some kind of a refrigerator is also neces-
sary. Where it is possible to obtain ice,
an ice box can be made by cutting two or
three holes in the bottom of a cracker box
and sinking this box in a hole in the ground
with a- gravel bottom. Space should be
left on all four sides of the box and this
space stuffed with grass or straw. The
box should be provided with a double
cover, allowing for an air space between
the two. The ice should be placed in the
bottom of the box and around it can be
placed the meat, butter, cream and other
articles that it is necessary to keep fresh.
This kind of a refrigerator will serve the
purpose very well. If it is impossible to
get ice, sink a box in the earth in a cool,
shady place and it will be a whole lot bet-
ter than nothing.
Take particular precautions to make cer-
tain that the water to be used in camp is
pure. If there is any doubt of its clean-
liness, boil it for twenty minutes before
using.
Another essential thing is to provide for
the disposal of garbage. One of the sim-
plest methods is to dig a pit some little
distance from the camp, and line this pit
with stones. In one end of the pit build
a hot fire and after the stones have become
thoroughly heated, rake away the fire and
pour on the garbage, from which most of
the water has been previously drained. The
stones will dry out the garbage after which
it can be raked down to the other end of
the pit on top of the fire where it will
quickly be consumed.
Absolute cleanliness is the first duty of
the whole camp, but it is most important
in the commissary department because it
is there that the greatest opportunity for
permitting dirt to accumulate exists. All
dishes should be scrubbed with soap and
hot water after every meal. All grub boxes
and tin boilers in which supplies are kept
should be scaled out frequently with hot
water and then dried out in the hot sun.
Absolutely no particles of food matter
should be scattered about camp and no
breeding places for flies be permitted to
exist.
The table equipment, in addition to that
supplied by each scout, should contain:
2 large water pitchers.
2 large milk pitchers.
2 sugar bowls.
3 or 4 sets of salt and pepper shakers.
2 or 3 large meat platters.
l/z doz. large vegetable dishes.
Vinegar cruet, mustard pot and ketchup
bottle can be added if desired.
Camp menu—this is the next important
item. This, of course, will vary consider-
ably in different parts of the country be-
cause in one section, some kinds of pro-
visions are expensive which in other sec-
tions of the country they are easy to ob-
tain, and consequently cheap. For that rea-
son, camp menus must depend very largely
on where the camp is to be held. Some gen-
eral rules, however, should be followed in
preparing the meals.
For one thing, the boys should have
plenty of fresh milk. Bread, also, is a
staple article. Butter and eggs should also
be served in generous quantities. Some
kind of fruit should be included in the
daily menu, and wherever it is possible to
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 3, Number 2, May 15, 1915, periodical, May 15, 1915; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth282743/m1/2/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.