STOVES AND COOKING-UTENSILS.
If you have a permanent camp, or if moving you have wagon-room enough,
you will find a stove to be most valuable property. If your party is
large it is almost a necessity.
For a permanent camp you can generally get something second-hand at a
stove-dealer's or the junk-shop. For the march you will need a stove of
sheet iron. About the simplest, smallest, and cheapest thing is a
round-cornered box made of sheet iron, eighteen to twenty-four inches
long and nine to twelve inches high. It needs no bottom: the ground will
answer for that. The top, which is fixed, is a flat piece of sheet iron,
with a hole near one end large enough for a pot or pan, and a hole
(collar) for the funnel near the other end. It is well also to have a
small hole, with a slide to open and close it with, in the end of the
box near the bottom, so as to put in wood, and regulate the draught; but
you can dispense with the slide by raising the stove from the ground
when you want to admit fuel or air.
[Illustration]
I have used a more elaborate article than this. It is an old sheet-iron
stove that came home from the army, and has since been taken down the
coast and around the mountains with parties of ten to twenty. It was
almost an indispensable article with such large companies. It is a
round-cornered box, twenty-one inches long by twenty wide, and thirteen
inches high, with a slide in the front end to admit air and fuel. The
bottom is fixed to the body; the top removes, and is fitted loosely to
the body after the style of a firkin-cover, i.e., the flange, which is
deep and strong, goes _outside_ the stove. There are two holes on the
top 5-1/2 inches in diameter, and two 7-1/2 inches, besides the collar
for the funnel; and these holes have covers neatly fitted. All of the
cooking-utensils and the funnel can be packed inside the stove; and, if
you fear it may upset on the march, you can tie the handles of the stove
to those of the top piece.
A stove like this will cost about ten dollars; but it is a treasure for
a large party or one where there are ladies, or those who object to
having their eyes filled with smoke. The coffee-pot and tea-pot for this
stove have "sunk bottoms," and hence will boil quicker by presenting
more surface to the fire. You should cover the bottom of the stove with
four inches or more of earth before making a fire in it.
To prevent the pots and kettles from smutting every thing they touch,
each has a separate bag in which it is packed and carried.
The funnel was in five joints, each eighteen inches long, and made upon
the "telescope" principle, which is objectionable on account of the smut
and the jams the funnel is sure to receive. In practice we have found
three lengths sufficient, but have had two elbows made; and with these
we can use the stove in an old house, shed, or tent, and secure good
draught.
If you have ladies in your party, or those to whom the rough side of
camping-out offers few attractions, it is well to consider this stove
question. Either of these here described must be handled and transported
with care.
A more substantial article is the Dutch oven, now almost unknown in many
of the States. It is simply a deep, bailed frying-pan with a heavy
cast-iron cover that fits on and overhangs the top. By putting the oven
on the coals, and making a fire on the cover, you can bake in it very
well. Thousands of these were used by the army during the war, and they
are still very extensively used in the South. If their weight is no
objection to your plans, I should advise you to have a Dutch oven. They
are not expensive if you can find one to buy. If you cannot find one for
sale, see if you cannot improvise one in some way by getting a heavy
cover for a deep frying-pan. It would be well to try such an
improvisation at home before starting, and learn if it will bake or
burn, before taking it with you.
Another substitute for a stove is one much used nowadays by
camping-parties, and is suited for permanent camps. It is the top of an
old cooking-stove, with a length or two of funnel. If you build a good
tight fireplace underneath, it answers pretty well. The objection to it
is the difficulty of making and keeping the fireplace tight, and it
smokes badly when the wind is not favorable for draught. I have seen a
great many of these in use, but never knew but one that did well in all
weathers, and this had a fireplace nicely built of brick and mortar, and
a tight iron door.
Still another article that can be used in permanent camps, or if you
have a wagon, is the old-fashioned "Yankee baker," now almost unknown.
You can easily find a tinman who has seen and can make one. There is
not, however, very often an occasion for baking in camp, or at least
most people prefer to fry, boil, or broil.
Camp-stoves are now a regular article of trade; many of them are good,
and many are worthless. I cannot undertake to state here the merits or
demerits of any particular kind; but before putting money into any I
should try to get the advice of some practical man, and not buy any
thing with hinged joints or complicated mechanism.