[Illustration:  A reflector camp oven]

The standard camp oven that has been used by generations of pioneers and campers is the Dutch oven.  It is simply an iron pot on short legs and is provided with a heavy cover.  To use it, dig a hole in the ground large enough to hold it, build a fire and fill the hole with embers.  Then scoop out a place for the pot, cover it over with more embers and ashes and let the contents bake.

For the boy who wants to go to the limit in depending on his own resources, the clay oven is the nearest to real woodcraft.  This is made in the side of a bank by burrowing out a hole, with a smoke outlet in the rear.  A hot fire built inside will bake the clay and hold it together.  To use this oven, build a fire in it and when the oven is hot, rake out the coals and put in your bread or meat on flat stones.  Close the opening with another stone and keep it closed long enough to give the oven a chance.  This method is not recommended to beginners who are obliged to eat what they cook, but in the hands of a real cook, will give splendid results.  The reflector oven is the best for most cases if you can carry it conveniently.

The kind of a cooking equipment that we take with us on a camping trip will depend on what we can carry conveniently, how much we are willing to rough it and what our stock of provisions will be.  One thing is sure—­the things that we borrow from home will rarely be fit to return.  In making a raid on the family kitchen, better warn the folks that they are giving us the pots and pans instead of merely lending them.  Very compact cooking outfits can be bought if one cares to go to the expense.  An aluminum cook kit for four people, so made that the various articles nest one into the other, can be bought for fifteen dollars.  It weighs only ten pounds and takes up a space of 10 x 12 inches.  Such a kit is very convenient if we move camp frequently or have to carry our outfit with us, but for the party of boys going out by team it is not worth the expense.  You will need several tin pails, two iron pots, a miner’s coffee pot—­all in one piece including the lip—­two frying pans, possibly a double boiler for oatmeal and other cooked cereals, iron spoon, large knife, vegetable knife, iron fork and broiler.  A number of odds and ends will come in handy, especially tin plates to put things on.  Take no crockery or glassware.  It will be sure to be broken.  Do not forget a can opener.

Camp fire utensils should never be soldered.  Either seamless ware or riveted joints are the only safe kind.  Solder is sure to melt over a hot open fire.

The personal equipment for each boy should be tin cup, knife, fork, and spoons, deep tin plate, extra plate and perhaps one extra set of everything for company if they should happen to drop in.  A lot of dish washing can be avoided if we use paper or wooden plates and burn them up after the meal.