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.

CHAPTER VI.

Cooking, and the care of food.

When living in the open air the appetite is so good, and the pleasure of getting your own meals is so great, that, whatever may be cooked, it is excellent.

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You will need a frying-pan and a coffee-pot, even if you are carrying all your baggage upon your back.  You can do a great deal of good cooking with these two utensils, after having had experience; and it is experience, rather than recipes and instructions, that you need.  Soldiers in the field used to unsolder their tin canteens, and make two frying-pans of them; and I have seen a deep pressed-tin plate used by having two loops riveted on the edges opposite each other to run a handle through.  Food fried in such plates needs careful attention and a low fire; and, as the plates themselves are somewhat delicate, they cannot be used roughly.