long, the four corner ones about a foot longer. The fiddles[19] should
be made of some firm wood: pine and spruce will not last long enough to
pay for the trouble of making them.

The poles should be nine feet and four or five inches long. If they are
too long at first, sink the ends in the ground, and do not cut them off
until the tent has stretched all that it will.

In permanent camp a "fly" over the tent is almost indispensable for
protection from the heat and pelting rains. It should be as long as the
roof of the tent, and project at least a foot beyond the eaves. The
guy-lines should be a foot or more longer than those of the tent, so
that the pins for the fly may be driven some distance outside those of
the tent, and thus lift the fly well off the roof.


CLOTH FOR TENTS.

For convenience we have supposed all of the tents to be made of heavy
drilling. Many tent-makers consider this material sufficiently strong,
and some even use it to make tents larger than the United States army
wall-tent. My own experience leads me to recommend for a wall-tent a
heavier cloth, known to the trade as "eight-ounce Raven's" duck,[20]
because drilling becomes so thin after it has been used two or three
seasons that a high wind is apt to tear it.

The cost of the cloth is about the same as the value of the labor of
making the tent; but the difference between the cost of drilling and
eight-ounce duck for a wall-tent of four breadths with a fly is only
three to four dollars, and the duck tent will last nearly twice as long