them to the top. Even then the side that falls over the shoulders of the
sleepers may not be loose enough to fill the hollows between them; the
netting will then have to be tucked under the blanket, or have something
thrown over its lower edge.

Sew loops or strings on the four upper corners, and corresponding loops
or strings on the tent, so that you can tie up the bar.

Bobbinet lace is better than the common netting for all of these
purposes. It comes in pieces twelve to fourteen yards long, and two
yards wide. You cannot often find it for sale; but the large shops in
the principal cities that do a great business by correspondence can send
it to you.

Oil of cedar and oil of pennyroyal are recommended as serviceable in
driving off mosquitoes, and there are patented compounds whose labels
pretend great things: you will try them only once, I think.

Ammoniated opodeldoc rubbed upon the bites will in a great measure stop
the itching, and hasten the cure.

They say that a little gunpowder flashed in the tent will drive out
flies and mosquitoes. I saw a man try it once, but noticed that he
himself went out in a great hurry, while the flies, if they went at all,
were back again before he was.

A better thing, really the best, is a smudge made by building a small
fire to the windward of your tent, and nearly smothering it with chips,
moss, bark, or rotten wood. If you make the smudge in an old pan or pot,
you can move it about as often as the wind changes.