and sold to the campers at five cents a copy. Most of them, however, are written in a book and read at the camp fire. Where a camp is located so as to be near a farm, opportunity should be given city boys to study soil, rotation of crops, gardening, etc. In coöperation with the Department of Agriculture and under the leadership of a student of an Agricultural College, an experiment in raising vegetables may be tried in long-term camps. A plot of ground may be plowed and harrowed, and sub-divided into as many plots as there are tents, each tent to be given a plot and each boy in the tent his "own row to Agriculture hoe," the boy to make his own choice of seed, keep a diary of temperature, sunshine, rainfall, when the first blade appeared; make an elementary analysis of soil, use of fertilizer and other interesting data. Prepare for an exhibit of vegetables. Whatever the boys raise may be cooked and eaten at their table. Free agricultural bulletins will be sent upon application to the United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Farmers' Bulletin 385 tells about Boys' Agricultural Clubs. The subject of forestry is akin to camping. Much valuable instruction may be given boys regarding the forests of the locality in which the camp is located, kind of land, character and use of woods, how utilized-conservatively or destructively-for saw timber, or other purposes, protection Forestry of forests, forest fires, etc. Send to United States Department of Agricul ture, Washington, D. C., for Forest Service Circular 130, "Forestry in the Public Schools;" Farmers' Bulletin 173, "A Primer of Forestry," Part I; Farmers' Bulletin 358, "A Primer of Forestry,' Part II. The Handbook of the Boy Scouts of America is full of information regarding knot ty Scoutcraft ing, signalling, tracking, use of compass, direction and time calculator, etc., which every boy should know. Scoutcraft would furnish recreational education for scores of boys. Boys like to carry home some permanent record of personal achievements while at camp, autographs of fellow campers, etc. A rather unique record is used by the boys at Camp WawayRecord Books anda. The illustration shows the card which was used. "A Vacation Diary," in the form of vest pocket memorandum book, bound in linen, is published by Charles R. Scott, State Y. M. C. A. Committee, Newark, N. J. Price, 10 cents. Scientific kite flying is one of the best things a boy can indulge in. Hiye-Sho-To, a Japanese, gives this interesting information about kites. "To all Japanese the kite is symbolic of worthy, soaring ambitions, such as the work upward to success in school, or in trade, and so on. When a child is born, little kites are sent up by modest households to announce the arrival. Kites are also flown to celebrate birthdays. To lose a kite is considered an omen of ill-luck. "For the control of a box kite, I prefer the lightest steel wire to a cord. This wire is about the thickness of an ordinary pin, with a tensile strength at the point of breaking of quite three hundred pounds. In handling a kite with such a wireground connection, a boy should always have rough gloves on his hands, that the wire may not cut them. "Having a kite of this kind, or even two and three, so that on a single wire he can keep sending them higher and higher into the atmosphere, a boy can begin what we were wont to call in Yeddo our ‘kite education.' First, he can make himself his own weather prophet. Self-registering thermomKites eters are no longer very expensive. He can wire one of these to his kite, and, by knowing the length of wire he has in hand and the amount he pays out while the kite is up, ascertain just what the air temperature is 200 feet, 500 feet, 1,000 feet, 3,000 feet above him. ←18/2 4.462 "There are wing gauges of cheap construction, moisture gauges which will note the coming of rain, small cameras that will automatically take pictures while the kite is in the air, that may be attached to these kites, and from the work of which valuable information may be obtained. The following instruction for making a box kite was given in "The American Boy," April, 1909. "Any boy can make a box kite. The material used may be any tough, light wood, such as spruce, cypress, bass-wood, or cedar. Cut four pieces 42 inches in length, and sixteen pieces 18 inches in length. The cuts show clearly how they are to be put together. Use glue and small brads at every point. The bridle cord is fastened 6 inches from each end of the box. This is best done before the cloth is put on the kite. Light cheese cloth may be used, and should be secured with glue and small brads at the last lap. When the cloth is in place paint it with thin varnish or glue to fill up the meshes and stretch it. "The reason why box kites made by boys have a tendency to lie down flat on the ground is that they are not proportioned correctly. The proportions given here are correct. The painting, decorating, and tinting are matters of personal taste and skill." The principle of kite flying is simple. Air is a fluid like water, but on account of the many changes of temperature, to which it is subjected, it constantly changes its density and is found to consist of layers or strata. These layers are not all flat and parallel, but take every variety of shape as the clouds do. In flying a kite you simply pull it up one of those layers just as you would pull a sled or wagon up a hill. Always run facing the wind. Aeroplane season is now a calendar event in the boy's life. Many boys are engaged in building these fascinating little ships of the air. "The Boy's Book of Model Aeroplanes," by Francis A. Collins, Century Co. ($1.20 net), gives complete diAeroplanes rections how to build these marvellous new toys. Form a club and conduct an "Aviation" meet during the season. Spon and Chamberlain, 123 North Liberty Street, New York City, sell a complete full-sized set of drawings for building three model aeroplanes. Price, 50 cents. The parachute, in its various forms, has always been a favorite with boys. The idea is to make an umbrella-shaped contraption out of tissue paper |