SLEEPING BAGS FOR CAMPING

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22241, 4 November 1937, Page 3 (Supplement)

SLEEPING BAGS FOR CAMPING

Those who are planning camping. ial in half and sew up either side, holidays will find that it is not too leaving a gap at the top of one early to begin getting their gear!side. This would cost about £l,

ready. Here are two ways of making sleeping bags. It is a good idea, to sew up your blankets, whether for use in a sleeping bag or not. No draughts can get in them, and you will find it much warmer. A big double blanket (grey, and cheap quality) folded into three sideways and sewn along each side and the bottom is as good as anything. Make the stitches big —blanket stitch is best—so that they can be easily undone for washing the blanket. A warm and light sleeping bag may be made from twice your length of feather-proof cambric. This material is 54in wide; double it lengthwise and sew partitions about 6in deep, use one pound of feathers, putting some carefully into each partition. Sew with fine stitches to prevent feathers •scaping. Double the stuffed mater-

a sleeping bag is 6ft long and 2ft 6in wide. Some bags are tapered towards the foot, being about Ift Bin wide there, but the full width at the top. This is snugger to sleep in and saves weight and space.

Plants in the Desert

Desert plants, apart from those in oases, are adapted to make the greatest use of any moisture which may reach them, either as dew or rain. Thus the leaf surface is reduced to a minimum and the characteristic deep-rooted thorny acacias and such forms are found. Other plants have a wide expanse of horizontal roots. After rain the vegetation rapidly changes in hue, and flowering and fruiting are of short duration.

'Readers are invited to send questions on any subjects of interest to be answered in these columns.

Porcupines

Porcupines are found in India and Ceylon, and parts of Western and, West-Central Asia, while a specie.s known as the Sumatran porcupine lives in South-East Asia, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula. They are nocturnal in their habits, coming forth from their deep earth burrows only in the evening in search of the roots, bark, and fruits on which they feed. Although by no means an aggressive animal the porcupine can put up a good fight, for it is capable of very quick movements, and when angered erects its spines and hacks towards its , enemy. Many a leopard and tiger have not only been put to flight, but have died after an encounter with the valiant and prickly little beast, from the wounds caused by its barbed quills.