Sept., I9o6 [ ABOUT COLLECTING CHESTS I?3 The ends of the chest and of the trays have a gain notched in at their ends and bottom edges half their thickness and as deep as the thickness of the sides, so that the sides and bottoms can be nailed in the ends as well as thru from the sides. The trays have a hole an inch in diameter bored in the center to let the air pass as they drop in place. One can stick a finger thru the hole and .lift out the tray, too, which is sometimes handy. The outside dimensions of the chest are: Width, sixteen and a half inches; depth, including lid, fifteen and a quarter inches; length, thirty-two and a half. For wagon use alone I would prefer a length of three feet and a little greater depth. I have three full length trays in my chest. The upper tray is three and a half inches deep, the others being two and seven-eighths, the lower tray resting on cleats half an inch thick and three and three-quarters wide nailed to the ends. There is no need of a tray lying in the bottom. This bottom space I use for stor- ing dry skins. If my chest was deeper I would make the outside depth of the two lower trays three inches and widen the cleats to fill the remainder. Give a full eighth of an inch play at side and back end of each tray. Cut a hand hole inside NOTEBOOHS, PLAN OF UPPER TRAY { COLLECTIN'O CPf?$T the ends of the trays half an inch from the top to lift the trays out by, and a simi- lar one on the ends of the chest outside two inches from the top; this is in addi- tion to the usual chest handles. You will find ordinary chest handles inconven- ient and likely to get broken. I got the style having staples riveted in to hold the handle. I hacksawed the handle in two and threw it away replacing it with a piece of half inch rope, which is pliable and doesn't get broken in the wagon. I put a partition across my upper tray a little on one side of the middle. I put cleats one and a half inches wide at the ends of the longer division and made a shallow tray to fit there. In this I carry my note books, etc., and under it I put small skins. The other end I divided in the middle lengthwise, putting cleats. at the end of the back half, and making a small tray to fit on these. In this small tray I pour my preservative and under it I keep various little odds and ends not in constant use, such as box of spare pens, spare shoe strings and a fish line and hooks. Those who use cornmeal in skinning would make another shallow tray for that. The front part I partitioned again. In the front compartment I keep my knives, pliers, scissors, etc., for daily use. I divided off a little space at the
