Hazards of picnicking THE picnic is a very British institution.

The family leaves the comfort and shelter of home to brave a meal runidst the trees, grass, cows. wastes, or whatever particular handicap this disordered world cares to provide, including, of course, the ever-present threat of rain, if not thunder and lightning.
The handicaps obviously do not outweigh the charms, however, illusive, as the sale of picnic goods indicates, and it is a well-established fact that food eaten out of doors is generally more heartily enjoyed than that eaten in more refined circumstances.
In America, and other countries where the weather is often warmer and more predictable, the barbecue meal, where the food is cooked outside the house or in the country, has an infectious popularity which has crossed the Atlantic.
Molly Graham, who has been accustomed to cooking and eating meals out of doors since early childhood, in all weathers, summer and winter, has just produced "Cooking Out of Doors" (Deutsch. 12s. 6d.) which gives recipes and hints for picnics, camping, caravan, sailing, and barbecue meals.
She even tells you how to cope with the wasps, and I would add that any picnicker with the slightest affmity for insects should invest in a tube of insect repellent. He or she will then feel so much safer.
The scope of this book is very wide, and it might also make an unusual gift for the men of the family, if they are camping types.
P.M.J.