(from Daniel Carter Beard, First National Scout Commissioner.
The Official Handbook for Boys. Doubleday, Page & Company
for The Boy Scouts of America. Garden City & New York.
1911. pp317-318. (from reprint on 60th Anniversary of BSA)
First: Hold the right fist with the back to the ground and with the jack-knife, with blade pointing to the right, resting on top of the closed fingers. The hand is swung to the right, up and over, describing a semicircle, so that the knife fall point downward and sticks, or should stick, upright in the ground. If there is room to slip two fingers, one above the other, beneath the handle of the knife, and if the point of the knife is hidden in the ground, it counts as a fair stick or throw.
Second: The next motion is the same as the one just described, but is performed with the left.
Third: Take the point of the blade between the first and second fingers of the right hand, and fillip it with a jerk so that the knife turns once around in the air and strikes the point into the ground.
Fourth: Do the same with the left hand.
Fifth: Hold the knife as in the third and fourth positions, and bring the arm across the chest so that the knife handle touches the left ear. Take hold of the right ear with the lift and fillip the knife so that it turns once or twice in the air and strikes on its point in the earth.
Sixth: Do the same with the left hand.
Seventh: Still holding the knife in the same manner, bring the handle up to the nose and fillip it over through the air, so that it will stick in the ground.
Eighth: Do the same with the handle at the right eye.
Ninth: Repeat with the handle at the left eye.
Tenth: Place the point of the blade on the top of the head. Hold it in place with the forefinger, and with a downward push it whirling down to the earth, where it must stick with the point of the blade in the earth.
Eleventh to Fifteenth: Hold the left hand with the fingers pointing upward and, beginning with the thumb, place the point of the knife on each finger as described above, and the forefinger of the right hand on the end of the knife handle. By a downward motion, throw the knife revolving through the air, so that it will alight with the point of the blade in the sod.
Sixteenth to Twentieth: Repeat, with the right hand up and the forefinger of left hand on the knife handle.
Twenty-first, Twenty-second: Do the same from each knee.
Twenty-third: Hold the point of the blade between the first and second fingers, and placing the hand on the forehead, fillip the knife back over the head, so that it will stick in the ground behind the person ready for the next motion.
Twenty-fourth: After the twenty-three the knife is left in the ground. Then with the palm of the hand strike the knife handle a smart blow that will send it revolving over the ground for a yard, more or less, and cause it to stick in the ground where it stops. This is called "ploughing the field".
When a miss is made the next player takes his turn, and when the first
player's turn comes again he must try the feat over that he failed to perform
last. A good player will sometimes go through all the twenty-four
motions without