424 Capt. J, Grant, on the Application [May 1 , 



Cottager's Stove *' was designed, which has found its way to every 

 quarter of the globe. It requires no fixing, is extremely simple in 

 its construction, and all the operations of cooking may be carried 

 on with any description of fuel. The fact of 100 lbs. of meat and 

 1 1 5 lbs. of vegetables having been cooked in one of these stoves, 

 with less than 20 lbs. of coal, will suffice to prove how economically 

 it may be worked, and it is peculiarly well suited to the rural 

 districts. These stoves are manufactured by the Messrs. Bailey, 

 of High Hoi born. 



Military Cookery. — The events of the late war have given rise 

 to a variety of inventions and improvements, and amongst them 

 that of cooking for large masses of troops, with convenience and 

 economy, has been under consideration. 



Field Cooking. — A system of field cooking was introduced at 

 Aldershott, by cutting a trench in the ground and covering it with 

 thin iron plates having a central hole in each to receive the ordinary 

 camp kettle. A chimney is formed of sods, piled up to the height 

 of three feet at one end of the trench, and a fire made at the other, 

 and by this simple arrangement several regiments cooked for some 

 months. 



Battalion Cooking Apparatus for Troops, adopted at Alder- 

 shott. — This principle of cooking was adapted to the requirements 

 of the troops in the hut barracks at Aldershott, and extended to the 

 battalion cooking kitchens throughout the whole of tliat encamp- 

 ment, where it has continued in successful operation for the service 

 of between 12,000 and 14,000 men, for these last twenty months. 

 From April to August, in the last year, it was subjected to the 

 severe test of cooking for 92,000 men, who marched in and out of 

 the encampment during that period. The consumption of fuel 

 requisite for this system of cooking is one half-pound of coal per 

 man per day, and the official report states the cost to be one half- 

 penny per man per week for the thre^ daily meals. 



Battalion Cooking Apparatus for Permanent Barracks, with 

 Oven. — The soldier's cooking is confined to the boiling process ; 

 and as he can only obtain a change by availing himself of a public 

 bakehouse at his own cost, an oven has been introduced into the 

 chimney of the apparatus, so constructed that it is surrounded by 

 the heated products of the two flues ; thus profiting by what in 

 ordinary cases is wasted up the chimney. 560^ of heat were ob- 

 tained by this arrangement in an oven capable of baking 250 lbs. 

 of meat, without any additional consumption of fuel.* 



♦ This principle of military cooking admits of so much variation in its 

 details that it may be adapted to all the requirements of an army, either in 

 the field or in permanent barracks, from a single soldier to a battalion of a 

 thousand strong, for which provision is made. 



The battalion cooking apparatus is constructed for that number of men, who 

 may be efficiently cooked for by the aid of two small fires of 18 inches square 



