ORD ORDNANCE. 



in their cultivation. The terrestrial forms are propa- 

 gated by division of the tubers, or of the pseudo-bulbs, 

 each piece having one or more. Those with aerial 

 roots are similarly propagated by division, the seed 

 being rarely used for this purpose. In choosing soil 

 for the ground-growers the question of nutriment is 

 not important, as these plants depend very little on the 

 soil for their food. The best soil is one that is not re- 

 tentive of moisture. The whole order, with the excep- 



Orchid (OdontogloiiHm Roi). 



tion of the comparatively few true terrestrial species, 

 derive the most of their nutriment from the air, and 

 seem to grow best attai-hcil to blocks of wood, or placed 

 in baskets and hung from the roof of the greenhouse. 

 They seldom need water at the roots, but require an 

 abundant supply upon their foliage, particularly during 

 their season of active growth. They need to be shaded 

 from intense sunlight, but not from the ordinary lijfht 

 of the sun. Odantnglntnim Roaxi, of which we give 

 an illustration, is an excellent variety for growing in 

 baskets or on blocks in greenhouses. Its season of 

 growth is during the summer, yet its magnificent flow- 

 ers are produced in winter. 



ORD, EDWARD Oxuo CBESAP (1818-1883), an 

 American general, was born in Allegheny co., Md., in 

 1818. His father, James, was an officer in the war of 

 1812. He graduated at West Point in 1839, and 

 served against the Seminoles. He was on duty in 

 California in 1847-49, and again in 1855. He was 

 ordered to Harper's Ferry at the time of John Brown's 

 raid in 1859. In 1861 he was made a brigadier-general 

 of volunteers, and commanded a brigade in the Penn- 

 sylvania Reserves. He defeated Gen. J. E. B. Stuart 

 at Drainesville, Va., Dec. 20, 1861, and was made 

 major-general May 2, 1862. Being then placed in 

 command of the left wing of Grant's army at Corinth, 

 Miss., he took part in the battle of luka, and was 

 wounded at Hatehie, Oct. 5, 1862. He commanded 

 the Thirteenth corps at the siege and capture of Vi ;ks- 

 burg and at the capture of Jackson. In July, 1864, he 

 commanded the Eighteenth corps in the siege of Rich- 

 mond, and was wounded at Fort Harrison, Sept. 29. 

 In January, 1865, he relieved Gen. Butler of his com- 

 mand in Virginia and North Carolina, and commanded 

 the Army of the James at Petersburg and in the pur- 

 suit and capture of Lee. When mustered out of vol- 

 unteer service he was made brigadier-general in the 

 regular army, July 26, 1866. He had military com- 

 mand of the States of Arkansas and Mississippi in 

 March, 1867, and afterwards of the departments of 

 California and of Texas. In January, 1881, he was 

 placed on the retired list, and thereafter he lived in 

 Mexico, his daughter having married the Mexican 

 L'cncral, Trcvino, in July, 1880. He died at Havana, 

 July -2'.',, 1883, while on his way to New York. 



ORDNANCE. Before the invention of gunpowder, 

 alings, javelins, bows, cross-bows, and rams were used 

 as weapons, with which success largely depended upon 

 the physical strength of the one using them, but the 



gun came in as the great equalizer of mankind ; with 

 it the physically weaker became the equal of the 

 physically stronger, and with it the reisn of brute force 

 came to an end. From the individual to the nation is 

 but a step, and to-day all nations are actively engaged 

 in providing themselves with suitable defences, as wars 

 now must be short, and the nation best equipped and 

 armed has a decided advantage. 



An international war is now waging, wherein the 

 rivalry is as intense as in the actual meeting of oppos- 

 ing forces. This war is carried on in the forge and ma- 

 chine-shop and not in the field, but the results are 

 watched with the keenest interest, and the consequent 

 progress in the destructive arts of warfare is most 

 impressive. The recognition by Congress of the fact 

 that the United States should have suitable land and 

 naval defences has led in the last few years to liberal 

 appropriations for guns, and, in the near future, guns 

 equal in size and destructive efficiency to those of any 

 other power will be produced in this country. 



A brief description of the various classes of ordnance 

 and their parts will aid the non-technical reader in 

 following the progress of gun-making, as the beginning 

 has already been made and guns turned out for the 

 army and navy that warrant the belief that our guns 

 when built will be second to none in the world. 



Guns or heavy cannon are distinguished as rifled and 

 smooth-bore ; rifled guns having spiral grooves, which 

 impart a rotary motion to an elongated projectile hav- 

 ing projections or soft-metal bands, which enter the 

 rifle-grooves. The smooth-bore gun has no grooves, 

 and fires a spherical projectile. Guns are likewise 

 distinguished as muzzle- and breech-loading, these 

 terms explaining themselves, and as cast and built-up 

 guns. 



The breech of a gun is the mass of metal in rear of 

 and around the bottom of the bore. The trunnions 

 are cylindrical projections for supporting the gun on 

 its carriage, placed on opposite sides of the gun in a 

 horizontal plane, with the axes in the same line at 

 right angles to the axis of the gun. The diameter of 

 the bore is called the calibre of the gun. The chamber 

 of the gun is that portion of the bore containing the 

 charge. The vent is the channel from the exterior to 

 the chamber through which fire is communicated to 

 the charge. 



There are two methods in general use of closing the 

 after end of the gun when it is loaded from the breech : 

 one by inserting a bloclc into the bore from the rear, 

 and the other by pushing in a block through a trans- 

 verse opening across the bore. The former is in use in 

 France, England, and the United States, and is known 

 generally as the French system, though it is the out- 

 come of an American patent of 1849, by Chambers, 

 repatented in a different form by Schenck in 1853, and 

 used in the construction of six guns for the_ English 

 government, in 1855, at Boston, after the design of an 

 American named Castmann. 



The block is a cylinder of steel, upon which a screw- 

 thread is cut. portions of the thread being cut away, 

 leaving three blank spaces on the block running length- 

 ways, and in the female-screw cut in the bore of the 

 gunj into which the screw on the block is to engage, 

 three similar blank spaces are left. The threaded por- 

 tions of the block are brought opposite the correspond- 

 ing spaces in the breech-screw, and then the block is 

 forced in to nearly its full extent, and a sixth of a turn 

 engages at the same time all the threads of the block 

 with those in the breech. The same fraction of a turn 

 back disengages the screw by bringing the threads of 

 the block in the open spaces of the breech, and the 

 block can be withdrawn. It rests on a bracket hinged 

 to the side of the breech, so that it can be turned aside 

 out of the way when the gun is loading. The vent is 

 in the axis of the block, and escape of gas through it 

 is prevented by an ingeniously arranged slide, which 

 acts automatically as the breech is being closed, and 

 prevents firing till the breech-block is in place. 



