558 
THE EQUIPMENT OP FIELD ARTILLEEY. 
Ammunition 
wagons to 
be kept 
distinct from 
store 
wagons. 
The forge. 
Pole 
draught. 
Entrenching 
tools. 
The harness. 
Picketing 
tackle. 
28. Ammunition wagons should be kept distinct from store wagons, 
and whenever it is possible draught horses should be driven from a box, 
and not ridden. 
24. There seems no pressing necessity for a very light field forge; 
when the present type was introduced it met with much unfavourable 
criticism, but it seems extremely unlikely that a forge will be often 
required to leave the roads the trains move upon; it therefore is wise to 
utilize the forge wagon for the conveyance of stores, and the weight of 
the latest pattern (45 cwt.) is not excessive; it is doubtless a great 
advantage to do away with the cumbrous bellows, and no doubt a 
further reduction in weight could be made by the substitution of metal 
plates for woodwork, and by utilizing steel for axletrees, &c. 
25. Pole draught should be adopted throughout the service ; we in 
England stand alone in using shafts, the main advantages of which are 
that the carriage is more under control for turning and manoeuvring’, 
and that a pole is liable to bear down upon the wheelers' in going down 
hill, or in crossing irregularities of ground. In favor of the pole, it 
may be urged, the work is equally divided amongst the team; in 
stopping the carriage or in going down hill almost all the weight is 
not thrown upon one horse; we cannot on service expect to keep up 
a supply of the fine animals at present seen in the shafts, and the 
horses we should have to fall back upon are all likely to have been 
accustomed to pole-draught in double harness. A lighter style of 
harness can be adopted, and it all can be made interchangeable, a 
matter of the greatest advantage in case of a casualty to a wheeler. 
The loss of time that at present would be incurred in replacing a 
wounded wheel horse might be fatal, whereas in the case of pole- 
draught the gun could proceed drawn by the lead and centre after 
little or no delay; with pole harness moreover it would be much easier 
to extricate a fallen wheeler than at present. The spare poles, one of 
which should be on every carriage, should be made in two parts, capable 
of being jointed together. 
26. The number of spades and shovels carried by the battery should 
be doubled; they could be carried as now but strapped together in 
pairs. 
27. The harness, as before stated, should be made much lighter and 
perfectly interchangeable. Our present saddles are extremely heavy : 
an equipment which had an extensive trial in the American war is much 
lighter; the saddle has a light iron tree with unstuffed flaps, and fits 
over a large felt numnah; the side bars of the saddle are also un¬ 
stuffed ; the “ colonial ” girth of twisted leather thongs should also be 
introduced. Breast harness on the riding horses should be abolished, 
it is altogether useless and apt to gall the horses shoulders even when 
not in use; lasso equipment should be substituted. 
28. The leather picketing shackle is very heavy, and but few horses, 
attached to a picket line as artillery horses are, would require it after 
the first few days of a campaign; it should therefore be lighter and 
