THE EQUIPMENT OP FIELD ARTILLERY. 
559 
made of soft leather, to be kept well dubbed, and should fit above the 
fetlock with a leather button and loop ; the risk of haying a large 
number of sore heels at the outset of operations would thus be avoided. 
29. The valise, which may be a necessity for cavalry, from the valise, 
necessity of having to ride at times “ jammed boot to boot,” is by no 
means so for the Artillery, and is a most inconvenient way of carrying 
a kit: moreover if packed by an unskilful man, it is very apt to gall 
the horse. For Artillery purposes therefore we would recommend to 
replace the valise a pair of waterproof canvas saddle bags, made out 
of the material generally used for gun covers, game bags, &c; the 
drivers kits would of course be placed as now on the off horse, but the 
bags could be hung in such a way as to admit of a man being mounted 
if necessary. 
80. It seems to be recognised by the European powers that it is Ammunition 
desirable to have both a time and a percussion projectile ; we however 
have considered that the shrapnel shell can fulfil both purposes; it 
seems open to question if we are right, as the properties of a good 
time shell are somewhat antagonistic to those of a good percussion 
projectile; for example, in the former the bursting charge should be a 
minimum, in the latter a maximum. It will therefore be here assumed 
that the chief role of a shrapnel is that of a time shell, and that it is 
necessary to provide some form of double-wall, ring, or segment shell 
in addition thereto. 
81. There can be no doubt that our present shrapnel shell has great Thesiirapnei 
defects, which are aggravated by the wooden time fuze we employ. 
Indeed this has been some time recognised, and lately the Armstrong 
Company have introduced a shell which has been already tried, and 
found vastly superior to the present pattern. The body of the shell is 
made of steel, and is closed at the base by a wrought iron disc ; the 
bursting charge is in the head of the shell, and the central column is 
thus done away with; for the sake of comparison some other shrapnels 
are shown in Plate IV. It will be noted that in the Italian shrapnel the 
bursting charge is in the centre. As the effect of the shrapnel shell 
depends upon the velocity of the bullets when released, and as this 
depends upon the remaining velocity of the shell, it follows that the 
latter should be as little interfered with as possible by the bursting 
charge, which is always calculated to be just sufficient to open the shell. 
Now if the bursting charge is placed in the head of the shell it will 
tend to check the bullets, and though at ordinary ranges this bad effect 
will be small, at long ranges, when the remaining velocity of the shell 
will have greatly diminished, it may be distinctly felt. One of the 
most useful results of the present high muzzle velocities obtainable 
from field guns is the increased range of the shrapnel shell, which can 
now be made effective beyond 3000 yds., and we should carefully 
guard against anything that in the least interferes with this. The 
bullets also are the principal part of the shell, and the greater their 
number and weight the better; thus, in our 9-pr. shrapnel the weight 
of the bullets is to the weight of the shell as 1:4, while in the German 
