March 13, 1915. 
LAND AND .WATER. 
continue to rub it to its destruction. All my boxes are tar 
varnished to well above tbe top of the tail of a 17-liauds horse 
and wliite washed above. I have not clipped any of the 
Canadians. 
I don't believe in clipping horses that will have to stand 
out, and so exposing their vital organs with the thinnest 
skin over them. A sick horse in a box will stand with his 
muzzle to an open window to his advant.age. A horse out in 
a wind will stand with his tail to it. In a cold wind Arabs 
put a long sheet on to below the hocks, which generally blows 
in between the hind legs and keeps the belly warm. For 
standing out in a windy, exposed position it is well to have 
woollen ruga with brass eyelets along each long side and to 
lace them under the belly. This is the North African plan 
for cold windy nights. 
I may, perhaps, be permitted to say that in Africa In 
very hot weather, and elsewhere, I have never known a horse 
go wrong from the sun on his head ; and I look upon the sun- 
bonnets that were at one time fashionable as nonsense, but 
under a hot sun horses standing out for long sometimes are 
seized with vertigo, and die rapidly with the sun shining on 
their loius. This is prevented by putting a numnah, or folded 
blanket, over the loins. No harm comes to them when in 
saotion, but the standing out may be fatal. 
Old Malton, -^^ ^- ^^"««- 
TO ATTACK ZEPPELINS. 
To the Editor of Land and Wateb. 
Dear Sir, — The phosphorus-tipped bullet which figured 
In a recent issue of your paper would not succeed in igniting 
the gas of a Zeppelin. Phosphorus bursts into flame at a 
touch in the presence of oxygen. But a balloon contains 
hydrogen. Consequently the phosphorus could ignite only 
on leaving the balloon for the outer atmosphere. 
It is, however, obvious that Zeppelins should be attacked 
by projectiles charged with some species of pyrotechnic mix- 
ture, but this must produce its own oxygen. 
It b also obvious that a stream of bullets or shells of the 
ordinary type, fired at overhead marks from Maxims or quick- 
firers, will result in a shower of spent projectiles eomewhere 
in the " defended " city — a shower that would mean death to 
many harmless citizens and much damage of property — while 
the Zeppelins attacked would probably be the worse merely 
by a few unimportant holes. 
What is needed is a bullet that will ignite the gas of 
balloons, damage aeroplanes equally with the ordinary bullet, 
facilitate aiming, and fall in a harmless condition. 
I venture to think these qualities are possessed by a pro- 
jectile patented by me last December. 
The pyrotechnic mixture is carried 
in a thin aluminium sheath a, which 
may be stiffened in larger calibres (up 
to IJ inches) by a lining of quick- 
burning celluloid. The conical cap b — 
of celluloid or other light, tough, and 
brittle material — contains the load of 
the projectile, which makes up the 
weight to the normal. This load con- 
sists not of solid lead, but of filings, 
or very fine shot; o is a movable parti- 
tion resting on a ring; d is a wad; z a 
charge of powder. 
When the pyrotechnic mixture la 
consumed and the summit of the 
trajectory attained, the charge of 
powder blows the empty shell A away 
from the loaded cap b, and the lead 
promptly spills, bo that (a) the cap, 
(b) the load of shot, and (c) the empty case fall severally 
and harmlessly to the ground. A shower of such objects 
would be no more dangerous than a severe haDstorm, and as 
easy to avoid — by going indoors. No one can escape from 
projectiles falling from a height of two or three miles and 
capable of penetrating roofs and floors. 
This form of projectile has other advantages. In order 
that the gases of explosion upon expulsion may not tend to 
expand the case A or blow out the whole contents, the pro- 
jectile is driven out by a fuse-plug or driving-plug, r._ This 
18 blown out by the gases of combustion almost immediately, 
but not before, the projectile has travelled two or three 
hundred feet. During the brief period before this release 
there is no very perceptible escape of sparks or smoke, so that 
the exact position of the gun is not revealed. 
But once the plug is blown out, the projectile leaves a 
rocket-like trail of sparks and smoke, which by day or by 
ni^ht will plainly mark the trajectory of the projectile. 
^U-tttlt 
Especially will this be the case with machine-guns, so that 
to hit a Zeppelin should be as easy almost as to strike a butter- 
fly with the jet from a garden-house. But Zeppelins are 
notoriously not an easy mark v;ith ordinary projectiles. 
I do not suppose our Government will adopt this device — ■ 
such inventions usually go abroad. I give you these parti cu-" 
lars so that, when Zeppelins are flying over Loudon and the 
shot and shell of our defenders are raiuing down upon our 
housetops aud our heads, your readers may at least have 
the satisfaction of knowing that they are not the victims of the 
inevitable.^! remain. Sir, yours very truly, 
Bernard Mi all. 
THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS' TOBACCO FUND. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Dear Sib, — We have received an urgent appeal from the 
Hcspital Bristol, St. Male, France, for tobacco and pipes for 
the wounded men in that town, who number several thousand. 
We are urgently in need of funds and should greatly 
appreciate assistance from your readers, most of whom are 
no doubt smokers and will appreciate what the loss of this 
little luxury is. 
At the present time we have more applications for 
smoking material than we can possibly cope with. 
Cheques, postal orders, &c., crossed " Barclay and Co.,"- 
should be made out to the Hon. Treasurer, Mr. Roy Horni- 
man. — Your obedient servant, 
W. Evan Collison, Hon. Sec. 
Central House, Kingsway, W.C. 
THE SMALL FIRM. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
DxAR Sir, — Let me say at once, frankly, that I am one 
of those who have " axes to grind." Not a very large one, but 
still an axe. You will see the edge of my axe sticking up in 
the course of this letter. Further, please note I am not 
attempting to criticise anyone or anything; I am endeavour- 
ing to state facts — from my own point of view, of course. I 
have ventured to write to you because I am somewhat puzzled, 
also because the particular question which puzzles me has not 
been dealt with to any extent in your esteemed journal, 
although Mr. Blin Desbleds did just mention it once. It seems 
to me to be of some importance. I am puzzled by an apparent 
anomaly which may very likely exist in the particular case 
with which I am familiar alone, but which, on the other 
hand, may possibly be more general than this. 
Here is the anomaly. According to the speeches of 
Ministers and the articles, leading and otherwise, in the 
papers, it is of great importance that all the engineering 
works of this country should be employed to their full capacity 
in turning out war material for the use of H.M. Forces and 
the Allies, and one might imagine that practically every firm 
of that description, however small, would be doing what it 
could in this direction. From what one reads, even in the 
columns of your esteemed journal, it might be supposed that 
England and her Allies had to strain every nerve, not only to 
supply the forces in the field at the present time, but to equip 
the new armies now being trained, and that there is not an 
engineering shop in these islands which could not be " doing 
its bit." 
But is this really the case ? Is it not rather the fact that 
the Naval and Military authorities have the situation very 
well in hand, and that plentiful and perfectly adequate 
supplies of every kind of war material are assured from the 
output of the Government shops, and from that of the large 
firms with whom the Government in ordinary times is 
accustomed to contract? Let me put a concrete case. 
After the war had been in progi-ess for some months a 
small engineering firm which for several years had been en- 
deavouring to perfect and market a speciality found itself 
faced with the following situation : 
(a) It was impossible to go on trying to make the speciality, 
because 
(1) Many of its best employees handed in their notices owing 
to the very large bonuses and high wages ofi'eied by tlie 
big firms who were engaged on contracts for war materials. 
Th« men very naturally desired to participate in theso 
bonuses, and the increase in the cost of living accentuated 
their desire. 
(2) Raw materials, which had been steadily rising in 
price, finally became unobtainable in certain cases ; the 
firms who supplied them " begging to ba excused from 
quoting," einca they were fully occupied on Government 
work. 
(t) The firm, therefore, had (1) either to close down and let their 
employees go; (2) to close down, partially cutting down 
expenses as far as possible, and remaining in a state of sus- 
pended animation for the period of the war; or (5) to try and 
obtain Go\ernment work. 
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