KITCHENS AND OVENS.
114. In our service a company will usually have a camp-cooking outfit sufficient for its needs, and generally of good pattern; but these are not always on hand when needed, and small detachments are frequently deprived of them for days or weeks. In ordinary soil, kitchens, and in a clay soil ovens, can be constructed, which, with a few kettles and cans, will enable the men to prepare for themselves fairly good meals without unnecessary waste of fuel. A few of these are figured in Pls. IX, X, Figs. 96-103. The banks of the trench shown in Fig. 96 afford support for cross-bars, and protect the fire from the wind. The type shown in Figs. 97, 102, 103 take the place of a stove, require but little fuel, and secure a steady heat. To obtain a good draught they should be so built that the wind blows toward the chimney. For this purpose they may radiate from a central chimney. (The flues of those not in use may be temporarily stopped up with sods.) The arch of the oven shown in [Pl. X], Fgs. 98-101, may be built over a piece of sheet iron if it can be obtained; if not, over a hurdle well smeared with clay. A slow fire will, under favorable conditions, dry and bake the clay arch so that it will stand after the brushwood of the hurdle is burned out. They may then be heated and used for baking.