Another, for Tarred Links and Fascines, according to the Strasbourg formula.
| Pitch, | 18 | parts. |
| Turpentine, | 9 | —— |
| Suet, or tallow, | 4 | —— |
| Linseed oil, | 1 | —— |
| Spirits of turpentine, | 1 | —— |
When a great quantity of links are to be made, either for illumination or for lighting a city, the oil may be omitted. The links will cost less, and they will answer the purpose equally well.
Fascines are made of strips of wood, or dry twigs, or wine shoots, which are the best, of the length of fourteen or sixteen inches. They are tied in bundles of four or five inches in diameter, with a cord or iron wire, and then boiled in the composition for tourteaux, and thrown into water to cool. They are principally used to give light to the works of an enemy, and to set fire to the passage of the ditch.
Fascines are of different kinds. In fortification, they are a kind of fagot, made of small branches of trees or brush wood, tied in three, four, five, or six places, and are of various dimensions, according to the purposes intended. Those that are to be pitched over for burning lodgements, galleries, or any other work of the enemy, should be one and a half or two feet long.
Sec. X. Of Torches or Flambeaux.
We have already spoken of torches, but in connection with military pyrotechny, we may add, that they are used to give light during night marches, and for other purposes. They are made in the following manner.
Boil, in a mixture of equal parts of water and saltpetre, old cords or old match, well cleaned and untwisted. Take them out and dry them; then cut them in pieces of four and a half feet in length, and tie four of these pieces with twine to a cylindrical piece of wood, of the same length, and an inch in diameter; so that the whole together may be from two to two and a half inches thick. Dip this torch into a liquid made of equal parts of meal-powder and sulphur, mixed together with brandy, in which some gum has been dissolved. Fill the intervals of the pieces of cordage, with a paste, composed of three parts of sulphur, and one of quicklime. Dry the torch, and when dry, turn it gently round, and finish it by pouring on it the following composition.
Composition for Flambeaux.
| Turpentine, | 32 | parts. |
| Venice turpentine, | 4 | —— |
| Beeswax, | 32 | —— |
| Sulphur, | 12 | —— |
| Camphor, | 6 | —— |