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.
LATRINES, SINKS, ETC.
115. Latrines and sinks for the reception of garbage, etc., are objects of the greatest importance in all camps, temporary or permanent; and, unless properly made and cared for, they speedily make their presence known, and become a most prolific source of discomfort and disease.
For permanent camps liable to be occupied for a long time special arrangements for the disinfection, removal, and destruction of garbage and excreta must be made. For temporary camps it will suffice to provide pits with suitable conveniences and screens; covering with a thin layer of the excavated earth all deposited garbage and excreta before they become offensive. When, as is sometimes the case, these pits cannot be kept free from water, it may be necessary to use in addition lime, copperas, carbolic acid, or other chemical disinfectants and deodorizers.
The ordinary constructions used in temporary camps are shown in [Pl. X], Figs. 104-107. Separate latrines for officers are constructed and screened. The seat shown in Fig. 107, when one can be obtained, adds much to their comfort.
In more permanent camps the latrines may be roofed and screened with canvas or boards, and board seats be provided for the men. Uninclosed sinks and latrines should have earthen banks all around them, to indicate their position and to prevent men walking into them at night. Upon abandoning a camp all sinks and latrines are to be disinfected and filled up.
WATER-SUPPLY.
116. The problem of obtaining a sufficient and wholesome water-supply for a besieging army is usually one difficult of solution. The precautions which are necessary in ordinary camps (Art. of War, 352 and 358) become of still greater importance in this case, owing to the choice of the source of supply being limited to those which are not controlled by the besieged, and to the constantly increasing danger of pollution of all ground waters by the bodies of the dead men and animals and the refuse and filth of the camps. The evils arising from these sources may be largely or entirely removed by boiling the drinking-water, and the disagreeable tastes and smells may be removed by filtering through good filters. It is very difficult, however, to compel the men to boil the water, or to drink it after it is boiled, unless it is properly aerated and filtered. All available measures should, therefore, be adopted to supply them with wholesome water.
The results of the most recent researches show that properly conducted intermittent filtration with sand-filters will render a polluted water almost if not entirely safe. (See reports of Massachusetts State Board of Health on Purification of Sewage and Water, 1890.) And the analysis of water sterilized by a steam-jet at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893, gives reason to believe that this process may be very effective in removing disease germs. (See report of Allen Hazen, Chemist, Department of Water-supply, published in Engineering News, March 29, 1894.) In camps of some permanence one or both of these processes may be well worth applying.