Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-10-15
INFANTRY'S RATIONS.
Chocolate for Emergency-Ihc Port
abIe Kitchen.

GTrom the Manchester Guardian)
The English infantry soldier when he |
goes into action, carries with him an
emergency ration Rnown in the service
as the "iron" ration. which is securely
packed in canvas receptacle on the
mans equipment, and $50 pounds of am
muntion The ammunition is carried In
the bandoler pouch, with the excep-
ton of 10 rounds, which are stored away
| In the magazine Of the rifle, and to ne
used in an emergency. To maintain the
troops in a state of fighting efficiency the
supplies of food or ammunition must not
give out IF either supply does fall the
! army Immediately becomes Ineffective; it
cannot hold it's ground, and disaster must
follow.
The difficulties attending the adequate
provisioning OF an army in the field are
great and the larger the army the greater
are these difficulties. Every operation in
the field will depend on the manner in
which the administrative services. by
their organization. are able to lessen the
fatigue inseparable from marching
against the enemy Ghe mon. with am
munition. carry a total weight of about 80
pounds EACH, maintain their ability, and
troops impaired The troops must not be
starved either from want of food for their
stomachs or for their implements OF war.
Feeding the firing line" is a general term
to embrace both these duties In war.
What arrangements are made to meet
these important demands? will deal in
the first instance with the feeding Of the
soldier who is in his entrenched position
Voc.
OF supplies. waiting to engage the enemy.
The whole system Of the English army
supply has been greatly changed since
the South African war The new chain of
supply gives between one or two days
iron rations in the haversack, half
days ration in the cooks wagon, and one
ration and grocery I'm the train or supply
column. making a total Of ~ to 3lr days
rationS with the field units, as against ol2
days supply under the old system. The
quantity Of supplies provided now Is ac-
tually less. The new system is now on It's
trial, and it is believed that it will he
found an Improvement on the old, be-
cause. through the use of motor-lurries In
the supply column. the radius OF action
has been increased and the delivery OF
supplies accelerated. It has been proved
in practice that the three-ton lurries over
average roads can deliver their loads A.
miles away and return empty the same
day. Their speed has worked out at u
to a miles an hour. and that Of the 70
hundred weight vans used for the cavalry
supplies at Is or 20 miles.
The present emergency ration for use
on active service consists of chocolate.
with added plasmon or other equally suit
able milk proteid The food Is wrapped In
vegetable parchment paper and packed
In tins, each containing Sig ounces. This
ration Is not to be opened except by order
of an officer or in extremity. 1t IS calcu-
lated to maintain strength for sc hours,
If eaten or drunk in small quantities at
a time. To prepare the beverage the
scrapings of a ration are boiled In half
pint OF water. The iron ration Is made
up of one pound of preserved meat II
ounces of biscuit. fve-eighth ounce of
tea, two ounces of sugar, one-half ounce
of salt, three ounces of cheese and two
cubes Zone ounce OF meat extract
In this war We shall test the utility OF
the field or portable kitchen. The travel
ing kitchen has for years been tried and
approved in the French, Russian and
German armies, and Is now being used by
each of these armies in the field. The
English field kitchen is a two-horse Inn
bered vehicle, it cooks for 80 men, allow
ling 10 quarts of hot food for every J.
men. The rear part of the wagon con-
tains a Are and four cooking pots I'm add
ton to a hot-water boiler. Groceries.
too, are carried, The only draw back to
these cooking carts Is that they nlatert-
ally increase the length of the BAGGAGE