Before closing this chapter, there are one or two points connected with the Artillery in the field, which deserve mention. First; the amount of ammunition which was carried in the field with each gun was as follows:— 100 round-shot, and 30 rounds of grape; with the exception of the long 6-pounder guns, which carried 80 round-shot, and 40 grape. Second; the stores and ammunition were issued direct by the Commissaries to the officers commanding Brigades of guns, _i.e._ Batteries—on requisition— who had, however, to make their own cartridges, and fix the wooden bottoms to the round-shot and grape, after receipt. The wooden bottoms were made by the artificer, called the turner; and were fastened by the tinman. Another of the tinman's duties was the manufacture of the tubes— and of boxes to contain them. Third; luxurious in one sense, as the war was, it had its hardships, as the following extract will show:—August 27th, 1746.—"Arrived at camp after a most difficult march, the Artillery constantly moving for four days and three nights without encamping— nearly starved; through woods, over mountainous country, with the bottoms full of rapid little rivers and deep marshes. Almost all the horses lost their shoes, and men and horses nearly starved. 3rd September.—Marched from the camp at 3 A.M., and crossed the Maise, 170 yards broad, over the pontoon bridges, near Maistricht. The bridges were commenced laying at one o'clock in the morning, and were completed by seven, when the heads of the column made their appearance. The French army was in order of battle on the heights of Hautain, opposite to Visel, where he supposed we were to pass, with a design to fall upon us when we were partly crossed the river. 5th September.—The enemy attacked our light troops posted opposite to Visel, on the Maise, and handled them very roughly; those that were not killed, being forced into the river, where they were drowned." Lastly, it is to be noted that, as in all our later wars before they have lasted any time, the ranks were thinned by disease and death, and there was a difficulty in replenishing them, even with _recruits_. It is to be hoped that the system of reserves recently organized in the English Army will in future mitigate this evil. On the return of the Army to England in 1748, three companies of Artillery were reduced; the officers being gradually brought in, as vacancies occurred. Among other customs brought by the companies from Flanders was that of employing fifers as well as drummers: "the first fifers in the British Army having been established in the Royal Regiment of Artillery at the end of this war, being taught by John Ulrich, a Hanoverian fifer, brought from Flanders by Colonel Belford, when the Allied Army separated."[12]