Prepare the ground for the base of the pile by raising it above the surrounding ground so as to throw off the water; level it, ram it well, and cover it with a layer of screened sand. Make the bottom of the pile with a tier of unserviceable balls buried about two-thirds of their diameter in the sand; this base may be made permanent: clean the base well and form the pile, putting the _fuze-holes_ of shells _downwards_ in the _intervals_, and not resting on the shells below. Each pile is marked with the number of serviceable balls it contains. The base may be made of bricks, concrete, stone, wood, or with borders and braces of iron. [Sidenote: 104]] 57. How should fixed ammunition for cannon be stored? Either in boxes or placed in piles, formed of two parallel rows of cartridges, with the sabots together; in 4 tiers for 12-pdr. and 5 for 6-pdr.; chock the lower tier with strips of wood fastened with small nails; put a layer of tow 2 in. thick between the shot; let the piles rest on planks, if there is no floor, and cover them with tarpaulins; have the place swept, and the cartridge bags brushed off. Leave a passage of 18 in. between the double rows, and keep them 2 feet from the walls. Fixed ammunition should not be put into powder-magazines, if it can be avoided; it should be kept in a dry place above the ground floor if practicable; the store-rooms should be always aired in fine weather, the piles should be taken down, and made up again every six months at most, the bags examined and repaired, and the damaged cartridges broken up. A ticket on each pile should show the number and kind of cartridges, the additions to the pile, and the issues. 53. How should canisters be piled? Like fixed ammunition, in 4 tiers for 24’s and 18’s; and 5 for 12’s and 6’s. Empty canisters in 10 or 12 tiers; the bottoms and covers separately. 59. How should _cartridge bags filled_ be piled? Like fixed ammunition, or packed in boxes or barrels. 60. How should _loaded shells_ be piled? On the ground floor of a secure building on planks, if the floor is not boarded; in 6 tiers at most; the fuzes of the lower tier in the vacant spaces between the shells; those of the other tiers turn downwards, like the fuze-holes of empty shells; the piles should be covered with a tarpaulin. Loaded shells should never be put into magazines, except from absolute necessity. 61. How should _fire-balls_ be preserved? In a cool place, separated from each other by shavings or straw, if they are piled up. [Sidenote: 105]] 62. How is the number of shots or shells in a pile computed, of whatever form the pile may be? By multiplying the sum of the three parallel edges, by one-third of the number of balls in a triangular face. 63. What is meant by the three parallel edges of the pile?