BASKETS of earth, in the military art, called by the French corbeilles, are small baskets used in sieges, on the parapet of a trench, being filled with earth. They are about a foot and a half high, about a foot and a half diameter at the top, and 8 or 10 inches at bottom; so that being set together, there is a sort of embassures left at their bottoms, through which the soldiers fire, without exposing themselves.