MISCELLANEOUS HINTS. 379 



course of an hour by one person is astonishing. In making car- 

 tridges for duck-guns, it will be necessary to use stouter paper 

 than that used for partridge-shooting ; and, to make them hold the 

 additional weight of shot more securely, the edges of the paper, 

 when being folded down, may be touched with a solution of 

 gum-tragacanth. 



Having given directions for the making of cartridges, it is now 

 the proper time to say something in reference to their merits, or 

 rather their claims over the ordinary way of loading. 



In general shooting, there is no doubt in our mind but that 

 shot-cartridges are a very useful invention, and that much greater 

 numbers of birds can be killed with them than in the ordinary style 

 of pouring the shot into the gun. In the first place, we can load 

 with so much more facility that, in some kinds of shooting, we 

 have greatly the advantage. For example, in rail and reed-bird 

 shooting, or even in wild-fowl shooting, when the ducks are flying 

 as fast perhaps as we can load, the, one that loads the fastest will 

 of course get the greater number of shots and the most birds. 



In the second place, the shot thrown from a cartridge will be 

 carried in a much more compact form to a distance of ten or fifteen 

 yards farther than by the old method of loading. This being the 

 case, it is reasonable to conclude that a much larger proportion of 

 long shots will be successful than when the shot is projected from 

 the gun in a loose state, and consequently when the game is wild 

 will be of immense advantage. In close shooting, cartridges have 

 no advantage over the old style of loading, — in fact, are not so 

 certain in their eflect, — as the shot, being carried in a compact mass 

 for a considerable distance, requires the same deadly aim for a near 

 object as if a ball was to be fired out of a gun, and not a hundred 

 pellets of shot; and even if the bird should be struck at this 

 distance the probability is that it would be torn in pieces, — at all 

 events, dreadfully mangled. These are the only inconveniences 

 arising from the use of cartridges such as we have described; all 

 of which, however, may be entirely done away with by charging 

 one barrel with loose shot and the other with a cartridge, or by 



