202 ON THE WING. 



at long distances, as in duck-shooting, the fine powder 

 has no show. For this reason I have always used 

 much larger powder than most sportsmen. 



There are but few methods of testing the quality of 

 gunpowder. The old-fashioned way of rubbing it on 

 your finger-nail, or between your fingers, to see if there 

 is any gritty feeling, does very well as far as it goes ; 

 and almost all good powder will bear this test. I have 

 frequently tested gunpowder by means of a spring, 

 used by the manufacturers for determining its strength. 

 But I think this affords no fair criterion to judge by, 

 unless the size of the grain be also considered. 



The process of making gunpowder is thus given 

 by Greener : — 



"The three ingredients, (charcoal, nitre, and sul- 

 phur,) after being carefully weighed in their due pro- 

 portions, are sifted into a large trough and well mixed 

 together by the hands. 



" They are then conveyed to the powder-mill. This 

 is a large circular trough, having a smooth iron bed, 

 on which two mill-stones are secured to a horizontal 

 axis, and revolve, traversing each other, and making 

 nine or ten revolutions a minute. 



"The powder is mixed with a small quantity of 

 •water, put on the bed of the mill, and then kept subject 

 to the pressure of the stones ; and if we calculate the 

 weight of the two mill-stones at six tons, it follows that 

 in four or five hours' incorporation on this bed, it sub- 

 jects the ingredients to the action of full ten thousand 

 tons. It is this long-continued grinding, compounding, 

 and blending together of the mixture that alone ren- 

 ders it useful and good. 



