ALL our trouble with guns would be ill bestowed, if 

 \ve neglected a due attention to the care and choice of 

 this article. 



Gunpowder, when good, is made of ingredients per- 

 fectly pure, properly mixed, and judiciously propor- 

 tioned. 



The principal ingredient, saltpetre, should be en- 

 tirely divested of marine salt, as that is a great obstacle 

 to the production of good powder, of which there is, in 

 all saltpetre, a certain, and often a considerable quan- 

 tity ; and, in proportion as it is more or less freed from 

 that impurity, so the powder will be more or less liable 

 to imbibe damp air, and become proportionally moist 

 and weak. But when it is perfectly freed from marine 

 salt, the powder will suffer but little diminution of its 

 strength from being carelessly kept, or even openly 

 exposed to a moist atmosphere, as what it might, by 

 this means, have lost, would be presently restored by 

 drying it. 



Your powder should always be properly dried; in 

 order to do which, make two or three plates very hot, 

 before the fire, and (first taking care to wipe them well, 

 lest any particle of cinder should adhere to them) keep 

 constantly shifting the powder from the one to the 



