WADDING. 109 



do, is then so great as to be unpleasant to the hand, 

 and inimical to expedition. 



Both pockets must be in reach of the same hand, as 

 there would be no time saved if you had to shift hands 

 with the ramrod. 



When using different waddings, have them of dif- 

 ferent colours, to avoid mixing them. 



NEW PREPARED WADDING, FOR PER- 

 CUSSION-GUNS. 



Since I had last the honour to address my readers on 

 the subject of wadding, as complete a revolution has 

 taken place in that as in guns. Instead of sending 

 sportsmen sheets of pasteboard and a punch, it is now 

 the order of the day to serve them with bags of, what 

 is called, "patent wadding." But who really has a 

 patent for the article, or who has not, I never took the 

 pains to ascertain ; though it may be known imme- 

 diately, by application at the Patent-Office. The artist 

 who first started this new concern is Mr. Wilkinson. 

 He brought out his " elastic concave wadding? accom- 

 panied by a treatise on it, with explanatory drawings. 

 At first, he made it a great deal too thick; and I 

 begged of him to reduce it to one-third the size of the 

 caliber ; since his doing which it has shot remarkably 

 well. This, being made of felt, is the only wadding, 

 EXCEPT OAKUM, that I have ever found to answer 

 well in duck-guns. 



Mr. Purdey, and Mr. Lancaster, then brought out 

 waddings, cut by a dented punch, and anointed, round 

 the edge, with a chemical preparation (mercurial oint- 



