154 THE FOWLING PIECE. 



pleased to find it answer the desired purpose in a manner that 

 far surpassed my most sanguine expectations. Under these cir- 

 cumstances, I have no hesitation in recommending the above 

 plan of boring barrels : the increase of width at the lower end 

 should be but a trifle, just sufficient to be perceived when put- 

 ting in the wadding, which will, of course, slide rather easier in 

 that part. 



THE LENGTH OF THE BARREL 



Is another matter, which is still involved in doubt, though 

 abundant evidence has been obtained to prove that the antiquated 

 notion of long barrels carrying the farthest, is completely erro- 

 neous. After a great number of experiments, I have found that 

 a barrel twenty-two inches long, of the common fowling-piece 

 caliber (five eighths of an inch diameter) shoots full)* as strong, 

 if not stronger, than any other greater length, though the differ- 

 ence between twenty-two and twenty-eight, or even thirty inches, 

 is not very great ; but for any increase of length beyond thirty 

 inches, the difference, or the decrease of force, would very much 

 surprise any person who had never witnessed the experiment. I 

 have shortened five different barrels, gradually, inch by inch for 

 instance, and the result has invariably been the same ; and in 

 these experiments, great pains were taken in regulating the 

 charge, so that in this respect, no perceptible variation could take 

 place. Nevertheless, though a barrel twenty-two inches long 

 (I have never tried one shorter) may impel the charge with more 



