MISCELLANEOUS HINTS. 359 



numbers that can be put up in the course of an hour by one 

 person. In making cartridges for Duck-guns, it will be neces- 

 sary to use stouter paper than that used for P'artridge-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. 



Plaving 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 minds 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 

 Eail and Eeed 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 j^ards further 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 effect, as the shot, 

 being carried in a compact mass for a considerable distance, re- 

 quires 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 proba- 

 bility is that it would be torn to pieces ; at all events, dread- 

 fully 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 loading the one 

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

 shooting deliberately, that is, waiting till the Bird gets at a pro- 



