insert a bit of quickmatch, to project a quarter of an inch, and secure it with a little wetted meal, pressed in with a knife. The way of bending it is shown at fig. 69. It is not necessary that a cracker should contain very much powder; the loudness of the bang depends more upon the thickness of the paper than upon the quantity of the powder. So with maroons; more string and less powder, are better than more powder and less string. A very good paper for crackers is 30-lb. royal cartridge; cut the strips 3 inches broad; 16-lb. double-crown may also be used, the strips 5 inches broad. Crackers for mines may be made with brown paper.

To make a cracker with 30 or 40 bangs, it is necessary to join 3 or 4 pipes together, before putting in the grain powder: the mode of making a joining will be understood by attending to the following directions. Cut a piece of paper 3 inches square, and lay it straight before you. At one inch from the right top corner, make a mark; at one inch from the left bottom corner, make a mark; draw an oblique straight line from one to the other, and cut along it with a pair of scissors.

Without disturbing the relative position of the two pieces, draw the right piece a few inches towards the right; paste the farther edges, as usual; lay the wire close along the near edge of the right piece, and roll it up; it will have an external spiral; roll up the left piece in the same manner; it will have an internal spiral; when both are dry, paste the external spiral, and screw it, as it were, into the other piece. If managed carefully, and brought up till the edge of the paper forms a straight line, the joining will be as firm as if the paper had not been cut, presenting only a spiral edge, going once round the pipe.

LEADER PIPES.

These are for piping quickmatch; they are rolled exactly like pinwheel pipes, on wires of different thickness, to suit the size of the match. They must be large enough to admit the match easily, without much pushing, which would break it; otherwise, the more nearly they fit the match, the more rapidly it blows through. The fire is conveyed from the tail of one case to the mouth of another, by a short piece of pipe, d, fig. 80, with the match

projecting at both ends; when the fire has to be conveyed to two other cases at once, a fresh bit of piping is slipped on, and the match left exposed, as at a; or a piece is cut out of the side, as at b; each end should be bent into a hook, as at c, to prevent its slipping back. Wheel cases are to be enveloped by rolling a piece of double-crown twice or thrice round them, two inches longer than the case, as fig. 82, shown by the dotted lines. Suppose you have six wheel cases ready charged; lay six pieces of double-crown flat before you, and work them back with the thumbnail, as before described; paste the 6 edges; lay the 6 wheel cases in a row, side by side, and draw the paste brush across the middle, as if pasting your knuckles; then roll one in each envelope, so that it projects an inch at each end. Put the leader pipe in, and tie it with a piece of carpet thread, thin twine, or waxed yellow flax or hemp, as at fig. 83. To join one pipe to another, to lengthen it; suppose you have a piece of match 40 inches long, and two pipes of 20 inches each. Slip both the pipes on the match, so that they touch in the middle; take the end of one, so

touching, gather it round the match; pinch the end of the pipe tapering, push it into the other, and bind a piece of pasted paper round, to secure the joint. In cutting a matched pipe straight across, of course the match inside gets cut flush; do not leave it so, but, with a pair of pointed scissors, cut away a quarter of an inch of the pipe all round, and bend the exposed match, as at c, fig. 80, before putting it into the envelope of the case. Besides a strong pair of pointed scissors, a small pair, 3 inches long, with rounded ends, to carry constantly in the waistcoat pocket, will be found convenient for many purposes.

MAROONS.

Take 3 inches of a or rocket case. Fix, in one end, a cork, half an inch long; put in 2 inches of F grain powder; on this, another cork. Wind string tightly round it, lengthwise, 6 or 8 folds, side by side; bend it to a right angle, and wind 6 or 8 more folds; and so on, till covered; then wind crosswise; and again, at right angles, as in fig. 74. Dip it into melted glue, and put by to dry. When

dry, make a bradawl hole through one part, to reach the powder. Make sure of this, by inverting it, and letting a little drop out. Insert a short port-fire, having a piece of match at the bottom, and touch-papered at the top.

nesses.

ANOTHER METHOD.

Take a rocket case, 5 inches long, and unchoked. Put in one solid inch of plaster of paris. When this is dry, pour in 3 inches of F grain-powder; on this put another solid inch of plaster of paris. When dry, wind string tightly round it, up and down the cylindrical part, not the ends, till of two thickPaint the string over with melted glue. Make a bradawl hole in the middle of one side; fasten to it a squib, without a bang, having a piece of quickmatch at the end, to enter the hole. Cover the joining with two layers of pasted paper. On the other side, below, fasten a short piece of deal, like a rocket stick, with a point, to put into the ground, fig. 72. After lighting the touchpaper, remove to a distance; as bits of string are likely to get driven into the face, on the explosion.