In the matter of quality of tubing of which machines are made there is little difficulty at present, as nearly all of the firms buy from one or the other of two great English factories, but when the industry of weldless tube-making becomes more disseminated, and small concerns with inadequate facilities enter the field, we can expect more trouble. About the brazing of the tubes it is utterly impossible to tell anything except from the way it stands. The screws and nuts about a machine should be provided with sharp, deep threads, and work easily though not loosely. A maker can almost always be judged by the kind of screws he cuts. The nuts and screw-heads should be case-hardened and be neat and square on the corners, and not rounded by the nickel polisher. In all cases where it is practicable some device for preventing the nuts from coming loose, or being entirely lost, is a great boon; this point will have to be looked after now since complicated machines are becoming more popular. The device generally used on the outer end of pedals should become more common, especially on tricycles, tandems, and chain Safeties, where there are so many parts. A good practical jam-nut has never yet been invented, and the cycle-builders are therefore not to blame for not having provided some means against loose nuts generally. In the matter of saddle and other springs, we are somewhat at a loss for a guide; there is not so much carelessness in quality of the steel used as in the tempering, and in this the buyer has again to rely on reputation and observance of other machines of the same make. The quality of leather often used in saddles is simply an insult to the judgment of the fraternity, and if we will go on in blindly taking any and everything that is offered, the imposition will continue. If buyers scrutinize closely, the makers will be proportionately careful, thus making it harder for unscrupulous tradesmen to foist poor work upon the market, an evil which has existed and will increase as the industry advances. ABOUT ENGLISH AND AMERICAN MAKERS.