There are several descriptions of cartridge--those made by Eley of England or Gevelot of France being the best. Eley manufactures two qualities at different prices, and those persons who object to reloading their cartridges, may purchase the lower-priced article, which is not intended to be used more than once. The first quality cost three pounds a thousand, unloaded but capped; or they may be purchased at a proportionally higher price loaded, ready for instant use, as they can be transported even across the ocean without material risk. The brown-paper cartridges of Chaudun are also good, but not quite so fine an article as Eley’s; they may be reloaded, however, several times. In carrying the loaded cartridges, it is natural to suppose that there would be danger of their exploding in consequence of a sudden jar, and they are generally packed in sawdust to avoid this risk, but experience has proved that the danger is slight; generally speaking, they cannot be so discharged, and there is but one case reported where it happened; in this instance, a railway porter in England let fall a large box of them, when a single cartridge exploded, without doing any damage or discharging the others. There are, properly speaking, no gun-makers in America; a few workmen import English locks, stocks, and barrels, and fitting them together, stamp them with their names; but I know of no establishment where the smallest portion even of the fowling-piece is manufactured. It is a matter of great difficulty to get any good work done, and the simplest repairs are generally bungled in our best shops in a way to disgrace the trade and disgust the owner; as for having a gun made, we have not advanced the first step towards it, not even having a compulsory proof-stamp. It is hardly necessary to add that breech-loaders must be imported. They and their equipment are kept for sale at our principal metropolitan shops, and their mechanism is so simple that any accident to it can be repaired; but as they are not in general demand, really fine articles are difficult to find, and had better be purchased specially on the other side. This can be done by the party himself, by sending to any European maker the length from the foremost trigger to the heel-plate, and the drop from the line of the barrels to the cheek-piece of the stock--that exist in his present gun, and which he wishes to retain. Or any of our dealers will take the measure of his gun, and import him a breech-loader that will “come up” like the old gun he has handled for years.