Mr Adams, in his work on “Pleasure Carriages,” considers it a mistake to hollow out each steel plate of a spring. I am quite of his opinion that this process of hammering leaves the inner surface of a steel plate very uneven, thereby harbouring moisture and dirt, and rendering the plate liable to fracture. I should recommend, on the contrary, that each plate should be ground or filed quite smooth on both sides. If careful tempering were generally the rule among Coachbuilders, I am convinced that there would be fewer broken springs, and less complaint of rust accumulating between the plates. The use of brake Retarders to the hind wheels has now for some years superseded the use of drag-shoes. It is evident that the action upon two wheels is better than on one only; the brake can be applied or removed without stopping the carriage, which had to be done with the drag-shoe; it can be relaxed in its hold in an undulating country, and the horses can proceed at speed up the next hill without the check formerly necessary whilst the drag-shoe was removed. The brake was invented very early, and was in use in the coal trucks upon the first tramways in Northumberland, long before steam was used to draw them. They are now of two sorts: screw brakes, which are used on railways in England and all sorts of carriages on the Continent, and the old lever brake, which was the original form, and which is still the favourite among English coachmen. In Scotland the lever handle is often superseded by the treadle, or foot-brake, which has been selected by the General Omnibus Company. In deciding upon the exact size and shape of the details of the brake a Coachbuilder is necessarily guided by the shape of the vehicle to which it is to be applied. It is necessary to attend to the following points: the lever arm that presses upon the rim of the wheel should be short, both for quick action and also for strength. The handle should be long, that the coachman may have greater power in applying the brake. The whole of the handle and the connecting-rod irons should be made somewhat weak to allow a little spring in them. If they are made too strong they will be rigid, and not fit with and favour the motion of the carriage and play of the springs. If a quick action is desired, the inner half of the levers on the wheels should be short, or long if a slow action is preferred. The blocks which press upon the wheels have been variously made of cast-iron, wrought iron, brass, wood, india-rubber, and leather. The wood is the best for hold on the iron tyre and freedom from noise and smell, but it wears out fast. India-rubber, especially for light carriages, seems most satisfactory. The use of the brake is very much overdone on the Continent, especially in Germany,--it is put on for such slight declines that the unfortunate horses are always kept up to their collars, and never get the ease that we give them going down hill.