had the effect of making the brute change sides, then he backed as nearly alongside the wheeler as his traces would permit, and finally a bystander had to straighten out the team and give the leader a dig in the ribs as he entered the show-ring. Once there the Captain's unquestionable skill was made manifest. Something of the same kind occurred to me many years ago, when driving an Oxford tandem under the archway of the White Hart, Chipping Norton. The leader had just got his head under the opening, when a little dog jumped out and barked. In spite of a nineteen miles journey, the leader was round in an instant; we remained a tangled mass for some time, and it was doubtless the thought of the coming feed of corn more than anything else that at last induced Xerxes to walk straight and quietly up the stable yard. There is one golden rule for tandem drivers which should never be lost sight of. If the leader does happen to turn round, turn the wheeler round after him, if there be room. So long as the horses are straight, something may be done, but a head to tail complication may result in a smash. Of course perfect leaders should not look their coachman in the face, but as tandems are more often than not scratch teams, such a contingency may happen at any moment.

Anyone who, for the first time, contemplates setting up a tandem should read Lady Georgina Curzon's chapter in the Badminton Driving-book, as the subject is dealt with exhaustively by one who is herself no mean performer. It will be seen that Lady Georgina recommends a heavy cart for tandemher own weighs six cwt. for a pair of ponies or cobs. A fairly heavy cart with four people on it unquestionably makes things easier for the driver; but I am not by any means sure that the employment of a heavy cart does not do more than nullify the advantage of a tandem, because a light four-wheeled dog-cart can be obtained weighing but little if anything more than six cwt., and, as I have ventured to suggest, two horses side by side do their work very much easier than when put tandem fashion. There are several methods of harnessing the leader in a tandem, but one of them-that of attaching the leader's traces to the shafts of the cart-may be dismissed at once as being, from all points of view, a mechanical mistake. Some people are very much in favour of the bars, and were I always to drive a well-broken leader, warranted quiet, I am not sure that I should not use them in preference to any other contrivance. For one thing, they help to steady the leader, who has not nearly so much liberty in turning round, etc., as with the ordinary long traces, and they give a smart appearance to the turn-out. But my objection to them is, that when you drive strange horses, or horses not broken to the work, you will often set your leader kicking by the bars touching his hocks. In theory I know they never should touch the horse; but in practice it is difficult to VOL. LIII.-NO. 361.

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prevent it if, that is to say, the traces are kept at the proper length. By using the traces very long you to a great extent get over the difficulty, but you lose power, as the horse is too far from his work. When the traces are just right it needs but a slight dwelling on the part of the leader to drop back on to the bars, and before the wheeler can be checked the mischief happens, should the leader be inclined to kick. Then there are a couple of long traces invented for the benefit of tandem drivers, the object being to get the leader to pull straight from the vehicle, without in any way interfering with the wheeler or his harness. I have not had any very great experience of them; they appear to answer well enough, though I cannot see that they have any pronounced advantage over the system of fastening the leader's traces to the buckles of the wheeler's traces at the tugs. When so harnessed, a coachman who allows his leader to overpull his wheeler must be a veritable muff. A good many persons are of opinion that breeching spoils the smart appearance of a tandem; and so, for parade purposes, it may. But, except for the mere fun of the thing, no object is gained by driving a tandem on roads which are not sufficiently hilly to necessitate a horse in single harness walking up some of the ascents. This means that he must hold back coming down, and then it is surely wise to assist him in his task with the breeching, just as we help him up-hill with the leader.

The difficulty of apportioning the work between the two horses of a tandem is greater than might at first sight appear. Even with four persons in a cart the weight is not much, and when the vehicle is once in motion it follows very easily on the flat, where the leader should do but an infinitesimal amount of work; the least coming forward of the wheeler's collar, or the least slackness of the wheeler's trace, between the point of attachment and the hames, will be an indication that the leader is doing more than is necessary; more, indeed, than is expedient, for driving tandem with a tired leader is but a sorry pastime. When the Badminton book on "Driving" appeared, a great many critics were exercised in mind as to the meaning of the Duke of Beaufort's direction that a man should not drive with two hands. "How was it possible," some asked, "for anyone to guide horses in a crowded street, with his reins in one hand and his whip in the other?" It is scarcely necessary to explain that no one ever supposed a man would try to do anything of the kind. The meaning of the direction is that the reins should never be held in two hands in such a manner that, if the right hand is removed, the reins should be of unequal length in the left hand. If horses pull at all, the right hand must be brought to the assistance of the left; but the right reins, must never be pulled out of the left hand. If they are, and the coachman, wanting to turn to the right, drops his right reins for an instant, the horses of course go off to the

left. It is extremely important in tandem driving to hold the reins of equal length in the left hand, because the right is so often wanted on the leader's reins alone, and there is all the less time for fumbling by reason of the reins being closer together than when driving four horses. The importance attached by Lady Georgina Curzon to the correct balancing of the cart will commend itself to everyone who has ever had the ill-luck to ride behind when the vehicle has been hung so as to slope backwards. It takes a great deal of skill to adjust a dog-cart properly, as, in addition to the placing of the seats, the proper length of backband and bellyband must be ascertained; and in connection with the seats it may be pointed out that when the front and hind seats are moved independently of each other, it adds greatly to the comfort of the occupants of the back bench when a space is left between it and the front seat; and this can generally be managed by moving the front seat rather more forward than would be necessary were both placed close together, while at the same time the back seat is moved a few inches further to the rear.

Bicycling and Tricycling.

YEAR by year the use of bicycles and tricycles has increased, until, at the present time, the number of machines employed as a means of recreation is enormous. The high standard of perfection which has been reached in their construction has largely conduced to this end, and the machines now made combine strength and rigidity with lightness to an extent which no amount of ingenuity can far exceed. The annual show (which this year and last was held at the Crystal Palace) was instructive in many ways. It afforded conclusive evidence of the popularity, or otherwise, of the various devices in two and three wheels there exhibited. Among some sixteen hundred machines on view, a glance round was sufficient to show the great predominance of the rear-driving Safety bicycle over everything else. Many of the minor exhibitors had nothing but this type. The tricycle, which came next in point of numbers, could hardly be said to be well represented; whilst the high ordinary bicycle and the tandem tricycle were by no means. conspicuous.

The undoubted preference for the Safety bicycle, which may be deduced from its prominence at the last January show, is due to a variety of reasons. In the first place, large numbers of riders who would have taken to the tricycle, had the ordinary bicycle been the only alternative, have found in the Safety a good substitute, which they have elected to employ. The choice has been made either on account of the lesser cost of