Note 51 — Chapter II · THE SMOOTH-BORE GUN
Reading edition
Corned powder was graded in France in the year 1540 into three sizes by means of sieves which varied with the types of guns for which they were intended (see Hime: Origin of Artillery). By the end of the century the manufacture had evidently improved in this country. “Some do make excellent good corn powder, so fine, that the corns thereof are like thime seed,” wrote Thos. Smith in his Art of Gunnery, A.D. 1600.