LINES AND REELS. 25 
securing greater durability, and I shall hope at a future 
opportunity to go more fully into this question with 
reference to a few experiments which I have carried 
out,—but I am satisfied that up to the present time no 
practical application of either of these dressings has been 
arrived at, or, at least, made public, which, having regard 
to the numerous points to be considered, will bear com- 
parison with common 8-plait oiled silk, and I recommend 
the use of this line—of course of different sizes—for all 
sorts of Pike and Salmon fishing, paternostering, leger- 
fishing, and Minnow-spinning. 
It cannot be denied, however, that there is always 
some little uncertainty in the effect of oil dressings, 
especially when manipulated by amateurs; and I have 
on several occasions had lines returned after re-dressing 
—and that too from very careful hands—which for some 
reason or other seemed to become in parts almost imme- 
diately rotten, a result as far as I could judge, only 
attributable to the effect of the new dressing. 
One great safeguard against premature decay we 
know ; and that is, never to put by a line until it has 
been thoroughly dried. Attention to this simple pre- 
caution will save some expense, and not a few of those 
precipitate partings between fish and fisherman, which 
are so painful to at least one of the parties concerned. 
From 60 to 80 yards will be found the most convenient 
length of trolling line for general use; as to sub- 
stance, a medium rather than a very fine or very stout 
