ANGLING AND 
Biv Rs) 1B) 
Very pleasant it is for an English- 
man who for many years has watched 
the progress of field sports in America, 
as chronicled in the columns of forest 
and Stream, Shooting and Fishing, THE 
AMERICAN ANGLER, The American Field, 
etc., to note the strong and universal 
hold which the sport of angling has on 
the affections of the American people. 
Hanging on the walls of my fishing 
library are fine old contemporary en- 
gravings of two noted anglers—one was 
the saviour of the Old World, the other 
of the New—Nelson and Washington. 
meimatter Of congratulation . to’ us 
anglers also is that the present twice- 
elected President of the United States 
is an enthusiastic angler, as is also his 
charming wife. 
One of the beauties of angling is the 
very wide range and variety of sport it 
offers. If you court sport with danger, 
the noble salmon, from the ice-cold tor- 
rents of the northern rivers, invites 
you to test your best strength with him. 
There, as bracing yourself waist-deep 
against the rushing waters, against the 
gale of sleet and hail which sweeps 
down the gorge from the snow-clad 
mountains—there, after many a cast 
with your 18 ft. salmon rod, which the 
north wind treats like areed, now bend- 
ing it back on you, now dashing the 
rough leader across your face like a 
whip-lash—there, out in the midst 
of the foam and waves, a great flash of 
Silver (Catches. your ‘eyesv Tt “1s the 
monarch of the stream; he has 
accepted your invitation to battle; 
and to defeat him will tax every re- 
source at your command, aided as he is 
ANGLING 
APPLIANCES. 
MARSTON, EDITOR ‘‘ FISHING GAZETTE,’ OF LONDON, ENG. 
by the stress of water and weather, by 
the sunken rocks and slippery boulders 
among which you must follow him, or 
the still more dangerous quicksand. 
Or, on a warm summer evening, as 
your boat drifts over the lake before 
the refreshing breeze, you may almost 
without effort cast the taper line, gos- 
samer gut collar, and dainty flies 
across the path of the advancing trout, 
and then admire the graceful curve of 
your trusty split cane, green-heart, 
lancewood, or other favorite old rod, as 
it bends to the rush of the game fish. 
Twelve or fifteen years ago no British 
firm could compete with the best 
makers of one particular description of 
rod, viz.: the hexagonal split cane. 
These beautiful rods were imported at 
first in small quantities, chiefly by one 
or two West-end gunmakers, and sold 
at exorbitant prices; or now and then 
English sportsmen, returning from the 
States, brought these new rods with 
them. They were received with that 
national prejudice which leads us at 
first to under-rate a thing, and then to 
run to the other extreme of over-rating 
it, making a fashion of it. The great de- 
mand then caused a large number of 
utterly worthless built-cane rods to be 
made for this market, bringing dis- 
credit on astyle of rod which, if prop- 
erly made, has in many respects no su- 
perior. Split-cane rods were, indeed, 
exhibited by Messrs. Aldred & Co., of 
Oxford street, as long ago as the first 
International ‘‘ World’s Fair ’’—that of 
1851. They were made of triangular 
slips of cane glued together, and 
rounded on the outside so as to appear 
