The North Country Angler. 3 



this, besides its being a heavy top, will take any 

 bent when much wet. I have made very pretty 

 tops of red-wood, and sometimes good ones, 

 when the wood has been sawn streight with the 

 grain ; but this is not always observed by joiners, 

 and those that saw it into lengths, and square 

 the pieces with a plane. These, when rasped 

 and filed, and neatly made up, look very well ; 

 but being a short-grained wood, is apt to break 

 off like a splice, as I have sometimes known it 

 do, upon striking a fish that has taken the fly 

 too near me, and so I have lost line, fish, top 

 and all. I have tried barberry, brier, and dog- 

 tree, but upon trial have found fault with^them 

 all. Some think hazle, if chosen with judgment^ 

 makes as good a top as any; and I own it does 

 so, for coarse strong tackle. Some prefer the 

 rush-grown cane tops to all others, but I cannot 

 be altogether of their opinion. I once, indeed, 

 saw a cane top that surprized me very much : I 

 could not have believed, unless I had seen it, 

 that any thing naturally grown, with such joints 

 and cavities as canes always have, could have 

 been so taper, light and strong. 



Yew, especially the white of it, makes a very 

 fine top ; but among all that I have tried, I have 

 found none so generally serviceable as the bur- 

 tree or elder : But to make it such, I must insist 

 upon its being used exactly as I do, otherwise I 

 will not answer for it. I cut my bur-tree about 

 Martinmas; a branch of three years growth is 

 old enough. As soon as I bring it home, I saw 

 it through at every joint ; only sometimes, when 

 the branch is exactly streight, I make a length of 



