72 



when extended, and to fold up in a portable 

 compass when detached from the handle. 



Clearing -ring : Must be a heavy brass 

 circular ring, the diameter of which should be 

 two inches and a half, and which should open 

 and shut by means of a spring clasp. When 

 your line gets hooked, the clearing-ring, to 

 which is attached a few yards of thin strong 

 whip-cord, is unclasped, then fastened round 

 the line, and allowed to slip down on the sub- 

 stance in which your hook is fast. By pulling 

 the whip-cord line with a force proportioned to 

 the resistance offered, you either disengage 

 your hook, or pull on shore the substance in 

 which you got foul. The clearing-ring is so 

 useful an appendage to the angler, that we ad- 

 vise him never to fish without it. 



Fishing-basket or Creel: On this subject, 

 gentle reader, we have scarcely one word of 

 advice to give. Your own taste will direct you 

 to choose a neat osier one, and your own judg- 

 ment must modify its capaciousness. But be 

 the pannier, that you buckle over your shoulders, 

 of small, or moderate, or large dimensions, we 

 fervently hope that on every return from the 

 river side, you need not be ashamed of allow- 

 ing the hand of curiosity to lift up its lid, or 



