THE COLLAR. 83 



quality, and not, as is often the case, of the coarsest 

 and worst. Its length must depend upon the power 

 of the rod and the degree of tapering of the line 

 with which it is to be used. Indeed, the wrist of 

 the angler, and his rod, line, and collar, must 

 always be regarded as parts of one machine, and 

 be adapted to each other with almost mathemati- 

 cal exactness ; otherwise, pleasant fishing will be 

 out of the question. Very little practice will 

 prove that correct casting depends a great deal 

 upon the proper proportion of collar. When the 

 line, instead of going out smartly and straight, 

 bags, and falls loosely upon the water, it is by 

 reason of the smaller extremity being too much of 

 one uniform size a defect easily removed by 

 shortening the collar, and, if need be, the fine 

 part of the line also. There will occur few cases 

 in which more than four yards or less than two 

 yards of gut will be required ; but on this point, 

 in common with many others of our subject, so 

 much must be left to the exercise of the sports- 

 man's own judgment, that only a broad rule can 

 be laid down. 



In making a collar, care should be taken to 



match the lengths of gut with each other, that 



the whole may taper uniformly. Two stout 



pieces are first to be tied together, then two of 



G 2 



