HALFORD AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 157 



which they had become very fond because the trout 

 did not rise at the little floating fly that appeared, and 

 the sport had decreased to a marked degree. A fishery 

 that gave poor and diminishing results, even with the 

 Mayfly, sedge, and Welshman's button, was not suit- 

 able for dry-fly experts, and the Ramsbury experiment 

 was abandoned. The moral has yet to be drawn, and 

 I have not yet seen anyone grapple at close quarters 

 with the question of cause and effect with the Ramsbury 

 experiment as a test. " Making a Fishery " sets down 

 in detail what was done ; the Autobiography tells 

 what came of it. Being one of those who has not 

 faltered in the belief that the clearing out of coarse 

 fish, the introduction of new strains of trout, and the 

 artificial feeding of fish may be overdone, I used to 

 discuss the matter with Halford, but he did not agree 

 with me. 



Having known the Ramsbury water before the 

 reformation was undertaken, I can testify that I seldom 

 at any time saw a good rise of duns upon it, and that 

 a basket of trout more or less was, notwithstanding, a 

 reasonable certainty there under ordinarily favourable 

 circumstances, spite of pike and dace. I have with 

 the wet fly, on days when no floating fly was coming 

 down, caught my two or three brace of trout with 

 some such pattern as Red Spinner, Governor, Alder, 

 or Coachman for the evening ; indeed, if I remember 

 correctly, it was on a six-brace day with the " Red 

 Spinner " on this water that, enamoured of that arti- 

 ficial, I annexed its name for a series of articles contri- 

 buted in 1874 to tne Gentleman's Magazine, and have 

 held by it ever since. Foli, the opera-singer, once 

 caught three half-pounders at a cast, and the keeper 

 netted them all, on this fishery. 



One evening we met at Ramsbury, after an afternoon 



