CHAPTER VII. 



FLOATS. 



HERE are Dame Juliana Berners' directions for float making, and, 

 besides their curious quaintness, they substantially state the making of 

 cork floats : 



" Thenne shall ye make your flotys in this wyze. Take a fayr corke that 

 is clene without many holes, and bore it through wyth a smalle hole yren. 

 And putt therin a penne juste and streyghte. Ever the more flote the 

 gretter penne [i.e., a quill] and the gretter hole. Thenne shape it grete 

 in the myddis and smalle at bothe endys and specyally sharpe in the nether 

 ende, make theym smofche on a gryndyng stone or on a tyle stone." 



Thus the " Boke of St. Alban's." But similar to the art of rod making 

 is that of floab making. Experts can make them much quicker and better 

 than an amateur, unless a quill, one of the best and most serviceable of 

 materials, comprises the whole bag of tricks. 



I append drawings of some floats most in use at the present time, with 

 one of my own device. Nos. 1, 2, 3, are travelling floats, as their 

 position indicates, No. 3 being loaded so as not to require additional 

 weighting. Nos. 4 and 5 are the ordinary roach fishing floats. Nos. 7 

 and 8 represent the side and front views of a float I make out of deal. 

 It is exceedingly light, and is a capital float for chub fishing. No. 6 is the 

 ordinary live baits' float for pike. 



No. 1 is commonly of cork, though I have constructed it of tin hollowed. 

 This makes a capital substitute, only it is a difficult matter to solder 

 the tin so that no water gets inside. I have also made this sort of float 

 of pith, and of indiarubber blown out with hydrogen and protected 

 by strips of quill. These fancy floats are, however, only fit to occupy 

 lazy time, in the making, for the cork float is quite the best material 

 after all. Having bored through your strip of cork with a red hot 

 iron, or, better still, a cork-borer, used in chemical experiments (it 



