404 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN, 



can be got of Jackson and Townson, Bishopsgate-street Within), fit the 

 qnill with some shellac varnish inside the cork. Of course yon regulate 

 the size of the hole by the quill, and vice vers&. The quill may either 

 be a "penne " of goose, or swan, or porcupine. The latter is more solid, 

 and I prefer it. Having fixed it tightly, whip some well waxed silk round 

 the apper and lower ends of the cork. Then proceed to put on your 

 rings, both top and bottom. These rings may be made by straightening 

 some ginger beer wire, drawing it through the thumb and finger, pro- 

 tected by a piece of wash leather, and then rolling it round a piece of 

 iron wire of the thickness required to form the diameter of the desired 

 ring's interior. A pair of pliers at once arranges the two ends, and a 

 sharp file brings them flat and ready for whipping on in the position 

 shown in the engraving. This method of ring making answers for all the 

 floats. 



No. 2 is a quill from a swan, goose, Muscovy duck, or turkey, and 

 it is always desirable to thoroughly dry such a quill in a gently heated 

 sand bath or oven. Then it should be scraped, and at the junction 

 of the feather and quill a little sealing-wax varnish should be applied, 

 because in stripping the feather off it sometimes happens that a tiny hole 

 is made in this, the tender part of the quill. Proceed as regards rings 

 as before. 



No 3. is a self buoying float, and the black drawing in the lower part 

 indicates the position of a pointed plug of lead, designed to just cock the 

 float as it rests in the water. This kind of float is very useful when it is 

 desired to fish for carp or roach in rather shallow water, and when it is 

 found that a leaded line is objectionable. I have seen a quicksilver 

 weighted glass float, brought out by Major Colburn, which is also self 

 cocking. It was supposed to be of toughened glass, which would sustain 

 concussion without breakage. However it fell off my mantelpiece to the 

 floor one day, and shivered to atoms. I have no doubt such a float 

 would answer if made in a quill j the same principles however regulate 

 my own weighted float, to which I was just now referring. 



No. 4, 5, 6 explain themselves, and may be made by anybody of 

 ingenuity. The cork should be roughly cut with a sharp knife, and 

 neatly shaped with a rasp and glass paper afterwards. No. 5 can be 

 fashioned of soft deal, and finely pointed for roach-fishing if so wished, 

 or of quill or even reed varnished. Both these latter materials are most 

 unsatisfactorily fragile however. 



Nos. 7 and 8 represent, as before indicated, the front and aide views of 

 a float I make out of deal, and use in chub and dace fishing. I paint it a 

 dull green below, as, indeed, I always do my floats, and whitish above. 

 It then represents more nearly, as far as the submerged portion goes, a 



