358 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



pipkin for ten minutes ; add one-quarter of an ounce of tallow, 

 and simmer for a quarter of an hour ; then pour the mass out 

 into a basin of water, and work it up with the fingers until 

 prefectly pliable. A very useful and tenacious wax. 



Dry or Brittle Cobblers' Wax. If the wax be too brittle or 

 dry, add the smallest possible morsel of tallow, and work it up 

 with the cobblers' wax, and it soon becomes soft and usable. 



India-rubber Glue used to mend waterproof boots and 

 stockings, by sticking a piece of sheet rubber over a crack is 

 made in the same way as the india-rubber dressing for lines, 

 by dissolving india-rubber, cut small, in turps or naphtha. 

 For this the black rubber is preferred, and the mixture is 

 stronger and thicker than for line-dressing. 



Cement for Aquariums, etc. Melt some resin in a pipkin, 

 and while simmering stir in by degrees about one-half the same 

 quantity of putty ; pour it on hot. 



To Dress Water Boots. Beeswax, tallow, and black varnish, 

 or tar, which is preferred by some, should be melted together 

 and rubbed into the boots before the fire, so as to melt it into 

 the cracks thoroughly. 



To Keep Moth from Feathers. Pepper them well with white 

 pepper, and, above all, keep them from the damp. Expose 

 valuable feathers to the air now and then. Chopped tobacco 

 leaf is a capital preservative, and a little strewed on the fly- 

 book is very efficacious. Camphor is good as long as it lasts, 

 but it soon dissolves, and is very expensive, too. Cedar chips 

 are said to be good.* 



To Pack Trout. Dry them thoroughly, and pack them in 

 dry straw. If for a long journey, gut them, and dust the inside 

 with pepper. Sting-nettles are said to preserve the colour for a 

 short journey ; but never use grass, as anything damp is not 

 desirable.f 



To Stain Gimp. Bright brass gimp is very easily seen by the 

 fish. To discolour it soak it in a solution of bi-chlorate of 

 platinum mixed with water (i of platinum to 8 or 10 of water) ; 

 then dry before the fire. (Book of the Pike, p. 97.) 



Treatment of Boots, Waterproofs, etc. Neither boots nor 

 coats must be put too near the fire. They may be safely, and 

 with advantage, placed at a reasonable distance from it ; but 

 the best of servants are careless about this, and boots worth 



* Naphthalene is perhaps best of all. ED. 



f As the primary object of packing material is to exclude the air, nothing 

 answers so well as clean white paper. ED, 



