102 FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC. 



six feet, he could throw almost as long a line with 

 the small rod as he could with the large one stand- 

 ing on a level with the water. But standing on 

 the same level he could not do this, because with 

 the short rod the line would come into contact 

 with the water long before it had reached its full 

 length ; so that upon the altitude of the point of 

 the rod, or the time the line gets to go forward 

 without touching the water, depends the length of 

 line that can be thrown. 



Now, supposing the angler holds both rods in 

 his hand, at a distance of five feet from the ground, 

 the altitude of the point of the six-foot rod will be 

 eleven feet and of the twelve-foot rod seventeen 

 feet. But as substances fall faster every succeed- 

 ing moment, instead of the times which the lines 

 take to fall from the respective rods being in the 

 proportion of eleven to seventeen, they will be 

 nearly in the proportion of seven to nine ; and since 

 the length of line that can be thrown depends en- 

 tirely upon the length of time it gets to go forward, 

 seven to nine will also be nearly the proportion of 

 the lengths of line that can be thrown. Now, if 

 twenty-one feet is the utmost length of line that 

 the small rod will throw, the large one will throw 

 twenty-seven, or six feet more. Besides this, there 

 are six feet additional length of rod. But as both 

 rod and line are at an angle with the water, the 

 whole gain will only be about nine feet additional 

 command of water. Taking everything into ac- 

 count, the water commanded by the two rods will 



