S 2 FLY-FISHING. 



the colour of the water hardly affects the question. 

 A colour which without being glossy will assimilate 

 best w r ith the sky-tint for the time being is that 

 which would be theoretically perfect if obtainable, 

 but as the sky-tints change perpetually, dark 

 alternating with light, and sun with shade, so as 

 to make it impossible in practice to keep the 

 colours actually matched, the next best thing is to 

 employ a colour which harmonizes best with the 

 largest number of the most commonly prevailing 

 cloud-tints. This colour appears to be a sort of 

 greyish-green, but I have never met with any 

 single stain which will produce it. It seems to 

 require the blending of several separate tints, and 

 that may probably be the secret of the success of 

 the following receipt, for which I was originally 

 indebted to my friend Mr. W. C. Stewart : 



The first step in the process is to impart to the gut a 

 lightish tint of the common "red-water stain." For this 

 purpose take a teacupful of black tea, and boil it with a quart 

 of water : keeping the gut steeped in the mixture until it has 

 acquired the necessary tint. This process will sometimes 

 take only half an hour or even less, and sometimes several 

 hours, according to the strength and staining power of the 

 tea : when sufficiently stained, rinse the gut well in cold 

 water. When dry, take a handful of logwood-chips (obtain- 

 able at most druggists), and boil them in a quart of water till 

 the latter is reduced to about a pint. Then take it off the 

 fire, and put into it a small piece of copperas (sulphate of 

 copper), about the size of a hazel nut, powdered, stir the 



