Fish-hooks. 37 



them to the weather night and day for four or five days. 

 The hooks should lie flat on the board so that the at- 

 mospheric moisture may be the longer retained in con- 

 tact with the lacquer, as will be the case where the 

 hook touches the board. If, at the end of that time 

 in ordinary, mixed wet and dry weather, no or very 

 slight signs of rust appear, the hooks may be used with- 

 out fear. 



If, however, signs of rust do appear, then the follow- 

 ing is a remedy. Get from an apothecary some alco- 

 holic tincture of Tolu-gum. Put the hooks in a saucer 

 and pour a very little of the tincture upon them. Then 

 stir them up briskly for a minute or two with a hair- 

 pin, so that any excess of tincture on one hook, or part 

 of a hook, will rub off onto the others, and a uniform 

 coating be given to all. I say a very little tincture is 

 to be used, and a very little is meant. Half a tea- 

 spoonful is quite enough for a hundred No. 4 hooks, 

 whereas for the same number of 8, 10, or 12 hooks, half 

 as much or less will suffice. Then take out the hooks 

 one by one with a pair of tweezers, or, better, a bent pin 

 if you have the patience, and hang them on a stretched 

 wire till the tincture is not only dry but hard say 

 twenty -four hours in good drying weather. When 

 dry, examine each hook to see whether the eye or 

 barb is clogged, and clean out such as require it with a 

 pin. 



The bronzed hook came upon the market in notice- 

 able quantity a little after the eyed fly-hook. The eyes 

 were then all made very small, even on large hooks, as 

 shown in the following cut. The "loop-eyed" hook, 

 figured on page 32, in which the wire is lapped back 

 against the shank of the hook after forming the eye, 



