54 Fly-rods and Fly-tackle. 



on some neighboring stone protruding above the water. 

 And if this is followed, as it is apt to be, by the butt 

 and reel slipping off into the water at the very crisis of 

 the disentanglement, to the great peril if not disaster to 

 your tip, you will then have opportunity to exercise a 

 wise discrimination as to which of the two annoyances 

 you will elect to suffer in the future. If to this is added 

 the probability that you first discover the mischance 

 after a cautious approach to some extra promising pool, 

 and when you wish to lengthen your line, so as to lay 

 your flies just where you feel sure the aldermen of the 

 brook are assembled together ; or worse still, after you 

 have fastened to one of those aldermen, or possibly the 

 chairman of the board, and find that you can neither 

 give nor take line, you will then agree with me that 

 such a line is more demoralizing to the angler than the 

 fish. 



There is also another important point to be consid- 

 ered, not generally known by anglers. The same boiled- 

 silk not-waterproofed line, when wet, is not nearly as 

 strong as when dry. Experiments conducted at my re- 

 quest with the best appliances and by an expert, pieces 

 from the same line being used for all, gave as an aver- 

 age of several trials, strength, dry, 19 Ibs., 14 oz. ; wet, 

 14 Ibs., 13 oz. Indeed, silk-thread manufacturers well 

 know that the same thread is much stronger dry than 

 when wet. A gentleman in whom I have every confi- 

 dence informs me that the result of some experiments 

 he made in this direction gave him as an average, dry 

 strength, 23 pounds; wet strength, 14 to 15 pounds; 

 waterproofed in best manner, strength, 18 pounds, 

 pieces from the same line being of course used. These 

 last-mentioned experiments indicate that though water- 



