58 Fly-rods and Fly-tackle. 



lines were all of the size indicated by the letter E, 

 though they actually differed somewhat in diameter, as 

 is usual with the lines of different makers. The water- 

 proofing compound seemed to permeate the lines to 

 their very centre. When doubled so that the parts 

 were in contact, then twisted together, and then rolled 

 between the thumb and forefinger with all possible press- 

 ure, they showed no disintegration of the waterproofing 

 compound when the line was again straightened. They 

 broke respectively at 30f pounds, 27^ pounds, and 28 

 pounds. An English line, brown in color, of the same 

 nominal size, and of best Chinese silk and very well 

 waterproofed, but which had been used two seasons, 

 broke at 20^ pounds. All were excellent lines, the 

 difference in strength being due more to difference 

 in thickness than to the quality. They retailed at 

 eight cents a yard level and ten cents a yard when ta- 

 pered at both ends, and would outwear half a dozen 

 or more cotton-centred lines at three and a half cents. 



In my first edition I said : " If Phariseeism is ever par- 

 donable, it is when a good enamelled waterproofed line of 

 American manufacture is compared with the best produced 

 in any other country." This is certainly no longer true. 

 I have seen and used English lines during the last three 

 or four years of most satisfactory excellence. They seem 

 to taper their lines better than we do, in that the taper 

 is longer and more nicely graduated. These lines were 

 said to be waterproofed in a vacuum. That is, substan- 

 tially, the line was placed under a receiver, the air ex- 

 hausted, and then the waterproofing compound intro- 

 duced while the vacuum was still maintained. I have 

 heard this process ridiculed by dealers in this country, 

 but it would seem without just reason. It is of the first 



