THE LINE. 291 



Under bad usuage a rod may become either racked or strained. 

 "Backing " means disablement for the part affected. A "rack " is a kind of 

 strain concentrated in one spot and is so bad an injury in itself that it 

 can best be defined as " incipient fracture." 



A "strain," distinguished from a "rack," is rather a warp inducing a 

 temporary curve in one direction. 



" Backing " comes from lifting a line too suddenly ; from making the 

 thrashdown too soon, or too late ; from catching the hook in boughs, &c., 

 in the rear of the Angler ; or from using a line too light in weight. 



" Straining" results from continually fishing upon one side of the water ; 

 from standing the rod against a wall in a damp place ; from working 

 with loose ferrules and sometimes from using a line too heavy for the 

 rod. The defect is one that can be cured by a skilled rodrnaker ; but 

 racking is incurable. 



PAKT SECOND CHAPTER VI. 



" He only tee* mdl mJn .*e.t the whole in the parts, and the parti in the whole." 



LAVATEB. 



THE LINE. 



MANY and various instances in mercantile and industrial enterprise 

 give rise to the current belief that, real progress does not depend so much 

 on the perfect knowledge of the abstract sciences, as on the extent and 

 perfection of those simple arts which minister to the daily wants and 

 comforts of life. However this may be in the ordinary course of things, 

 we are perhaps not concerned at the present moment to inquire ; but no 

 doubt whatever exists in angling minds that the progress of a Salmon- 

 fisherman does not depend so much on the perfection of fly-work, as on 

 the way the fly is put before the fish. That being so, it may not be 

 altogether out of place here, first, to draw attention to a certain art in 

 fishing the fly, the achievement of which considerably depends on the 

 make and quality of the line in use. 



Who, for instance, ever heard of the scheme, or even recognised the 

 necessity for mending a cast five and twenty years ago ? 



TT 



U /o 



