80B THE SALMON FLY. 



Mr. Halford, in his admirable book 

 on Dry-fly Fishing (Sampson, Low and 

 Marston), directs us to " immerse the 

 line in a flat, vessel containing pure 

 boiled oil,* place the vessel under the 

 receiver of an air-pump ; exhaust until 

 all air-bubbles are drawn to the surface ; 

 do not remove the line until after all 

 THE AIR-PUMP. the air-bubbles have broken and vanished. 



Take the line out of the oil ; draw it through your fingers or a piece of 

 flannel or felt lightly, so as to remove all superfluous oil. Then wind the 

 line on a frame which is about 18 inches long, made of two side-pieces of 

 wood, with two pieces of iron wire across the ends. There are saw-gates 

 cut obliquely on one of the wooden sides of the frame. One end of the 

 line when covered with the first coat of oil is fastened in the saw-gates 

 marked No. 1, and the line wound on. The frame and the line is then 

 placed in an oven,t heated to the temperature of a 150 Fahrenheit and 

 baked for about ten hours. The line is then taken out of the oven, and, 

 when cold, all the irregularities are rubbed off carefully with very fine 

 glass-paper, taking care not to abrade any of the silky fibres. After all 

 irregularities are rubbed off and the line made as equal in size as possible, 

 it is again put into the oil, under the air-pump and the air again exhausted. 

 The line, when all the air-bubbles have broken, is taken out, and again 

 wound on the frame being fastened at the saw-gate No. 2, and so on ; so 

 that the line should have a different point of contact with the iron wire 

 after each coat." 



Mr. Halford tenders further advice, and presents us with a number 

 of reliable details, which are of solid value in the completion of the system 

 for Trout lines. He has, moreover, a happy knack of showering many 

 other blessings on the heads of his followers ; and (to adopt the appropriate 

 expression of Mr. Dagonet) though the book is going like " wild fire," the 

 next generation will have nothing to fear on that account from the simple 

 fact of its being stationary. Mr. Hawkesley being versed in practical 



* The Author meant the Clarified Oil. 

 t A tin box over gas. 



