ON SALMON FLIES. 59 



of it that is of positive use, stripping off the refuse 

 which tends to foster moths, by which three fourths 

 of all the best collected feathers are generally soon 

 destroyed. In a box two inches deep, and eighteen 

 long, by twelve broad, I can preserve all the feathers 

 useful to dress, say ten thousand flies. To preserve 

 them clean and right, tumble them all out fre- 

 quently, say every three months, on a newspaper, 

 brush out the box, and then lift every feather singly, 

 clean it by stripping it between your thumb and 

 finger, and replace it in the box. This will prevent 

 moth-bites, and keep all tight and clean. 



I consider it unnecessary to vary these flies in 

 hope of success ; only, be particular in adapting the 

 size of the hook to the state of the water, as from 

 the time the water has fallen in from a flooded state 

 to a fishing size, and thence down to the lowest size 

 of pure summer clearness, it requires not the colours 

 or the form of the flies to be varied, so much as the 

 size, which gradually diminish from the largest 

 salmon hook down to the smallest, even to the size 

 of a trout bait-hook, No. 10 of Adlington's; and, 

 when trouting in low clear water, a salmon will often 

 take your large trout fly, such as a March brown 

 after all forms of salmon flies have floated over him 

 in vain. With my spring trout fly, No. 7 of 



