TIPS. 139 



six iiidics, hangs at this moment on tlic wall of my library. More- 

 over, at certain periods of the year, it is very diffirult, if not 

 impossible, to catch salmon on the Dee with flies much less in length. 



This gentleman, therefore, must be accusing me of being an 

 economizer of the truth. Wiiat eartlil>- ol)ject I can have in doing so 

 I am at a total loss to imagine, and I do not think the cause which, I 

 presume, we both of us lia\c at heart, viz., the adniition of sounrler 

 methods m salmon angling, can be promoted by the methods of 

 criticism that do not appear to me to be far removed from the crude 

 retort of our schoolboy days. 



Reverting to what has just been said of these hooks and the 

 advantage of thin bodies, very few of us even dreamt that flies of that 

 size would come into fashion. The old sort of hooks were so thick, 

 the cobbler's wax on the tying silk necessitating several layers of 

 floss to avoid discolouration, which immediately followed wetting was 

 so unsuitable, that some reform seemed imperative. 



As soon as Bambridge, of Eton-on-Thames, introduced his 

 excellent white wax, and the improved long-shanked hooks were 

 brought out, it was at once found that a single layer of floss, or little 

 more, ])roduced all the effect wanted. Hut still, for general purposes, 

 cobbler's wax is the best of all. 



