i6 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



do ? I will tell you, he anneals his tubing, and then with the 

 furnisher adapts it to its fellow. For all practical uses its 

 strength is then gone. 



' My own impression is that mandrel-drawn tube not tam- 

 pered with, is {ccsteris paribus) denser and harder than ham- 

 mered tubing is, and no hammered tube could be so uniform. 



' I hope you will forgive this criticism of a work with which 

 I am really charmed, but I shall be only glad to find that you 

 accept it as it is meant, in all courtesy.' 



Who shall decide when doctors disagree ? 



There will be no disagreement, however, as to the fact that 

 all joints of trolling-rods should be 'double-brazed' — i.e., 

 covered with brass — not only round the thick part of the joint, 

 where it fits the ferrule, but also round the thinner end or 

 wooden plug below it. In all sorts of pike-fishing, and notably 

 in spinning, this is of particular importance, as the rapid pass- 

 ing of the wet line through the rings tends to cause a perpetual 

 dripping and trickling of water downwards towards the butt. 

 The natural result is that the water does its best to get into the 

 joints, and, if it succeeds and the precaution of double-brazing 

 be not adopted, the joint has a special aptitude for swelling and 

 sticking fast. When joints are only half-brazed, or not brazed 

 at all, the best plan is to grease or soap them before use. 

 Joints which have become hopelessly ' stuck ' may generally be 

 easily separated by being turned slowly round and round at the 

 ' sticking point ' over the flame of a candle for some seconds, 

 or until it is found that the joint will come apart This process 

 does no damage to anything but the varnish on the ferrule. 



After the subject of ferrules naturally comes that of joint 

 fastenings. I have already gone into this matter so thoroughly 

 in the first volume that I do not propose here to repeat the 

 account of the various new joint fastenings therein described 

 in detail with illustrative diagrams. Any one of them will be 

 found a great improvement on the old-fashioned fastening, 

 which, though it has become venerable by time, possesses, 



