To sramns Srix-worm Gut. 171 
cold coffee or tea twelve hours. Tinging the gut thus does 
not weaken it or render it less pliable. Logwood and alum 
form a decoction very commonly in use for staining eut. 
Lemon-juice and indigo produce a delicate tinge. The outer 
skins of onions, when steeped, produce a dye which stains a 
yellow or leather-color without injuring the gut. 
Stoddart states that walnut leaves produce a brown dye, 
which is a good general tinge for all waters; and such mate- 
rials as stain the gut a neutral tinge, or bluish, are best for 
clear waters. Steep two handsful of walnut leaves in a 
quart of water, and when cool, soak the gut in the water two 
or three hours. The rind of the American black walnut forms 
as good a dye for general use as can be obtained. A bluish 
dye is obtained by boiling a handful of the dust or shavings 
of logwood a quarter of an hour in a quart of water, adding 
a lump of alum half the size of an almond. Dip the gut in 
the decoction while it is yet very warm, and allow it to re- 
main half an hour, or until the shade required is obtained. 
Gut should be entirely dried after staining it, and then it 
should be thoroughly washed in tepid water, when, after dry- 
ing it perfectly, it should be rolled in chamois skin, or stretch- 
ed on a board with the ends fastened to keep it straight. An 
excellent plan for keeping the gut straight upon which flies 
are tied is Hutchinson’s, before mentioned. The distances 
between the loops or rings and the hooks should be so grad- 
uated ag to accommodate different lengths of gut, as illustra- 
ted on the page of trouting-tackle, thus enabling the fly-fisher 
to change his flies or replace one quickly. This plan is ex- 
cellent for drops, but stretchers would require too long a fly- 
book for convenience. On going a-trouting, I usually put up 
a couple of casts, such as I may think will suit the waters 
which I contemplate fishing. For most waters I rig a stretch- 
er and two drops; and I seldom make a mistake in the selec- 
tion of flies. In the early spring I employ the cinnamon as 
the stretcher for one cast, a red ibis as a stretcher for anoth- 
er, and a mallard wing, with claret body, for the third, The 
