40 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



day's fishing this strand of gut must be thoroughly 

 soaked. ^ | 



Mr. J. J. Hardy has kindly contributed the follo'w4. 



ing note on the manufacturer 

 Silkworm gut. of gut, and it should be read!, 



with care by every fisherman \ 

 who desires to make himself fully acquainted with 

 the details of this most important part of his tackle. 



"THE MAKING OF SILKWORM GUT 

 AND CASTS 



" These form a very important part of an angler's 

 outfit, and a few words on the subject may be of 

 interest." 



" The best gut produced is made in Murcia, Spain, 

 where silkworms are produced regularly in large 

 quantities. This is mostly done by the peasants, 

 who cultivate the worms in their homes. The 

 process of making the worms into gut is as follows : 

 When the worms have attained the stage when they 

 are ready to spin their cocoons, they are killed by 

 putting them into a pickle, which somewhat hardens 

 and solidifies the silk secretions. W^hen this has been 

 done, the worm is taken between the fingers of the 

 worker, who deftly breaks it open and extracts from 

 its interior two oblong sacs which contain the gluten, 

 which had the worm lived would in the natural course 

 of events have been converted into silk. These sacs 

 are then gripped at either end and drawn out to their 

 full extent, and fastened by the ends being coiled 



