344 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



the trout and for the sport of the fisherman, the scheme 

 must be such as to leave sufficient weeds. Seeing that 

 clean bare gravel patches among the weeds are always 

 favourable places for the trout to lie on and to feed in, 

 plenty of these clear spaces must be provided. Seeing 

 that the young growth is more frequented by the 

 nymphs, larvae, and other forms of food than the old 

 growths, the efficient keeper's efforts must ever be 

 directed to cutting away and even rooting up the old 

 or darker-coloured growths and leaving the tender 

 young light-coloured growths to grow and flourish. 



Proceeding on these lines the keeper can find con- 

 tinuous work in weed-cutting during the entire season. 

 In the early part of it he will have far less to do than 

 later on when the warmth of the sun has raised the 

 temperature of the water and stimulated the rate of 

 growth of the weeds. No cut-and-dried scheme of 

 leaving masses at one time and ruthlessly sweeping 

 them away at another time will produce a satisfactory 

 result. It requires continuous and intelligent applica- 

 tion of the knowledge conveyed by a due and 

 proper comprehension of the principles first laid 

 down. 



An old hand-scythe blade fixed to a long ash-pole 



is the best tool for the majority 

 Implements for weed- of the work. It is necessary 

 cutting-, to have two of these, one right- 



and the other left-handed, and 

 when the blades are being ground it is an advantage 

 to remove the sharp point at the end of the scythe 



