346 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



remembered that this action only shifts the mud from 

 one part to another below it, and, as noted in a pre- 

 vious chapter, the only sensible method of removing 

 the mud is by panning it out and distributing it on 

 the river- bank. 



When the weeds are cut the next point is to con- 

 sider what is to be done with 

 Disposal of the cut them. While the cutting is 



weeds. in progress they are gradually 



floating down and masses ac- 

 cumulating against every post, every projection on the 

 bank, every bridge and every weed-rack. The usual 

 custom is to let them down and clear from time to 

 time every accumulation and get rid of these masses 

 of floating weeds in the easiest possible way by letting 

 them drift down from one's own fishery to the next 

 one below. The keepers on this length in turn send 

 them on with the addition of those they have cut 

 themselves. This goes on from reach to reach, and 

 each set of keepers has to deal with an ever-increas- 

 ing quantity of cut weeds until at the mouth of the 

 river they amount in the aggregate to an enormous 

 and unmanageable mass. 



I have high legal authority for the statement that 

 all this is quite illegal. Some of the advocates of the 

 plan have urged that it has become legalized by 

 custom, but again I am assured by the same counsel 

 that an illegal action of this description cannot be 

 rendered legal by custom. 1 am further told that 

 every lessee or lessor could on application to the 



