386 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



In the meadows adjoining most of the south-country 



chalk-streams there are numer- 



Selection of a carrier ous carriers, some natural and 



for a stew. some artificial ; the former 



selected by our ancestors to 

 contribute to their scheme of water-meadow irrigation, 

 and the latter dug out to perfect this scheme where 

 the natural carriers were insufficient. The natural 

 carriers are to be preferred, and in one of them the 

 stew should be made. A little observation will soon 

 show which are the most suitable, because they in- 

 variably contain a considerable number of small 

 healthy trout. It is essential that the water supply 

 should be constant (although perhaps slightly variable 

 in quantity), and not subject to the caprice of millers 

 or farmers. 



If the fall is sufficient to enable the stew to- be 

 emptied of water when picking up the fish, it is a 

 distinct advantage. Another point to be observed 

 is that in every one of these natural carriers the water 

 flows over hard solid gravel. To select a muddy 

 ditch or one flowing over peat is unwise, and to go 

 to the expense of putting down gravel over a clay 

 or peat bottom is simply courting failure, because it 

 is essentially a carrier unfit for the purpose. The 

 making of the stew is a simple matter, and there is no 

 possible advantage to be derived from constructing it 

 with elaborate brick piers, solid brick sides, or other 

 costly form of construction. 



A description of the stew in which such satisfactory 



