52 SALMON AND TROUT. 
that when the ‘Manchester Twine Cotton Spinning Company ” 
first started they sent me some lines, both dressed and un- 
dressed, which were exceedingly perfect, and which I believe, 
after fourteen years’ occasional service, to be still as strong as 
ever—in fact, so strong that on trying one of them just now 
with both hands a friend of mine failed to break it. This line, 
however, is what is termed ‘ cable-laid’—twisted, that is, in the 
same manner as a ship’s cable—the principle of which is that 
whilst the cable itself is twisted from right to left, the separate 
ropes of which it is composed are twisted from left to right. 
The result of this is that the two twists counteract each 
other in their mutual inclination to kink, and when wetted, 
the cable, instead of swelling, hardens and contracts. Of the 
plaited hemp lines issued by the same Company I have 
nothing good to say, neither did any of the dressings of those 
that I have seen properly effect their object, and if they 
did so temporarily, my experience is that they would not 
stand. 
In the case of the particular line to which I refer, no 
semblance of dressing of any sort now remains, or did remain 
after the first few months, or, perhaps, weeks, of real ‘service 
in the field,’ on any part of the line which had come into actual 
use. The strength, however, was and is, I think, bulk for 
bulk, unequalled by any lines that I have met with made of 
silk. The latter, however, possess the great advantage of taking 
the dressing, or waterproofing, perfectly, and admitting after- 
wards of a smoothness and polish which facilitate very greatly 
the running out and the reeling in of the line. 
These dressed silk lines also, if not absolutely so strong as 
those made of hemp (and they have improved of late years), can 
be made quite strong enough for all practical purposes. I say 
advisedly ‘can be made,’ because I have found the most unex- 
pected differences in the strength of different so-called silk 
lines of the same thickness, and where they have been said to 
be of thesame manufacture. The best rough and ready method 
of testing is to take a foot or two of the line between the hands 
