318 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Learn to Catch Your Own Trout. 
The labors of Seth Green, Roosevelt, and others 
interested in preserving and perpetuating our best 
fish, are rapidly restocking our trout streams, 
and every farmer who has a running brook on his 
place can now, at very little expense, have trout 
of his own to order. The farmer boy looks with 
wondering admiration at the ily-casts of his city 
cousin, who has come to the country for his July 
vacation, but if he will give a little time and at¬ 
tention, he. can very soon acquire the art of fly¬ 
fishing, and excel his cousin, for he has more 
strength in his arm and more endurance generally. 
Here what David Foster, to whom we referred last 
month, has to say: 
It is a well established axiom that in skillful cast¬ 
ing lies the chief condition of success. “ He can 
throw a good line,” is equivalent to asserting the 
proficiency of a rodster, whether he be fly, mid¬ 
water, or bottom fisher. The ordinary routine cast 
is the first to be practised and acquired by the 
tyro. This is accomplished by bringing rouud the 
rod so as to describe a half circle from over the 
left shoulder, and delivering it directly over the 
right, the action emanating from the wrist and 
elbow ouly. It is capital practice for the young 
student to cast upon a lawn or any closely-cut turf. 
Line to the length of the rod should first be deliv¬ 
ered efficiently and neatly, when a hat should be 
placed as the receptacle of the fly; after the dis¬ 
tances have been lengthened at intervals, a tum¬ 
bler may be substituted, and finally a small wine 
glass. When these different exercises have been 
successfully accomplished, with a fair length of 
line, the rodster may safely try his hand upon the 
bosom of the watery element. Lightness and pre¬ 
cision follow practice and experience. 
Care and patience in execution are required, after 
the rudiments of the art have been acquired; a 
non-observance of these is sure to materially inter¬ 
fere with sport. Perseverance is all very well in 
its place, but when unaided by the exercise of due 
care and tact in presenting the lure, it will meet 
with small result. The tyro should therefore prac¬ 
tice assiduously, ever bearing in mind that much 
as he may admire and aspire to a nearer acquaint¬ 
ance with the scaly beauties, they are coy and un¬ 
grateful. The instant they become aware of his I 
paying them the least attention, they move con¬ 
temptuously away; and no matter how lovingly he 
drops them a line, all further correspondence is 
thanklessly declined. It behooves him, therefore, 
to keep out of sight as much as possible, never 
allowing the sun to extend his shadow across the 
stream, always also avoiding conspicuously bright 
clothing ; for notwithstanding the naturalist’s per¬ 
sistent assertions as to the dullness of the eyes of 
fish, owing, it is affirmed, to the skin of the head 
covering the pupil of the eye, the trout fisher 
knows very well that in their own elemeut they 
habitually exercise the mo6t keen and discriminat¬ 
ing powers of vision, when the water is clear; 
and any moving or brightly-colored objects outside 
it attract their attention. 
An accurate estimate of the elasticity of the line, 
etc., should be possessed, and the striking motion 
accelerated or modified accordingly. The action re¬ 
quisite is a short, quick, wrist-motion, commenced 
sharply, but elided almost instantly and abruptly, 
like a quick movement of the hand in bringing a 
foil in fencing from tierce to carte. The hand hold¬ 
ing the rod is turned upwards and backwards, 
whilst the arm is stationary when a short line is 
out, the movement being lengthened when the in¬ 
tervening line is either long or loose. One of the 
greatest charms of fly-fishing lies, undoubtedly, in 
the comparative absence of routine and sameness. 
The plier of the rod must adapt himself to ever- 
changing circumstances. 
Never play a trout against a stream, as by that 
means an additional weight is thrown upon the line 
and tackle, which in all cases is particularly un¬ 
desirable, as in the eveut of the tackle holding to 
its tether, there is danger of the fish being forcibly 
torn away from the hook. A small fish drawn 
against the stream, strains the tackle inconceivably. 
Whenever a fish makes for weeds, roots, or sub¬ 
merged timber at the rodster’s side of the river, do 
not potter with the reel, but haul in the line by the 
left hand, allowing it to fall at the feet. Wher¬ 
ever weeds are most prevalent in a trout stream, 
there the best fish congregate. Like pike,, they love 
to secrete themselves iu the green shades of aquatic 
vegetation, from whence they can dart upon their 
unexpecting prey. Whenever surface food is suffi¬ 
ciently tempting, they leave their cover, generally 
rising upon the less frequented side of the water, 
where they have still the full benefit of the weed 
beds which intervene between them and their 
would-be captors. 
Fly-rods are made of many different woods and 
dimensions. It is a noteworthy fact, however, 
that during the two centuries that have elapsed 
since Cotton first wrote upon what afterwards de¬ 
veloped into the most artistic and scientific branch 
of angling, the length of the fly-rod has diminished 
by more than one-half. Notwithstanding this di¬ 
minution of size, and we may also add, of weight, 
the casting powers of the rodster have been so 
much augmented, that almost double the distance 
may now be neatly covered by the adult adept 
than was effected with the unwieldy weapons of 
our forefathers. The propelling power of the fly- 
rod depends largely upon the material of which it 
is constructed. The fine-grained woods of the 
tropics exceed our own in point of strength, dura¬ 
bility, and weight-sustaining powers. 
The line should be plaited of water-proof silk. 
The eight-plait water-proof fly lines have gradu¬ 
ally, during the last forty years, superseded the old 
hair, as well as the hair and silk lines. 
The rod for pike is now made little more than 
one-half the former dimensions ; the cumbersome 
tool of from fifteen to twenty feet is being dis¬ 
carded in favor of a more efficient implement of 
about nine or ten feet. The old swing movement 
for getting out the bait is quite surpassed by what 
may be termed the spring motion ; the fisherman’s 
right angle is reduced by this change, his general 
style and comfort vastly improved, and success 
rendered more sure. The very largest fish are held 
more under control and are much more easily landed 
when a short and sturdy rod is employed. 
A Stump Puller. 
The stump puller herewith illustrated is very 
simple, consisting of a stout bar and a heavy hook. 
The iron parts can be made by any blacksmith. 
There is great loss every season by individuals 
owning wood lots, and to the public, from careless¬ 
ness or design in handling fire. In the summer 
drouths, the leaves and fallen limbs become like 
tinder, and the cigar stump or emptied pipe, the 
brands from a camp-fire or pic-nic party, are enough 
to kindle a great conflagration. Fires are often 
started from the sparks of a rail road engine, from 
carelessness in burning brush, or from mischievous 
boys, just to see the blaze. There is much loss to 
the owner of the forest burnt over, in trees killed, 
in fuel and fences consumed, and in the vegetable 
wealth of leaves and mould burned and dissipated. 
The forest does not recover, as when it is cut with 
the axe. It remains for years a blackened desola¬ 
tion iu the landscape. In most cases, the whole 
neighborhood suffers from the reduction of the area 
of forest, already too small to husband the rain 
fall, and protect the springs and rivulets, that feed 
[ J ULY, 
the rivers. This great public evil should have the 
immediate attention of all our law makers. 
With the hot days comes the weed, which calls 
for active and thorough work. Those who are 
particular as to their speech, call it purslane, but 
every gardener knows it as “pussley.” The weeds 
of earlier months could be kept in subjection, when 
small, merely by the use of a rake ; when uprooted, 
they would shrivel and die. Give pussley this 
treatment and it does not die at all, but takes root 
anew, and thrives all the better for the transplant¬ 
ing. Nothing but hoeing up and carting off will 
answer. Though such a pest, it has itsuse6. Pigs 
are fond of, and will thrive upon it, and it is ex¬ 
cellent green food for poultry. Indeed it is not to 
be despised as a table vegetable, when cooked and 
dressed like peas, with milk and butter. Did it not 
force itself upon us, we should no doubt cultivate 
it with as much care as do the French gardeners, 
who, besides the common form, have three distinct 
varieties, the “Green,” the “Golden,” and the 
“Large-leaved” Pourpier, which is the French for 
“ Pussley.” 
The Tent-Caterpillar. 
One of the most destructive enemies of the 
apple orchard is the Tent-caterpillar (Clisiocampa 
Americana). These worms swarm in the unpruned 
nurseries and neglected orchards of such farmers 
who think the planting of trees is the main thing 
in securing fine fruit. They hang out their webs 
upon the wild cherry trees that grow along the 
walls and by the road side, and are quite as fond of 
the cherry leaves as of the apple. Some farmers 
who look after the enemy in their orchards do not 
seem to fear their depredations iu the wild cherry 
trees, which are prolific nurseries of the caterpil¬ 
lars, and will, if untouched, thwart all efforts to 
keep their apple trees clean. The eggs from which 
the worms are hatched are glued around the young 
branches, generally near a fork, forming a large 
patch or ring of several hundred eggs, covered 
with a coat of waterproof varnish. The caterpil¬ 
lars are hatched with the opening of the leaves of 
the wild cherry and the apple. They are very 
regular in their habits of feeding, and retreat to 
the nests for shelter and protection from cold and 
wet. The moths appear in great numbers in July, 
sometimes entering houses by night, attracted, 
doubtless, by the lights. This instinct which leads 
the moths of injurious insects to seek the light at 
night, makes them an easy prey to the orchardist 
or gardener, who may kindle brush fires to destroy 
them, or set a lamp with a large flame to burn their 
wings. They lay their eggs at this season, and 
every moth destroyed is a reduction of the repro¬ 
ductive force of the enemy. They select the wild 
cherry on which to deposit their eggs, if one is to 
be found in the vicinity, and it is probable that 
this was the main support of this insect before the 
first settlers introduced the apple. If carefully 
watched, the wild cherry trees will serve as traps 
to catch this pest of the apple orchard, but neg¬ 
lected trees are only a breeding place for the cater¬ 
pillars. The patches of eggs are easily removed 
from nursery rows and recently planted apple 
orchards, by crushing them with the thumb and 
finger at any time after the leaves fall, when they 
are readily seen. For the larger trees, the best 
time to attack this enemy is in the early spring, at 
the morning hour, soon after the worms are hatch¬ 
ed. They will then be found sheltered in the 
small silken tents which give the name to the in¬ 
sect, and may be destroyed by applying a torch at 
the end of a pole to the nest, or by dipping a 
brush in kerosene oil and removing the nests. A 
few hours’ work at this season will effectually 
clean an orchard. Wherever there is a farmers’ 
club established, and concerted action can be ob¬ 
tained, it will not be very difficult to route this 
insect enemy and have clean orchards. 
Pussley or Purslane. 
