FOREST AND STREAM. 
i Jan. 12, 1907.] 
6 l 
A Morning on the Tay. 
New York City, Dec. 28. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Some twenty-five miles from the town 
of F. there is a charming little stream called 
the Tay, presumably after the better known 
( river in Scotland. Harry and I paid our re¬ 
spects many times to this stream, which flowed 
through an undulating country of hills, dales and 
pretty farms, well cultivated, and when in their 
summer verdure beautiful to the eyes of those 
who live in towns or cities. 
The last trip we made was about 1848. There 
was a little romance, a widow and her daughter 
mixed up with this outing. About fifteen or 
[ twenty years previous to this time, this lady and 
her husband bought a small farm on the shore 
of this river, twenty-five or thirty miles distant 
from the town of F. In the course of time, 
and a very natural result, a girl baby arrived in 
the family, and was named Jennie, that also being 
her mother’s name. A few years after, the father 
was injured by a falling tree and subsequently 
died and the mother was left a widow. 
The days of sorrow'and mourning gradually 
passed. The sowing, hoeing and harvesting must 
not be neglected. Of hardy, thrifty Scotch 
descent, Mrs. Jennie kept careful oversight on 
the farm and live stock and Jennie the younger, 
all moving along quietly, peacefully and prosper¬ 
ous. Little Jennie was now a bright romping 
girl with a frizzy head of golden brown hair, 
bright hazel eyes, a pretty face, well covered with 
the regular crop of summer freckles, and a well 
rounded supple frame. She had outgrown the 
village school and was sent to town to finish her 
education and polish her deportment. 
Aleck, the town baker was a favorite with the 
I students of the female academy. His store was 
clean, his cakes and pies were good, and fresh 
every day. Jennie made frequent visits to 
Aleck’s bakery, the two becoming good friends. 
Jennie on her vacation at home told her mother 
wonderful stories about Aleck. He was nice, 
kind and attentive to all the girls, and moreover 
he was good looking and a braw Scot. On one 
occasion Mrs. Jennie came to town to visit her 
daughter, and Jennie Jr., insisted on her mother 
calling at Aleck’s bakery. 
After that visit Aleck went to the Tay fish¬ 
ing so often that his business was being neglected 
and Harry and Bob began to fear there would 
not be a trout left in the stream. But it was 
soon learned that it was not trout Aleck was 
after, no indeed; he did not wear his old fish¬ 
ing togs, but his best Sunday dress, and cast the 
most fascinating lures and hooked the widow 
and married the farm. That sentence don’t 
read just right, yet I can’t make it any “riter.” 
Anyway, right or wrong, Aleck sold his bakery, 
married Mrs. Jennie and settled down to farming 
on the side of the Tay. 
Harry called at the book store early one morn¬ 
ing. I noticed a joyous smile on his brown face; 
his eyes told me that something good was in 
view. 
“Say, Bob, said he, “Aleck wants you and I 
to visit him next Thursday. Can you come?” 
Leave of absence was obtained and off we 
started, at 5 o’clock Wednesday evening, to be 
ready for the fray at early morning. A drive 
of two and one half hours brought 11s to Aleck’s 
home. A well built house with a large fire place 
from which a cheerful blaze spread its light 
throughout the room. Mrs. Aleck had prepared 
a refreshing meal, the odor of which would 
sharpen the appetite . of the true sportsman. 
Harry and Bob were familiar with the Scotch 
; dialect, and an hour was spent in murdering Clan 
McGregor Scotch, Aleck, Mrs. Aleck, Harry and 
Bob all getting a word in now and then between 
the puffs of our pipes about Auld Reekey, Robby 
Burns, Duncan, Bruce and Macbeth. Then to 
bed to rest before an early morning start. 
A June morning at 4 o’clock. How delightful 
to think of, how exquisite to enjoy. The mist 
lay low on the river, the sun about to shed its 
rays between the hills, the moth and white in¬ 
sects floating about, now and then touching the 
water for a morning bath, or an early breakfast, 
for a hungry trout. As we walked some dis¬ 
tance up the stream for deeper pools, we saw 
with a tingling sensation a break in the water, 
a white moth disappear and we knew the fish 
were ready for the white-winged fly. Aleck 
cried, “Here we are, the big fish are there, see, 
just by that ripple.” 
Harry gently dropped the tiny lure and quick 
as thought there was a strike, and the first beauty 
of the morning was netted and in the creel. 
It was agreed that twelve good size fish to 
each was to be retained, all under size returned 
to their native element. It was an ideal day, the 
pests, mosquitoes, midges and black flies, few. 
We arrived safely at Aleck’s house at 3 o’clock, 
enjoyed a refreshing dinner, bade our friends 
good-bye with many thanks and started for our 
homes. R. R. 
Testing the Strength of Wood. 
The belief may not be general but it exists 
nevertheless, that a fishing rod will withstand 
more strain if it is applied gradually than if it 
comes suddenly, as in the breaking of a line or 
the catching of the hook in some obstruction at 
the beginning of the forward cast. Experiments 
have been made by the United States Forest Ser¬ 
vice with long-leaf pine, red spruce and chest¬ 
nut, both ‘soaked and kiln-dried, and while these, 
varieties of wood are not used for fishing" rods, 
nevertheless the results of ’the tests are interest¬ 
ing. 
This relation of the duration of stress to the 
strength and stiffness of wood is now being 
studied by the Forest Service at its timber test¬ 
ing stations at Yale and Purdue universities. 
The investigation should determine the effect of 
a constant load on strength; the effect of impact 
load or sudden shock; the effect of different 
speeds of the testing machine used in the ordi¬ 
nary tests of timber under gradually increasing- 
load, and the effect of long-continued vibration. 
To determine the effect of constant load on 
the strength of wood a special apparatus has been 
devised by which tests on a series of five beams 
may be carried on simultaneously. These beams 
are two by two inches in section and thirty-six 
inches in length, each under a different load. 
Their deflections and breaking points are auto¬ 
matically recorded upon a drum which requires 
thirty days for one rotation. The results of these 
tests extending over long periods of time may 
be compared with those on ordinary testing 
machines, and in this way safe constants, or 
“dead” loads, for certain timbers may be deter¬ 
mined as to breaking strength or limited deflec¬ 
tions. 
The experiments of the Forest Service show 
that the effects of impact and gradually applied 
loads are different, provided that the stress ap¬ 
plied by either method is within the elastic limit 
of the piece under test. For example, a stick 
will bend twice as far without showing loss of 
elasticity under impact, or when the load is ap¬ 
plied by a blow, as it will under the gradually 
increasing pressure ordinarily used in testing. 
These experiments are being extended to deter 
mine the general relations between strength under 
impact and gradual loads. 
All the fish laws of the United States and Can¬ 
ada. reznsed to date and now in force, are given 
in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
Bait-Casting Rods. 
It seems that English anglers who are inter¬ 
ested in the long average casting done by ex¬ 
pert half-ounce bait-casters in the United States 
will never understand the theory and the method 
of overhead casting with our short rods. Mr. 
Leonard Crossle, reviewing a long article writ¬ 
ten by an American angler for the Fishing 
Gazette, mentions a cast of 176 feet in the 
Nottingham or horizontal style, and E. B. 
Bartholomew’s 198ft. ioin. record cast overhead, 
and concludes: “It would seem, therefore, that 
an angler using the horizontal cast would stand 
absolutely no chance against an equally expert 
competitor who casts overhead.” 
The 176ft. cast mentioned was made with a 
rod almost twice as long as that used by Mr. 
Bartholomew. Side casting—right to left, if 
the caster be right-handed—is far easier to learn 
than overhead casting, and with the modern 
short rod. very long casts can be made, but 
placing the bait in a certain spot is by no means 
easy, even with long practice, whereas in the 
overhead style one can cast within arrq’s length 
of a tapeline every time if he exercises ordinary 
care. And this applies to the longest casts, 
whereas in the' side cast the longer the throw, 
the less accurate does it become. 
Let our angling friends who do not under¬ 
stand the overhead cast try this experiment. 
Take a stone weighing a half ounce, and with 
the full swing of the arm, pitch it as far as 
possible, then throw the same stone with an 
overhead swing of the arm. Any one who tries 
this will at once understand the superiority erf 
the overhead cast, both for distance and ac¬ 
curacy. The side cast begins low and ascends 
gradually in either case, but in the overhead 
cast—stone or weight—force is applied through 
a much greater part of the circle, which is 
larger. 
In overhead casting there are two factors of 
importance: (1) for accuracy alone, and for 
casts under, say 150ft., a rather flexible rod 
to 7ft. long gives the best satisfaction; (2) for 
distance casting alone a short, stiff rod with a 
rapid taper from center to top, with plenty of 
backbone and a steely spring when used with 
force. The trajectory curves of the weights 
used with these two types of rods hold the 
secret of the respective styles. With the whippy 
rod the trajectory curve is high and the weight 
travels slowly, while with the 5 to 6ft. stiff rod 
the curve is comparatively flat and the velocity 
of weight must be high to overcome gravity. 
This, again, explains the necessity for stiffness 
and power in the rod. 
If you watch an expert teaching a beginner 
to cast overhead, you will hear the former say, 
“You can, by imparting an easy swing to the 
weight, cast 100 to 130ft. overhead without any 
apparent effort.” The latter invariably tries 
to cast bard, and the weight strikes the water 
15ft. away. He notes that the tendency is to 
cast down, but does not realize that he releases 
the line at the end instead of at the beginning 
of the swing. Practice shows the way and he 
finds that the sooner he releases thumb pressure 
on the reel after the forward swing is begun, 
the higher will be the curve, and if he does not 
try to use force, soon acquires distance and then 
accuracy. Little by little, as he gains mastery 
over the reel, he adds force, lowering the curve 
and gaining distance. Then he unconsciously 
acquires a style all his own, and imparts the 
greatest force through a given part of the cast 
in a steady swing, a whip-like snap, or even by 
lunging forward with one foot—it all depends 
upon the rod and its adaptability to his indi¬ 
vidual understanding of the game. In other 
words, he tries all known methods and all rods 
