allow of their being tied by a single hitch and drawn tightly, just like tying a single knot in a double string (as in fig. 1). Usually the knot is made double by passing the ends of the gut through twice, instead of but once, in tying; that is by simply tying what is known as a "surgeon's knot" (for ligating arteries) with a double thread. The short ends are then trimmed off closely. If a leader is made with loops for attaching drop-flies, this is the best knot to use in making the leader itself, being, like fig. 10, secure and unyielding.

Where knots like figs. 10 and 11 are used in constructing the leader, and no loops are provided for attaching droppers, the latter must be secured by a half-hitch, just above a knot in the leader, as shown in figs. 10 and 11, which is a very good plan. It must be borne in mind, that in tying lengths of gut together, or in tying loops or knots in gut-snells, the ends must first be soaked in water until quite soft and pliable; this must also be observed in bending or tying a hook on a gut-snell.

CHAPTER XIII.

HOOKS.

"For in the Prophet Amos, mention is made of fish-hooks; and in the book of Job, which was long before the days of Amos, for that book is said to have been written by Moses, mention is made also of fish-hooks, which must imply anglers in those times."-IZAAK WALTON.

THE best fish-hooks are made in England, that country supplying the world with hooks of all sizes and styles, for all kinds of fishing. The town of Redditch has been famous for its fish-hooks for at least two centuries. There, are located the celebrated makers, Harrison, Hemming, Alcock, and others, whose familiar names are almost synonymous with hooks and needles, both articles being usually made by the manufacturers mentioned.

The following brief account of the process of making fish-hooks will doubtless prove interesting to most of my readers. It is an extract from a letter in the Forest and Stream, written by Miss Sara J. McBride, of Oswego, New York, the well-known, skillful tyer of artificial flies; and whose writings are as charming and attractive as her artistic imitations of the insect world. The letter is one descriptive of a recent visit to the celebrated factory of Alcock, at Redditch, England::

And this is Alcock's! How familiar the name! What a host of reminiscences rise as we enter the doors-"Round Bend Kendall,” "Kirby," "Sneck Bend," "Alcock's Best;" all spring up like phantom forms. Through the kindly courtesy of Mr. Alcock we were

shown through the different apartments and saw the various manipulations the wire taken from the coil undergoes, until the delicately pointed, japanned hook is ready for the market. In one corner of a room there was a large pair of upright scissors; with a quick snap two hundred or more pieces of the required length were cut from a bundle of wire; six to ten of these pieces are taken, held firmly against an iron bar, and an incision made with a sharp knife, for the barb. Next the filer takes each one separately with a pair of pliers, holds it in a vise, and with a few deft movements of a file, the embryo hook is pointed. Now they are bent on different forms. This is the christening period. They come forth, Sproat, Limerick, O'Shaughnessy, Kirby, Kendall, Sneck Bend, Hollow Points, and Round Points. The hardening process is the next in order. As we enter this department our nostrils are assailed by a fearful stench of burning fish-oil. We would like to retreat-an instant's consideration— we decide to ignore the olfactory nerves and keep on. Here we are shown rows of ovens, all filled with pans of burning, blazing hooks. They are kept in this fiery furnace from fifteen to twenty-five minutes, then taken and thrown into the bath of oil. We were informed they formerly used water for cooling, but now they considered oil the best. True to Yankee instinct, I queried why. The workman did not enter into a learned discussion on the molecular construction, or atomic properties of steel, and the consequent differentiation of the particles in cooling, as a Boston girl might have done, but with a wise nod and a firm pressure of the lips said, "The oil is the best." I thought the oil was used to keep visitors from intruding. The hooks taken from the oil are quite brittle. To remedy this they are reheated. During this process, which lasts but a few minutes, they are stirred briskly in sand.

We next visited the scouring room. Here were eight small barrels, all filled with hooks and fine sand, revolving and turning round and round with a deafening clash and clang. In this room the workmen escaped quizzing. The noise was too much for me. Now for the finishing touches the japanning. The japan is a black, tarry liquid made in Birmingham, the composition of which seems to be a trade secret, as I failed to learn it. Two coats of japan are applied; they are heated moderately in an oven and thoroughly mixed after each heating.

In the wareroom we are shown immense quantities of hooks, all sizes, done up in packages of thousands and tens of thousands, ready to be shipped to all parts of the world. Here is the small delicate hook for France, so diminutive that the rude scale of inches has to be laid aside and only the French milimeter can do it justice; hooks for Canada, United States, Australia, and New Zealand; triple hooks, double hooks, hooks flattened, hooks ringed, hooks headed, and hooks eyed. All kinds of hooks for all kinds of fish.

The most approved hooks for Black Bass, are the Sproat, O'Shaughnessy, Dublin Limerick, Cork Shape Limerick, Round Bend Carlisle, or Aberdeen, and Hollow Point Limerick; they are best in the order named, and those made by Harrison & Son, and T. Hemming & Son, excel all others.

There are fish-hooks and fish-hooks, and to the uninitiated one hook is as good as another; all they can see in a hook, is the fact that it has a shank, a bend, and a bearded point. But to the angler this contracted view is not sufficient. There are many styles of shank, numerous forms of bend, and various ways of fashioning the barb and point, all of which are of the highest practical importance. Some hooks are made for general service, while others are formed exclusively for particular kinds of fish, or for special methods of angling. The fish-hook of to-day is not essentially different from that used by the ancient Greeks and Romans, to the casual observer; but to the practiced eye, the hooks now produced, for form, temper, and strength have never been equaled in the history of the world.

The form, quality, and general excellence of hooks, as now made, is the result of the competitive skill and great experience of the manufacturers of Redditch, England,

whose energies and resources have been directed in this peculiar channel for nearly two hundred years; and, as might be inferred, as between the hooks of the first-class makers, there is but little choice, so far as quality and workmanship are concerned.

There is no implement of the craft that is so universally kept in stock at the small stores and shops throughout the country as the fish-hook; and these hooks, as a rule, are of very inferior quality, as might be inferred when we take into consideration their cheapness, notwithstanding the fact that they must net the dealer at least fifty per cent. profit, or he would not sell them.

While the average angler is inclined to use heavier rods, and stronger lines, than are actually necessary, he does not seem to be so much impressed with the importance of strength in a fish-hook, but accepts those of the small dealers mentioned, with a blind faith that a hook is a hook, and that one is as strong as another, if of the same sized wire; and, morover, he recognizes but two forms of hooks, the Kirby, or side-bend, and the straight, or more or less rounding-bend.

Now there are no fallacies so great as these, for the hook is of the most vital importance to the angler, and he should obtain the very best to be had, both in form and quality. Fish-hooks, in themselves, being of so comparatively small a price, it is the most insane idea of economy to purchase any but those of the very best quality. The most approved form of bend and barb, should also be taken into serious consideration.

The highest grades of English hooks, like English gunbarrels, are thoroughly tested by causing them to sustain a strain, twice or thrice as great as they are usually put to