222 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



is hard and elastic, with a good taper, and quite small at 

 the tip; those known as "male" canes are the best, having 

 larger bulges, or leaf-ridges, and being much tougher than 

 the " female " canes. Having chosen a good one, cut off 

 six and a half feet of the smaller end for the rod, the re- 

 maining larger portion of the cane will make a good han- 

 dle for a landing-net. 



Now make a wooden butt of white-ash or black-w^alnut, 

 from eighteen to twenty inches long, of the following di- 

 ameters: At the extreme butt end, seven-eighths of an 

 inch ; now increase the diameter by a gradual taper to an 

 inch and one-eighth at a distance of five inches from the 

 extreme butt ; tlien decrease the taper to an inch at a dis- 

 tance of seven inches from extreme butt. The next four 

 inches forms the reel seat, and is one' inch in diameter 

 throughout its length ; now decrease the diameter by a 

 rapid, concave taper for a distance of two inches, to three- 

 fourths of an inch, and thence a gradual taper to the 

 smaller end of the butt, which must exceed the diameter 

 of the large end of tlie cane about one-sixteenth of an 

 inch ; the diameter of the large end of the cane-joint — 

 where cut in two — will be from half an inch to five- 

 eighths of an inch. 



Having proceeded according to the instructions just 

 given, we have a cane-joint six feet and six inches long, 

 and a wooden butt say twenty inches long, with the grip 

 of one and one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and the reel 

 seat of one inch diameter, Now procure a set of reel 

 bands one inch inside diameter; a p:iir of ferrules for the 

 joint — the inside diameter of the smaller or male ferrule 

 being of the same diameter as the large end of the cane 

 piece, which can readily be ascertained with a pair of 



