RODS AND ROD MAKING, 43 
be twisted or bent over the charcoal of the tackle 
maker. 
The other solid rod woods are ash and willow. The 
former, which in weight is between willow and hickory 
(willow being the lightest of all), is extensively used for 
hollow butts of bottom and trolling rods, as it bores well 
and is of good medium strength. It is also used for the 
solid butts of salmon rods. For middle joints it has been 
found too weak and yielding, the difference in strength 
between ash and greenhart being such that a top made 
of the latter would be as strong, or very nearly, as the 
joint next below it of the former. 
Willow is a good deal used for the butts of common 
rods, as it “bores” more readily than any other wood ; 
indeed its centre is little harder than the pith of a reed. 
In seasoning, both ash and willow require more care to 
make them “ usable” than do the heavier woods. Fir is 
also occasionally used for solid butts. 
I now come to the hollow woods, or canes and bam- 
boos. Of these by far the most valuable, indeed the 
only one which can be used properly in either trolling 
or fly-rods, is that grown in the East Indies—commonly 
known as the “ mottled” bamboo—which has a consider- 
able thickness throughout its length, and in the upper 
parts is almost solid. There is another East India cane, 
which is quite solid, but lacking elasticity. It goes 
amongst the tackle makers by the expressive name of 
“ puddeny.” 
