28 THE IDYL OF THE SPLIT-BAMBOO 



erally of clear bamboo. The British manufacturer 

 has a penchant also for combining different woods 

 in individual rods, as a greenheart butt- and second- 

 joint with a bamboo top, or an ash or hickory butt 

 with greenheart and bamboo for the other sections. 



But of any of these mongrels we will have naught; 

 as for us we pin our faith and fealty to the silk- 

 wound hexagonal rod cunningly yet simply devised 

 of its six subtle, individual triangular strips of cane 

 throughout, and we can but view with compassion 

 that angler who suffers a permanent perverted at- 

 tachment to some one or other of the monstrosities 

 mentioned above. 



The making of a split-bamboo rod is readily 

 within the accomplishment of anyone who can handle 

 a few of the simpler carpenters'-tools, with patience 

 and your true angler already has this quality well 

 developed. A little time, a little absorbingly in- 

 teresting work, a small outlay for rod fittings or 

 mountings, and forty-cents' worth of bamboo in the 

 rough is transformed into the most beautiful of all 

 sporting implements, that the owner could not have 

 duplicated by a professional rod-maker for forty 

 dollars. A knife, a small plane, and a file are the 

 principal necessary cutting tools, and with two or 

 three simple contrivances, and one all-important de- 

 vice, these cover the essential instruments. 



Almost any manual labor, especially if diverting 

 and concentrating the attention into novel paths, is 



