CHAPTER II 



ROD-MAKING: 

 BAMBOO AS A ROD MATERIAL 



The material of which split-bamboo angling-rods 

 of quality are made is not derived from our Ameri- 

 can Southern species, inferior in strength and elasti- 

 city, but chiefly is bamboo from India or the Tonkin 

 (Tonquin) cane from the province of that name, 

 which is the most northerly one of Cochin China. 

 Though differing in features to be noted, both of 

 these grow under similar climatic conditions. We 

 have no personal acquaintance with Japanese cane. 



Bamboo or Bambusa is a genus of grasses, of ap- 

 proximately one-hundred species, attaining a height 

 generally of from twenty to one-hundred feet. 

 They all have an underground root-stock which 

 throws up from five to one-hundred stems. The 

 straight horizontal branches are not developed until 

 the stems have reached their full height and they 

 are denser toward the top. The stems or stalks 

 (botanically, "culms") are jointed, like those of 

 other grasses, and contain within only a light, spongy 



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