BAMBOO AS A ROD MATERIAL 41 



undisguised and unadorned, strictly on its own un- 

 deniable merits. 



Most of the bamboo that reaches America comes 

 in as ballast for returning light cargoes, and as pur- 

 chased from the dealer the tyro rod-maker will re- 

 ceive it in butts or stalks of from four to six feet in 

 length. The six-foot " sticks " are what he prefer- 

 ably should ask for; and they will vary in diameter, 

 at the larger end, from a little more than one inch 

 to two inches; they will average about an inch-and-a- 

 quarter, and have a maximum thickness of wall of 

 from three-sixteenths to three-eighths of an inch. 

 For some reason apparently mysterious because 

 of the prevalence and rapid growth of bamboo and 

 the size attained by many varieties larger butts 

 are not obtainable in the American market. Our 

 own impression is that this may be explained by the 

 fact that these readily obtainable larger kinds are 

 of more rapid growth, of looser fiber, and deficient 

 in elasticity; and experience would seem to have con- 

 firmed this. Through an interested friend in touch 

 with an Oriental importing-house, and after months 

 of correspondence starting in India with officials 

 at the Calcutta Botanical Gardens we received 

 some stalks over ten feet long, very smooth and 

 straight, nearly three inches in diameter, and measur- 

 ing over three feet between knots; but the stuff was 

 thin-walled and deficient in hardness, compactness of 



