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and, in most instances, unnecessary length of 

 six joints, let all the middle joints, that is, all 

 those between the but and the top, be also of 

 hickory. Most anglers recommend that the 

 top joint should terminate with a piece of 

 whale-bone of about six inches in length or 

 rather less, but if your top joint be made of 

 fine-grained bamboo, it can be reduced at the 

 extreme end to sufficient thinness, to do away 

 with the necessity of using whale-bone, and 

 will prevent the defect, and a very serious one 

 it is, of having your rod top-heavy. The but- 

 end of your rod should be bored, for the pur- 

 pose of carrying an extra top. The lower joints 

 of the rod we mean that part of the joint 

 that enters the ferrule should be brass 

 shouldered, in order that the wood may be 

 prevented from swelling when exposed to 

 moisture, and from straining the ferrules and 

 other parts of the rod, which it would do, du- 

 ring the process of unjointing your rod, if it 

 were in a swoln state. Nothing can be more 

 unwise than the advice of those persons who 

 direct the joints of the rod to be dipped in 

 water, that they may not separate in casting. 

 All modern rods have two flattened loops of 

 brass wire, 'placed in a direct line near and 

 opposite to each other, at each end of every 

 joint, which not only serve to keep the joints 



