Rods and Rod Material. 109 



stances than single-action ed rods, and limber rods than 

 stiff rods and this I believe to be the fact. I have 

 never known it to happen to rods of my make, which 

 are of the stiffish single-actioned variety ; still this may 

 be due to good-luck, rather than the correctness of their 

 principle of construction. 



What material will make the best fly-rod ? 



As to this, too, as indeed in regard to most other im- 

 plements of the art, there is considerable difference of 

 opinion. 



SPLIT-BAMBOO. 



(Six-strip hexagonal, rind outside, 0.9915. 

 Vlty ^Four-strip square, rind inside, 0.9678. 



In the estimation of the American fly-fisherman as a 

 class, the rent and glued, or as it is now more generally 

 termed, the split-bamboo rod, unquestionably ranks first. 



The bamboo may be said to be a production of Asia 

 and the contiguous islands, though abundant in South 

 America, where some species not indigenous have been 

 introduced and now flourish. North of Mexico but one 

 native species is found, and the same is true of Africa, 

 while Europe has not even one. 



In Col. Monroe's monograph on this grass, published 

 in the proceedings of the Linnaean Society, vol. xxvi., one 

 hundred and seventy distinct species are described, and 

 he says there are many more, the flower of which he has 

 never seen, "and which he is therefore unable to classify. 

 For it may be said to be a common, if not general, pecul- 

 iarity of this plant, that it flowers but once, and that 

 after years of growth, and then dies. This occurs si- 

 multaneously through large districts, and is followed by 

 the production of an edible seed, which has not unfre- 



