Rods and Rod Material. 127 



ment of rod-making, and who has arranged his affairs, pos- 

 sibly with inconvenience, that he may have a little leisure 

 to devote to this, I know the temptation is great to use 

 material which does not altogether meet his approval 

 particularly if none other be at hand. But he who yields 

 to temptation must expect the incident retribution, and 

 this will prove no exception to the rule. 



Greenheart files, scrapes, turns, and planes well, but 

 like most other rod -woods a keen tool is required. 

 Shavings of this wood from the plane have nothing of 

 the usual ribbon-like character, but crumble during their 

 formation, as if the wood was very deficient in tenacity. 

 But such is not the case. 



It may be bought in the plank at from thirty to fifty 

 cents a foot, board measure, at almost any of the dealers 

 in hardwood in Centre Street, New York City. But 

 unless personally selected, knots, crooked grain, season- 

 cracks, and other defects will greatly increase the cost 

 of such portions as may be available. Such planks as I 

 have seen have been from ten to eighteen feet long, one 

 and a quarter inches thick, and from twelve to twenty 

 inches wide. The whole plank selected must be taken, the 

 dealers refusing to cut it. If to this is added the fact 

 that one -half waste is a very moderate loss indeed, it 

 will probably be more satisfactory to send for it to one 

 of those houses that make a specialty of supplying ama- 

 teurs with material. The price demanded may seem 

 severe when compared with the cost in plank, but this 

 is more apparent than real. You may then expect 

 selected and seasoned wood, and may safely conclude 

 that for every stick you receive, the seller has bought 

 and thrown into the scrap-heap waste sufficient to make 

 three or four. Of course this loss, together with inter- 



