Rods and Hod Material. 153 



equally well for rod-making. These steel bows seemed to 

 fill all the conditions, and it is with the utmost confidence 

 I hazard the opinion that in the it is to be hoped not dis- 

 tant future, a fly-rod will be thus made which will be 

 as great an improvement over the split-bamboo, as that 

 invention was in advance of the wooden rods. Lack of 

 time (since rod-making is merely an amusement with me) 

 and the necessary facilities, alone have prevented me from 

 trying this long since. 



Two or three years ago I made a hollow german-silver 

 middle joint, hoping to condense the metal sufficiently 

 by rolling to obtain the necessary spring, but by no 

 means at my command could the metal be sufficiently 

 compressed, and it was a failure. 



While it cannot be denied that the hardening and tem- 

 pering of a hollow steel joint, particularly when made of 

 as thin metal as would be required to insure lightness, 

 would present some difficulty, still, harder things are done 

 every day. 



It is to be hoped that some of the many manufacturers 

 who supply the market with rods will try this, at least 

 for butts and middle joints. For tips, those in present 

 use would work very satisfactorily in this combination. 

 That a rod so made, if well made, would transcend in 

 merit everything now in use needs no argument. Think 

 of its perfect, uniform, and permanent elasticity, its in- 

 difference to moisture when merely bronzed and lackered, 

 its matchless strength, the absolute certainty of uniform- 

 ly excellent material indeed, what quality that a fly-rod 

 should possess would not this have in absolute perfec- 

 tion? The only questions are of thickness of metal, just- 

 ness of proportion, and obtaining a good temper. 



As to the first, "cold-rolled" French steel, of any thick- 



