310 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



piece to the tip more than one and a half inches. It is 

 better, if the angler has the knack and patience, to join 

 these two pieces by a neat splice about three inches long, 

 which should be closely wrapped with coarse waxed silk. 

 This splice will be all the more secure by rubbing each 

 surface where they are brought in contact, with shoemaker's 

 wax. In the days of stage-coaches, a rod of four pieces was 

 most convenient in travelling, but of late years, when most 

 fishing-grounds can be reached by rail, one of three pieces is 

 easily and safely carried, and is preferred by most anglers, on 

 account of its having fewer ferules. The rings through 

 which the line passes should be as light as possible, gradually 

 lessening in size towards the end of the tip, where they need 

 not be larger than to allow the free passage of the line. 



Under the head of "Eod Making," I shall endeavor to 

 impart to the reader whatever knowledge of suitable wood 

 and materials I may have acquired as an amateur rod-maker; 

 being well satisfied that the angler who has leisure, and 

 aptness for mechanism, will derive additional pleasure from 

 fishing with a rod of his own make. 



English writers recommend that the last six or eight inches 

 of a fly -tip should be of whalebone. The objection to this is, 

 that when this material is reduced to the requisite size, it 

 becomes soft and inelastic from moisture, and brittle from 

 cold or dryness ; in its former condition it is too limp to lift 

 the line from the water with a proper spring. Some authors 

 also recommend hollow butts, on account of their convenience 

 for carrying extra tips ; they are now as obsolete as hazel 

 tips and wooden reels. 



Such a rod as I have recommended might not stand a long 

 day's fishing without warping, where the average size of Trout 

 are such as Sir Humphrey Davy speaks of taking from his 

 noble friend's preserves in the Coin or Wandle, or such as 



