46 ROD AND RIVER 



the selection of which requires the very greatest 

 care, and canes suitable for the purpose are 

 extremely difficult to procure. Then there is 

 the seasoning, and this latter process takes some 

 considerable time ; then comes the splitting or 



Jr o 



rending the canes, which requires great skill and 

 care, each joint of the rod being composed of no 

 less than six such strips laid together in the form 

 of a hexagon. These are then glued together, 

 and the glue requires a very considerable time 

 to set and harden, often many months ; and after 

 all this trouble the rod is probably unsatisfactory 

 to the maker, and it has to be laid aside. When 

 the reverse is the case there is the ferruling, 

 fitting, and binding, the latter being at every 

 two or three inches throughout the entire length 

 of the rod. The rings are then fitted, and the 

 whole is varnished. Now such a process is 

 tedious, and the reader may well imagine how 

 many rods must be reckoned as failures by the 

 maker to every one which is satisfactory to him. 

 Therefore, seven or eight guineas is not too much 

 for him to ask for a perfect rod ; but it will be 

 readily seen that all this work cannot, even by 

 the aid of the best machinery, be turned out 

 cheaply. Many of the cane rods which are sold 

 at low prices are not only made of inferior, 

 unseasoned canes, but instead of being split up 

 into parts of a hexagon, and none but the very 



