WEAR AND TEAR 47 



soundest and best portions of cane retained, 

 good, bad, and indifferent pieces are all glued up 

 together, and if the balance of the rod is imper- 

 fect, the outside of the cane is shaved down 

 in order to remedy the defect. Now since it 

 is the outside of the cane, its enamel, which gives 

 the chief strength to the wood, the evil of remov- 

 ing it is manifest, and no amount of varnish can 

 ever replace it, save as regards the appearance 

 when new. Cane rods, even the best, require 

 to be varnished annually, and the tyings well 

 looked to, otherwise the joints are apt to spring 

 open, the wet to get in between them, and the 

 rod is thereby, of course, rendered useless. 



I find it no easy matter to obtain a solid wood 

 rod, even the best of its kind, which will last me 

 more than two or three seasons. I may as well 

 state that during the season I use my rod almost 

 daily, and it is subjected to very heavy work in 

 dry-fly fishing ; for it requires certainly four or 

 five false casts in the air to dry the fly for every 

 cast which is delivered, and this, with a consider- 

 able length of line out, in wind, wet, or hot sun, 

 as the case may be, is a severe trial to a rod. 

 After a season or two it loses its elasticity, or 

 rather, I should say, rigidity, for it becomes weak, 

 and unable to sustain the same length of line as at 

 first. For ordinary fly-fishing, where the casting 

 required is less frequent and a wet-fly is used, a 



