THE FISHING-ROD. 49 



exact as to the length, the pliancy, the weight, the 

 balance, even the colour of their fishing-rods, not to 

 speak of rings, &c. At the same time, I allow that 

 the purpose for which a rod is made, whether for sal- 

 mon-fishing, for trolling with minnow, or for trouting 

 with the fly ; for streamlet, lake, or broad river, ought 

 to regulate, not merely its proportions, but in certain 

 cases, its material, number of lengths, and description 

 of finish. I shall now treat very shortly of the kinds 

 of wood best adapted for rod-making, their pecu- 

 liarities and advantages. 



The material in general used for the butt-piece, 

 both of the salmon and trouting-rod, is ash. For 

 hollow butts, most rod-makers employ saplings, or 

 young trees, of six or seven years' standing, well dried 

 and seasoned. These of course possess a core or inner 

 growth of tender wood, the extraction of which, by 

 means of a gimlet bitt, does not greatly impair the 

 main strength of the piece, while there is this addi- 

 tional advantage, that it can be performed more in 

 accordance with the lie, run, or grain of the material 

 than were the operation attempted on a portion of 

 plank or sawn tree, out of which solid butts are con- 

 structed. Hollow butts, when formed out of plank 

 wood, which they sometimes are, require to be bored 

 with an instrument termed a phipple bitt. The boring 

 may advantageously be enlarged by a tool of the same 

 description, only smaller in size, as that used by the 

 cooper in the formation of bung-holes. It is called in 

 Scotland a schulop. _ It would be an improvement in the 

 manufacture of the hollow-butt piece, were the lower 

 or root end of the ash sapling made to receive the fer- 

 rule, instead of the upper extremity, which is less 



D 



