10,8 THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 



straight grain, free from sapwood, shakes, and knots. The 

 choice pieces should be laid aside for tops, the next pick for 

 middle pieces, and the worst for butts bearing in mind 

 that there should be no bad stuff used for any portion of a 

 rod. Some rods are made in two pieces, and are nice 

 to use, but rather awkward in length for carrying. The 

 generality of rods are made in three pieces. The standard 

 length of a trout rod is from eleven to twelve feet ; that 

 for salmon seventeen to eighteen feet. Of course, many 

 trout rods are made in lengths of eight, nine, ten, and ten 

 and a-half feet for single hand, and from thirteen to sixteen 

 feet for double hand. Salmon rods, more particularly 

 all-greenheart ones, are often only sixteen feet long, but 

 in some cases go up to twenty feet. The woods may 

 be used in combination, for instance ash butt, hickory 

 middle piece, and either a lancewood or greenheart top ; 

 or hickory butt and middle, greenheart or washaba (q.v.} 

 for top ; or they may be all lancewood or all greenheart. 

 There is no doubt that the latter is the best known wood 

 of the present day of which to make a fly rod, possessing as 

 it does great "life," marvellous elasticity, the hardness of 

 steel, and a wonderful capability of retaining its original 

 straightness, provided the wood is properly seasoned and 

 the rod gets anything like fair play in its care by the 

 angler. It is weighty, but this fault can be counteracted 

 by working it comparatively fine. The butt is generally 

 made first, and is reduced by the plane to nearly the size 

 required at the handle, which we will assume to be 

 three-quarters of an inch in diameter. It may be put in 

 the lathe and the handle turned to exact size, with the 

 quick taper now r generally made. The rest of the butt is 

 planed down first to an octagon shape, the better to keep 



