148 AMATEUR RODMAKING 



gether, cut out of the solid part of the large 

 bamboo; the butt is sometimes made of Ash." 



I quote Mr. Marston again: 



" In Elaine's * Encyclopedia of Rural Sports,' 

 first edition, 1840, in his description of the 

 manufacture of fly rods Elaine specially men- 

 tions split bamboo. In 1836 Ronalds, in the 

 first edition of his incomparable 4 Fly Fisher's 

 Entomology,' refers to bamboo top joint for 

 the fly rod, and I am pretty certain he means 

 split bamboo, for in an edition twenty years 

 later he has the same expression, and it is 

 pretty certain he did not mean the actual 

 4 whole cane ' natural end of a bamboo. . . . 

 The fact is, bows for archers were made of 

 several pieces glued together long before rods 

 were so made, and it was the custom of fishing 

 tackle makers to get the bow and arrow makers 

 to help them in their rodmaking. Chetham of 

 Smedley, near Manchester, in his capital little 

 * Angler's Vade Mecum,' published in 1681, 

 two years before Walton died, describes how 

 you are to get the arrow maker to saw up and 

 plane up wood for rod making." 



In a letter to me Dr. Edward Breck, author 

 of " The Way of the Woods," throws an 

 interesting sidelight on split bamboo rods 

 when he says: 



