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The best rods are made from ash, hickory, 

 and lancewood ; ash for the bottom piece, 

 hickory for the middle, and lancewood for 

 the top joints : real bamboo is preferable to 

 lancewood, if it can be procured of good 

 quality, which is extremely difficult: log- 

 wood is sometimes used for the tops, and 

 answers extremely well for Salmon or trol- 

 ling rods ; but this wood is not frequently 

 to be met with of straight grain in pieces of 

 sufficient length for rods; but if it should be, 

 it is not equal in elasticity to well seasoned 

 lancewood. Rose wood, and a wood from 

 the Brazils, called partridge wood, may also 

 be made use of for top pieces ; but yew and 

 briars do not answer the purpose, although 

 frequently recommended by experimenters. 



Before wood of any description is cut into 

 lengths it should be perfectly seasoned ; and 

 whatever number of pieces the rod is to be 

 composed of between the butt and top piece 



