4 FISHING TACKLE 



realised that the strength of a tall bamboo-tree, which 

 will withstand tremendous wind pressure in its natural 

 state, is concentrated into a small fishing rod. All the 

 hardest portions are worked up, not excluding the 

 hard external natural enamel -of the cane, which should 

 never be pared off to make up for faulty building. 



A hollow cane from i inches to 2| inches in 

 diameter is split up and built together again, prefer- 

 ably by hand, in six triangular-shaped sections, fitting- 

 together like the sections of an orange in a hexagonal 

 form. The sections are cemented together with the 

 desired taper with such unerring skill that it is almost 



TRANSVERSE SECTION OF CANE, SHOWING SECTIONS 

 CUT FOR BUILDING. 



impossible to see the joins, and each piece is solid to 

 the core when completed, the soft, pithy, internal 

 portion of the cane being discarded in the building. 

 Nor is this sufficient, for the canes are thoroughly 

 dried and hardened, both over a furnace and by 

 chemical treatment, before being finally cemented 

 together. 



Rods of this type can be made by machinery, but 

 are not to be recommended, as the machine passes 

 over minute imperfections, and thus there is always 

 an element of doubt with a machine built rod. All 



