174 Fly-rods and Fly-tackle. 



HICKORY. 



Specific gravity, 0.7963. 



This wood may be said to have gone entirely out of 

 fashion in this country, though still in favor in England, 

 where it has for many years been held in high esteem. 

 Its great strength is well known and freely admitted, 

 but at the same time it is charged with being " logy " in 

 action. But this, while generally quite true, is not uni- 

 versally so, since hickory joints which would please the 

 most fastidious are by no means unknown. It would 

 also seem that this difference may be accounted for and 

 guarded against, and this in the following manner: 



A second -growth tree of the " shag-bark "* variety 

 should be selected, which has grown in an exposed situ- 

 ation and not in a forest. For trees are like men, a 

 hardy middle-age following a youth of vigorous struggle. 

 In an open pasture, or on a knoll exposed to the keen 

 blasts of winter, weakling trees perish in their infancy, 

 and only the most vigorous attain their growth. As the 

 child whose every muscle has been in daily use devel- 

 ops into a vigorous man, so a tree so situated strength- 

 ens its fibres and improves their elasticity by its daily 

 struggle with the elements. Having found a tree so lo- 

 cated, its character may be safely presumed. It must 

 then be cut either in December or January, when the sap 

 is entirely out of the wood, otherwise no amount of sea- 

 soning seems to impart the required elasticity. 



As soon as cut, the white portion of the wood must be 



* According to the United States Forestry Department's timber test, 

 pig-nut hickory should be the better wood. Its specific gravity is given 

 as 0.89 ; weight of cubic foot, 56 pounds. 



