240 Flywds and Fly-tackle. 



Still, the charge that the simple ferrule will throw 

 apart has some foundation in fact, and it is this : Some 

 make and advocate the use of a form of simple ferrule, 

 which, for the sake of a name, I will call the " hour-glass " 

 ferrule. By this I mean a ferrule in which the diame- 

 ter of the bore diminishes from both ends towards and 

 to the middle. Alive to the fact that a fit is desirable, 

 they hope to insure this by thus tapering the bore of the 

 female ferrule, and giving a corresponding conical form 

 to its mate. 



I have made perhaps a dozen salmon rods, some of Da- 

 game wood and some of split bamboo, from 15 feet 3 

 inches to 15 feet 6 inches in length. All were jointed with 

 simple ferrules of my own make. All have been subjected 

 to severe and protracted usage, and not one has failed. 



But let us analyze this construction for a moment. 

 We have here a conical plug entering a conical hole. It 

 is obvious that the plug may and will enter some dis- 

 tance before any contact occurs. It is also clear that 

 when contact does take place, but a very slight farther 

 insertion is possible before the entering ferrule wedges 

 fast. We have then, on one side of the fit and close to 

 it, a place where the contact and consequent cohesion of 

 the surfaces is nothing; and on the other side, and in 

 equally close juxtaposition, the "jam," where the enter- 

 ing ferrule comes to a stand. Start such a ferrule ever 

 so little, and the frictional contact or cohesion of the sur- 

 face is so impaired, if it is not altogether destroyed, that 

 it is no longer sufficient to meet and overcome the tenden- 

 cy of the rod to throw apart in casting. That a sudden jar 

 or shock may produce this result, is shown by a familiar 

 example from every-day life. Many have struggled with 

 an obstinate glass stopper stuck fast in its bottle. Here 



