4 1 o Salmon -Fishing. 



at short intervals, and any excess of thickness cor- 

 rected by pressing the parts together in a vise. 

 Figure i shows a section of a length of bamboo 

 cane from which the strips indicated by spaces 

 marked off are to be sawed. Figure 2 is an end 

 view of the six strands properly beveled and glued 

 together. This length or joint of the rod is made 

 up of six sectors of a circle whose diameter is 

 greater than that of the rod,' and hence it is necessarily what in com- 

 mon parlance might be called six-cornered. Figure 3 is an end view, 

 natural size, of a six-stranded salmon-rod tip at its larger end ; and 

 Figure 4 is a longitudinal view of a piece of a Leonard trout-rod 

 tip of twelve strands now n lying before me. This figure 



gives the size as accurately /:'W0^i as tne calipers can deter- 



mine it, and shows what vast \&£0EiM amount of skill, patience, 

 and untiring industry is \£££i/ required in the art we have 

 been describing. 



The ferrules are water-tight and expose no wood in either the 

 socket or the tenon part. Bamboo is so filled with capillary tubes 

 that water would be carried through the lengths and unglue 

 them, if it could once reach the ends where the joints of the ™ 

 rod are coupled together ; hence the necessity of careful 

 protection at this place. The entire rod when finished is covered 



— with the best copal coach varnish. 



fig. 4. By taking care to renew the varnish 



from time to time, no water need ever o;et to the seams. 



In spite of the prejudice against what has been called a gentle- 

 man's parlor rod, they have steadily gained in favor. Twenty- 

 five years ago, a London firm made split-bamboo rods, putting 

 the enamel inside.* Naturally enough, with the soft part of the 

 cane exposed to wear and weather, and nearly all the enamel sac- 

 rificed, they did not find favor in the eyes of thoughtful or scientific 

 anglers, at least. Mr. Phillippi, living at Easton, Pa., conceived the 

 idea, in 1866, of putting the enamel upon the outside, where it 

 would do the most good. Next, Mr. Green and Mr. Murphy put 

 their heads together, and made rods of this sort of four strands, 



* See " The Split Bamboo Rod — Its History, etc.," by Mr. William Mitchell, in 

 this book. 



