602 The Split Bamboo Rod. 



a "Mr. Little, of 15 Fetter Lane, rod-maker to His Royal Highness, 

 Prince Albert," who described the process of making the top and 

 middle joints thus : 



" They are to be made from the stoutest pieces of bamboo cane, called 'jungle,' 

 and brought from India. The pieces should be large and straight, so that you can 

 rend them well through knots and all. Each joint should consist of three rent pieces, 

 split like the foot of a portable garden chair, and afterward glued together, knot oppo- 

 site to knot, or imperfect grain opposite to imperfect grain, but the best part opposite 

 to that which may be knotty or imperfect, so as to equalize defectiveness and good- 

 ness. The natural badness of the cane you counteract by art, and none save a clever 

 workman can do it. The butt of a salmon rod should be made of plank ash or ground 

 ash, though many good judges prefer willow or red deal, as being much lighter, and 

 where lightness is required the whole rod may be made of cane. The few makers that 

 have as yet attempted solid cane or glued-up rods have generally placed the bark or 

 hardest part of the cane inside in gluing, and then reduced the joints down on the 

 outside to the usual tapering shape. Give me, however, the workman who glues the 

 splices with the bark outside, and then gives his rod a true and correct action, allowing the 

 three different barks to be seen visibly on the outside after he has rounded the whole. 



" If the pieces are skillfully glued together they will require no reducing, except at 

 the corners, to bring the rod from the three-square to the round shape. I am prepared 

 to prove that there are not more than three men in London capable of making, per- 

 fectly, rods of solid cane, rent, glued, and then correctly finished with the bark lying on 

 the outside." 



Mr. Fitzgibbon goes on to say : 



" In my opinion, rods made entirely of lancewood are the worst ; and those made 

 entirely of rent and glued jungle cane are the best. They must be most carefully fash- 

 ioned, and no maker can turn them out without charging a high price. I am also of 

 opinion that they will last longer than any other sort of rod, and are far less liable to 

 warping. I have a high opinion of their elasticity, and Mr. Bowness, fishing-tackle 

 maker, of No. 12 Bellyard, Temple Bar, showed me once a trout fly-rod, made in 

 this, my favorite way, that had been for many years in use [the italics are mine — 

 L. D. A.] and was still straight as a wand. I never saw a better single-handed rod." 



Allowing a reasonable construction to the expression, "for 

 many years," this would seem to show that rods of "rent and 

 jungle cane" were made as far back as 1830—40. 



It would be interesting to know what led to the sudden change 

 of opinion as to the merits of such rods of "Ephemera"; that is 

 to say, within the space of a twelvemonth — the period which elapsed 

 between the dates of publication of the first and second editions of 

 his book. As a not absolute disbeliever in bamboo rods, I, for one 

 at least, confess to a good deal of curiosity upon this point. 



Lawrence D. Alexander. 



