280 SOLID CANE GLUED RODS. 



imperfect, so as to equalise effectiveness and 

 goodness. The natural badness of the cane you 

 counteract by art, and none save a clever work- 

 man 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 J^s^reo^uired, 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 skilfully 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 perfectly rods of solid 

 cane, rent, glued, and then correctly finished with 

 the bark lying on the outside. 



" The ordinary London salmon rods generally 

 consist of ash butts, hickory middle pieces, and 

 bamboo tops. The Irish and Scotch commonly use 

 lance wood, which is much heavier than hickory, 



