FISHING ROD MATERIALS 45 



not unusual to split up thirty to fifty culms and 

 test the strips before sufficient good material 

 for an 1 8-foot salmon fly-rod is obtained. 



The bamboos obtainable are generally Ij4 

 to iy 2 inches in diameter at the large end and 

 only four or five feet of each one can be used 

 to advantage. 



Tonkin canes come from the province of that 

 name in French Indo-China, on the Gulf of 

 Tonkin, an arm of the China Sea. Probably 

 most of them are cut in the valleys of the Black 

 and Red rivers, which lie due east of Mandalay 

 in Burma, and as Calcutta and Tonkin canes 

 grow in the same latitude, this may account for 

 the belief held by some that Tonkin canes equal 

 Calcutta bamboo for rodmaking purposes. It 

 is, however, a fact that very few professional 

 rodmakers will admit that anything can equal 

 first class Calcutta canes. A veteran says one 

 reason why he is inclined to use Tonkin is found 

 in the fact that good Calcutta canes are very 

 difficult to obtain, and with them there is so 

 much waste. 



Many of the Tonkin canes furnish thicker 

 material than the other variety, and if properly 

 seasoned and selected, make excellent fly- and 

 bait-casting rods. Few of them are burned, 

 which furnishes another reason for their popu- 



