222 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



is hard and elastic, with a good taper, and quite small at 

 the tip ; those known as " male " canes are the best, having 

 larger bulges, or leaf-ridges, and being much tougher than 

 the "female" canes. Having chosen a good one, cut off 

 six and a half feet of the smaller end for the rod, the re- 

 maining larger portion of the cane will make a good han- 

 dle for a landing-net. 



Now make a wooden butt of white-ash or black-walnut, 

 from eighteen to twenty inches long, of the following di- 

 ameters: At the extreme butt end, seven-eighths of an 

 . inch ; now increase the diameter by a gradual taper to an 

 inch and one-eighth at a distance of five inches from the 

 extreme butt ; then decrease the taper to an inch at a dis- 

 tance of seven inches from extreme butt. The next four 

 inches forms the reel seat, and is one inch in diameter 

 throughout its length; now decrease the diameter by a 

 rapid, concave taper for a distance of two inches, to three- 

 fourths of an inch, and thence a gradual taper to the 

 smaller end of the butt, which must exceed the diameter 

 of the large end of the cane about one-sixteenth of an 

 inch; the diameter of the large end of the cane-joint 

 where cut in two will be from half an inch to five- 

 eighths of an inch. 



Having proceeded according to the instructions just 

 given, we have a cane-joint six feet and six inches long, 

 and a wooden butt say twenty inches long, with the grip 

 of one and one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and the reel 

 seat of one inch diameter. Now procure a set of reel 

 bands one inch inside diameter; a pair of ferrules for the 

 joint the inside diameter of the smaller or male ferrule 

 being of the same diameter as the large end of the cane 

 piece, which can readily be ascertained with a pair of 



