FISHING KODS. 107 



These all adjusted, then roll up your wood-glued 

 joints with good silk, or, what is preferable, very fine 

 lint thread, using varnish on the thread rather than 

 wax. Begin at the top to tie on the rings, which 

 have large enough. Make them six inches apart at 

 the top, and lengthen the distance between them as 

 you come down towards the butt. Then have the 

 whole slightly varnished. 



If a rod is made up of various kinds of wood, or 

 even of different trees of the same kind, you can 

 never have the same equal degree of fine elasticity ; 

 whereas, by making the whole rod out of the same 

 short piece, you not only improve the proper spring, 

 but also find the best precaution against its twist- 

 ing to prevent which professional rod-makers often 

 render the wood short and fragile by the application 

 of heat, and other methods calculated to damage it 

 in this most material respect. I prefer hickory, as 

 it combines all the essential qualities, without the 

 inconvenient weight of lancewood : only, great atten- 

 tion is necessary in selecting the hickory, as very 

 much of it is unfit for rods. 



To those who reside near the water, I would re- 

 commend a rod all of glued and tied joints,* as best 



* Rods of this kind are in general use about Galashiels ; and many 

 anglers thereabouts uphold that these rods cast better than those 

 made with ferrules. We used one of them for a season, a short one 

 for fly fishing, and liked it. [Ecu.] 



