138 Book of the Black Bass. 



My opinion now is that Phillippe was really the first 

 maker, and consequently the inventor of the split-bamboo 

 rod, and made his first rod before they were made in 

 England. I do not believe that the three-section rent and 

 glued-up bamboo rod was made in London previous to 

 1845, though rods of three sections of hickory and other 

 hard woods were, perhaps, made as early or earlier. 



I do not think it possible that Phillippe, in a small in- 

 terior town in Pennsylvania, ever heard of an English 

 split-bamboo rod before his invention; for even Mr. Mit- 

 chell, an old and experienced rod maker of New York, says 

 in the article referred to: 



" The first split-bamboo rod I ever saw or heard of was made 

 by Wm. Blacker, 54 Dean street, Soho, London, and to order, for 

 James Stevens, an old and well-knovTi angler, of Hoboken, N. J. 

 This was in 1852, and it was given to me for repairs and altera- 

 tions in that year." 



The late Professor Alfred M. Mayer, editor of the Cen- 

 tury Company's " Sport With Eod and Gun,"* in a foot- 

 note to Dr. Wilkinson's article, says in reference to this 

 rod: 



" I have seen a split-bamboo rod made according to the sugges- 

 tions of that distinguished angler, the late James Stevens, of 

 Hoboken, by Blacker, of London. This rod is of three sections, 

 with the enamel on the outside, and was made in 1852, while Mr. 

 Stevens was in London. This date has been accurately determined 

 for me by his son, Mr. Frank Stevens." 



Notwithstanding the great number of British books on 

 angling published during a century, there is no mention of 



* Dr. A. G. Wilkinson was the first to suggest to the editor of 

 " Scribner's Magazine," Dr. Holland, to publish a series of articles 

 on sports with gun and rod, of which his was the first. 



