Pishing EoDa 159 



moderate degree of pliancy and elasticity, it entirely lacks 

 the great desideratum, balance, being decidedly top-heavy, 

 and is too small at the butt to allow of a firm grasp of the 

 hand, generally necessitating the use of both hands to hold 

 it. Now, to obtain the greatest amount of good and pleas- 

 ure from a rod of this character, proceed as follows : 



Select a genuine Calcutta bamboo cane, which may be 

 known by its dark, mottled markings, caused by its having 

 been burnt about the leaf-ridges, or knots. Select one that 

 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 handle 

 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 dianieter 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- 

 eigliths of an inch. 



Having proceeded according to the instructions just 



