162 Book of the Black Bass. 



rod joint without dowels, and ever since I have been a 

 Urm beKever in this improved joint. If there were want- 

 ing any proof of the practical superiority of the non-dowel 

 joint over the dowel and mortise joint, it would be found 

 in the fact that so many old anglers, as Thaddens Norris, 

 Eeuben Wood, and Chas. F. Orvis, having the mechanical 

 skiU to construct their own rods, discarded the latter for 

 the former style of joint many years ago. And, more- 

 over, they all seem to have arrived at this determination 

 and conclusion independently of each other. ^Many of the 

 most valuable improvements and inventions have been 

 made in like manner, each one supposing himself to be the 

 sole inventor. 



I have often thrown apart the tapered and doweled joints 

 of the old style rods in casting with both fly and bait rods, 

 nnd have had them break near the lower end of the female 

 ferrule, in consequence of too deep a mortise at that point ; 

 but with the eylindrieal, non-dowel joint I have never had 

 either accident to occur. 



The cavise of the separation and throwing apart of the 

 dowel-mortise joint I conceive to be this: The ferrule, 

 dowel, and mortise being made tapering, the male ferrule 

 with its dowel acts as a wedge, and the continual springing 

 of the rod in casting tends to loosen this wedge, and to 

 eventually separate the joint, in the same way that we 

 extract a nail by working it from side to side. This fact 

 can be easily demonstrated by separating the tapered dowel 

 joint by working it back and forth in this manner, with the 

 hands close to the ferrules. But it cannot be done with 

 the flush cylindrical ferrule joint; to separate the latter it 

 is necessary to pull or twist it apart, for no amount of 

 springing it back and forth will loosen it. This fact ren- 

 ders nugatory and superfluous all locking devices, screws. 



