FOREST AND STREAM. 
19 
SMiMD MWKIFDMM 
Grecnheart and Split Bamboo. 
Supplementary to the notes we published last 
week in relation to the controversy over the rela¬ 
tive merits of grcenheart and split bamboo sal¬ 
mon fly-rods, appearing in the English Fishing 
Gazette, the following experiments by J. J. Hardy 
are interesting: 
“These tests have been carried out, not with 
a view to showing how much built bamboo is 
better than greenheart or vice versa, but in a 
strictly impartial manner. The materials 
chosen were selected old seasoned bamboo and 
greenheart. The lengths of the pieces made 
for comparison are practically those of an 18ft. 
three-piece rod top—that is, 6ft. The measure¬ 
ments of the hexagonal built pieces are all 
exactly the same and are given in thousandths 
of an inch at every 3m., as follows: 
“Lesser diameters of A, B, D,—that is, across 
the shorter depth of section—127, 141 161, 170, 
185, 199, 214, 220, 237, 253, 276, 283, 294, 309, 312, 
325, 328, 34 L 355 .- 363, 370, 381, 392. 
“Greater diameters of A, B, D—that is, 
across the greater depth of section—129, 144, 
173, 184, 190, 216, 231, 241, 261, 275, 289, 306, 320, 
334. 340 , 354 , 361, 370 , 385, 392 , 400, 412, 424- 
“Mean diameters to which the round green¬ 
heart is made to give same sectional area—128, 
14254, 167, 177, 18714, 20714, 22214, 23014, 249, 
264, 28254, 29454, 307 , 32154 , 326, 33954 , 34454, 
35554 , 370 , 37754 , 385, 39654 , 40854 .. 
“The weights of the finished pieces are: A, 
bamboo-built, 30Z. 7 drm.; B, bamboo and 
greenheart, built in alternate strips, 30Z. 7drm.; 
C, round greenheart, 30Z. 9drm.; D, green¬ 
heart built, 30Z. 8drm. 
“Reference to the table shows that A—hex- 
agonal-built bamboo—has a free deflection of 
5 per cent., and a deflection under the 40Z. load 
of 41 per cent., while the round greenheart, C, 
has a free deflection of 854 per cent., and a de¬ 
flection of 6154 per cent, under the 4 °z. load. 
The deflections at the butt are shown by the 
three vertical lines. D and C, the hexagonal 
and round greenheart, bending nearest to end 
of lever O. show the least resistance, and con¬ 
sidered as fishing-rods, C would bend a good deal 
more into the hand than A, a point worthy of 
note as this has been somewhat in dispute. 
The comparison of values are given in the 
tables attached to the diagrams. 
“In the diagram with 8oz., it will be noted 
that as the load is increased, the value per 
cent, of the built bamboo over the round green¬ 
heart (to resist deflection) is also increased, and 
there seems no reason to doubt that under 
heavier loads the results would show much more 
strongly in favor of the built bamboo. 
“From these diagrams it will be seen that A, 
the built bamboo, is much the stiffest and 
strongest form. B has the second place, be¬ 
ing composed of bamboo and greenheart built 
in alternate strips, but the introduction of green¬ 
heart lowers the value considerably. C, the 
round greenheart, shows a further reduction in 
value. D, the hexagonal greenheart, is built of 
material taken from the same plank as the round 
greenheart. It may be noticed that the round 
greenheart shows a trifle less deflection than 
the hexagonal, and this is explained as follows: 
If you refer to the weights given above, you 
will notice that the round greenheart is one 
drachm heavier than the hexagonal, and, being 
slightly larger in sectional area, has a greater 
depth to resist deflection, while the hexagonal- 
built greenheart is exactly the same as A and B, 
and was tested in the same manner—that is, the 
pieces resting on the flat face of the hexagon. 
“A test was also made with built bamboo 
steel center, and this gave with 8oz. a deflection 
of 73 per cent, (see cross at A, 74), which is 
one point better than the built bamboo without 
steel center. 
“I think it is unnecessary to say anything 
in reference to the structure of bamboo, and the 
reason of its vast superiority over greenheart, 
as that has already been thoroughly thrashed 
out.” 
DEFLECTIONS with 4oz. 
A. hexaconal cane built. 
B. HEXACONAL CANE & CREENHEART 
BUILT IN ALTERNATE STRIPS. 
C. ROUND CREENHEART. 
D. HEXACONAL CREENHEART BUILT. 
A. DEFLECTION AT POINT 41 per cent. FREE 6 per cent. 
B. DO. DO. 52* DO. . DO. 7 DO 
C. DO. DO. 61* DO. . DO 8* DO. 
D. DO. DO. 63* DO. . DO. 9* DO. 
COMPARISON OF VALUES. 
AT POINT FREE 
Value of A over B 11* per cent. 2 per cent, 
do. C 20* do. . 3* Ido. 
do. D 22* do. . 4* DO. 
n 
DEFLECTIONS with Soz 
A. hexaconal cane built. 
B. HEXACONAL CANE & CREENHEART 
BUILT IN ALTERNATE STRIPS . 
C. ROUND CREENHEART. 
D. HEXACONAL CREENHEART BUILT 
A. DEFLECTION AT POINT 74 per cent. 
B. DO. DO. 89 DO. 
C. DO. DO. 100 DO. 
COMPARISON OF VALUES. 
Value of A over B 15 per cent 
do. A do. C 26 do. 
Parasite in Bass. 
New York, Dec. 24. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: While fishing in Culver’s Lake, near 
Branchville, N. J., last Saturday, my boat- 
mate, Mr. Walter Dorr, caught a black bass 
weighing iJ4 lbs., which put up as game a fight 
as any fish of its weight I have ever seen, 
making good runs and several leaps out of 
water against hard pressure of a 9 oz. steel 
rod. This fish was a very perfect specimen, 
to all outward appearances, as plump and vigor¬ 
ous as though taken from much colder water. 
This was my first visit to this lake, and before 
going out I was told that the fish were' 
“wormy,” so I made a minute examination of 
this bass, and found a condition that astonished 
me much. In place of a regulation stomach 
and digestive tract, I found two solid masses 
of granular substance, each about the size and 
shape of • a medium-sized soft-shelled clam. 
These adhered not very firmly to themselves, 
but stuck tight to inside, back and sides of the 
fish. The oesophagus, like the stomach, was 
almost entirely missing, the two granular 
bodies lying up close to the pharynx at one 
extremity, and the anus at the other. A small 
ouantity of black matter resembling faeces ad¬ 
hered "to posterior parts of the two granular 
lobes. These two adhering lobes filled the 
entire abdominal cavity, and were as hard as 
the substance of the fish itself, which seemed 
perfectly normal and healthy, with no sign of 
worms. To the naked eye there was no evi¬ 
dence of parasites in any part of the fish. How 
this bass could live at all is a mystery to me, 
to say nothing of the fact that it fought with 
unusual ferocity and strength and showed no 
evidence of emaciation. The bait used was a 
small live sunfish about 3 inches long, none 
of which remained in the fish’s mouth when 
brought to boat. Can any of your readers throw 
light upon this phenomenon? T. A. W. 
[Last year the viscera of a black bass taken 
in Culver Lake which were affected in the same 
way observed by our correspondent were re¬ 
ported on in Vol. LXVI, p. I 3 ° 4 - The parasite is 
a larval flatworm of some kind, and Prof. Ed~ 
win Linton, of Washington and Jefferson Col¬ 
lege, Washington, Pa., who examined the para¬ 
site,’ stated that it is a cestode representing an 
unknown kind of tapeworm belonging to the 
genus Taenia. It should be remembered that 
Hie tapeworm in this case may not be one which 
will undergo any part of its development m 
man. The experience of our correspondent is 
not an uncommon one. Parasites in game fishes 
and in food fishes as well are only too numerous, 
as any one may discover who will read Dr. 
Linton’s papers in the Reports and Bulletins 
of the U. S. Fisheries Bureau.— Editor.] 
Fresh-Water Shad. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Some years since you mentioned that shad had 
been found in one of the West Virginia rivers 
tributary to the Ohio. Recently an old memory 
has recurred to me, which may account for the 
shad. 
A good many years since there was a most 
notable character in Westmoreland county. Pa. 
I cannot get his name into my memory, but he 
was one of those men who are always doing 
something that nobody else would think of doing. 
Now, this gentleman—he was that—put shad into 
Jacob’s Creek, a small tributary of the Yiough, a 
tributary of the Monongahcla, about fifteen years 
ago, but all disappeared. I do not know enough 
about fish to advance any theories and merely 
submit this fact for what it is worth. 
William Wade. 
I 
