Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-10-11

| is finished. The rod must be plant q
q coach whip, bending from butt t.
tip. Many poles are ruined in the proc.
ess of manufacture. The price oi
split bamboo poles run from IS to go.
but poles have been known to cost al.
most 5000 where the ferrules and
mountings were silver.
The next best rod to the bamboo
is made of >lance-wood. This wood,
which is worry heavy. is brought from
South America in sparA The rod
maker has the spars sawed up.
Lance-wood must have good season
ing, and frequently half of it is a
dead loss. When the rod has been
trimmed and turned by machinery, ii
is sand-papered and cut into three OF
four sections and jointed; then it is
ferruled, wrapped with silk or linen
thread. and vanished three times.
The Lakewood rods cost from four
to ten dollars. The cheap rods are
made of ash and other common woods.
with three joints, brass ferrules, and
can be bought as low as one dollar
a dozen.
Almost all the hooks used in this
country come from England, although
factory at New Haven, Conn.,. is
turning out a big amount of hooks.
But they can not compare with the
English hooks. That the English
fish hook is the best is duo to the
finely-tempered steel from which it is
made. The English hook won't snap
of like the American hooks. There
is no steel equal to it made in this
country, and it costs too much to i'm.
port the English steel and make the
hooks here for the American market.
All the English hooks are made in
Red-ditch, a dirty-loOking little town
in Worcestershire, just over the coun.
ty border from Birmingham. There
is no hotel in the town, which is al-
most hidden in day by tho smoke
from the seven fish-hook factories Of
the place. Over nine hundred people
of little Red-ditch are every day kept
busy making fish hooks and needles.
The finely-tempered steel is run out
into long wire. Different machinery
cuts and turns the wire into fish.
hooks of all sizes, and one thousand
hooks are turned out every working
hour.
Limerick hooks used to be popular
with fishermen, but the old town on
Ireland's west coast is now making but
few fish-hooks for the world. The
price of some fish-hooks is but twenty.
five cents per thousand, while twenty
five dollars has been paid for thou
sand superb English hooks.
The manufacture of fishing lines Is
no small industry in this country. The
best line is made of silk, oil and
wrapped linen line come next, and
there are hundred different grades
of both the silk and linen lines. Many
of the reels are costly, but a reel can
be bought for any price between twen-
ty-five cents and fifty dollars.
All the silk-wOrm gut used in max.
ing leaders is imported from Sweden.
and the cork floats are sent here from
England. The wooden floats are made
in this country and cost about half as
much as cork floats. The United States
manufactures all its own fishing flies.
which are made from feathers, silk
and wool, and are shaped and hued to
represent all kinds Of flying insects.
and there are dozen other things used
by anglers that keep many hands busy
making.
More fishing tackle is sold in the
United States than in any other coun.
try, and Philadelphia ranks with New
York in the making of the Nations fish
rods, fish lines and fish fies.-Phit0.
d,JnbSu Ty,,,ce