and should cross each other at right angles at a point on the
upright stick eighteen per cent. of its length below the top. This
point of crossing is of great importance, and was only located by
Mr. Eddy after months of wearisome experiment. He was misled in his
earlier efforts at tailless kite-making by the example of the Malay
kiter-flyers, who are reputed to be the most skilful in the world, and
who cross the sticks much nearer the middle of the upright one. In a
six-foot kite the two sticks, equal in length, should cross at about
thirteen inches from the top of the upright stick; and the same
proportion should be observed for kites of other dimensions. At the
point of crossing, the sticks should be slightly notched, and strongly
bound together with twine tied in flat knots. Driving a nail or screw
through the sticks, to bind them, weakens the frame at the point of
greatest strain.

As material for the sticks Mr. Eddy has found clear spruce better
than any other wood. Bamboo is bad, because it bends unevenly at
the joints. White pine is not tough enough, and cypress is both too
brittle and too flexible. The hard woods, like ash, hickory, and oak,
are too heavy; in scientific kite-flying, even so small a weight as
a quarter of an ounce may make all the difference between failure and
success. All winds are broken by frequent brief intervals of calm,
and a kite must rely on its lightness to outride these. Whoever
contemplates going seriously into kite-flying will do well to
provide himself with a store of suitable sticks by purchasing a
straight-grained, well-planed spruce plank, free from knots, and
having it sawed on a circular saw into sticks five-sixteenths and
seven-sixteenths inches in thickness, to be cut later into such
lengths as he may choose.

[Illustration: Frankfort Street. PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEW FROM A KITE.

From a photograph taken from a kite by Mr. W.A. Eddy. This view
also is of New York City about the crossing of Frankfort and William
Streets. The high wall on the right of Frankfort Street is the back
of the "World" building; the high wall on the left is the back of the
"Tribune" building.]

The two sticks (there are never more than two) having been fastened
firmly together, the cross-stick must be sprung backward; so that,
when finished, the kite will present a convex or bulging surface to
the wind. It might be imagined that a concave surface to the wind
would be better; and indeed this has been trie