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WITH PLATES, DRAWN AND ENGRAVED BY

ELEAZAR ALBIN:

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BREEDING OF FISH,

ONSTRUCTION OF FISH-PONDS,
BY THE HONOURABLE

REO) Gils GBe) i IN: Or Re Eb.

EO INGO} SIN 5:

Printed for Epwarp Jerrery, Pall Mall; Roperr FaunpEer, New Bond Street; :
J. Curnert, ard J. DercHron, Holborn; J. Warker, Paternofter Row;
Hamitton and Co. Beech Street, Barbican.

MDCCXCIY.

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T he B ae i

CALLED, in Iéhyology, Barbus, but by fome writers ih
Natural Hiftory, Muftus Stuviatitis, and is a fpecies of the
Cyprinus. The Barbel is a fith commonly known and fo
called from the barb or beard under its chaps or nofe, and is of
the leather-mouthed kind.

Itis but a moder ate tafted ith, and the Be Bate is lefs efteemed
for the table than the male; but neither of them is much
valued: the worft feafon for them i isin April. They love to
be among the weirs, where there i is a hard gravelly ceo
and generally fwim together i in large fhoals.

In fummer, they frequent the ftrongeft and fwifteft currents
of water, as under deep bridges, weirs, and the like places, and
are apt to get in among the piles, weeds, and other fhelter;
but in winter, they retire into the deepeft and fillet waters ;
the beft feafon for angling for this fifh, is trom May to Auguft,
and the time for taking them is very early in the morning, or
a. A late

( ey

late in the evening. The place fhould be baited with chop-
ped worms fome time before; and no bait is fo good. for the
hook as the fpawn of fifth, particularly the Salmon: in defe&
of thefe, lob-worms will do ; but they muft be very.clean and
nice, and the hook carefully covered, otherwife he will not

touch them. Old cheefe fteeped in honey alfo is a fine bait.

Cyne P.

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TLEONARD MARCHAL &rk brought this fifh into
England about 1514: it is the moft valuable of all kinds of
fifh for ftocking ponds, becaufe of its quick growth and great
increafe. If the feeding and breeding of this fith were more
underftood and practifed, the advantages refulting would be
very great; and a fifh pond would become as valuable an
article as a garden. The gentleman who has land in his own
hands, may, befides furnifhing his own table and fupplying
his friends, become a fource of much profit in money, and
very confiderable advantage to his lands at the fame time, fo
as to make it produce more than by any other employment
whatever. The fale of Carp makes a confiderable part of
the revenue of the principal nobility and gentry in Pruf_ia,
Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, Mecklenburgh, Bohemia,
and Holftein. Particular attention fhould be paid to the
foil, water, and fituation of a Carp pond; the beft kind are
thofe which are furrounded by the fineft pafture, or corn fields,
with a rich black mould, and foft {prings on the {pot, or other
running water, that is neither too cold, or impregnated with
acid, calcareous, felenetic, or other feraneous, mineral parti-
cles. The water may be foftened by expofing it to the air

1 Bate or

(8)

or fun in a refervoir, or by forming an open channel for it
fome diftance from the pond; they fhould be expofed to
the influence of the fun, and fheltered from the eaftern and
northerly winds.

By experience, itis found convenient to have three kinds
of ponds for Carp, viz. the fpawning pond, the nurfery, and
the main pond: the firft pond muft be cleared of all other
kind of fith, efpecially thofe of the rapacious kind, fuch as
the perch, pike, cel, and trout; the water beetle, and alfo
of the newts or lizards. It fhould be expofed to fun and air,
and be fupplied with foft water. A pond of one acre re-
guires three or four male Carp, and fix or eight female ones;
and in the fame proportion for each additional acre. The
beft Carp for breeding are thofe of five, fix, or feven years old,
4n good health, with full feale, and fine full eyes, and a long
body, without any blemifh or wound: the pond fhould be
ftocked in a fine calm day, towards the end of March, or-
beginning of April. Carp {pawn in May, June, or July,
according to. the warmth of the feafon; and for this purpofe,
they fwim to a warm, fhady, well-fheltered place, where
they gently rub their bodies againft the fandy ground, grafs,
or. offers ; and by this preffure the {pawn iffues out at the
{pawning feafon. All forts of fowl fliould be kept from-
the ponds: the young fry is hatched from the fpawn by the.
genial influence of the fun, and fhould be left in this pond

through

saa : Pert ae

ton 7)
through the whole fummer, and even the next winter, pro-
vided the pond is deep enough to prevent their futtecation
during a hard winter; then the breeders and the fry are put
into ponds fater for their wintering.

The fecond kind of ponds are the nurferies;. the young
fith fhould be moved, in a fine calm day, into this pond, in the
months of March or April: a thoufand or twelve hundred
of this fry may be well accommodated in a pond of an acre..
When they are firft put in, they fhould be well watched, and
driven from the fides of the pond, left they become the prey
of rapacious birds. In two fummers, they will grow as much
as to weigh four, five, or even fix pounds, and be flefhy and
well tafted.

The main ponds are to put thofe into that meafure’ a foot,
head and tailinclufive; every fquare of fifteen feet is fuffici-
ent for one Carp: their growth) depends on their room, and
the quantity of food.allowed them.

The beft feafons for ftocking the main ponds are fpring and.
autumn. Carp grow for many years, and become of con-

-

fiderable fize and weight. Mr. Fofter mentions feeing in
Pruffia two or three hundred Carps of two and three feet in
length, and one five feet long, and twenty-five pounds weight;
it was fuppofed: to be about fixty years old: Gefner mentions
one that was an hundred years old.. Thefe were tame, and
would come to the fide of the pond to be fed, and fwallowed:

W ith

( 16 )

with eafe a piece of bread half the fize of a halfpenny loaf.
Ponds fhould be well fupplied with water during the winter;
and when they are covered with ice, holes fhould be opened
every day for the admiffion of frefh air, through want of
which, Carps frequently perifh. Carp are fometimes fed,
during the colder feafon, in a cellar: the fifth is wrapped up
in a quantity of wet mofs laid on a piece of a net, and then
laid in to a purfe; but in fuch a manner, however, to ad-
mit of the fifh breathing: the net is then plunged into water,
and hung up to the ceiling of the cellar: the dipping muft at
firft be repeated every three or four hours, but, afterwards,
it need be plunged into the water only once in fix or feven
hours: bread foaked in milk is fometimes given him in {mall
quantities; in a fhort time, the fifh will bear more, and
grow fat by this treatment. Many have’ been kept alive,
breathing nothing but air in this way, feveral fucceflive days.

The

[6

The CHUB

is. according to the Artedian and Linnzan fyftem, a fpecies
ef Cyprinus, and is called by the French the Vilian and
Teftard, and was called by the ancient Romans Squalus. The
reforts of this fifh are eafily found; being generally holes over-
fhaded by trees; and on a hot day,. they may be feen in
sreat numbers, floating almoft on the furface of the water. For
the table they are very poor fifh, full of bones. They afford.
much entertainment to the angler, and are eafily caught..
The beft manner of fifhing for them is thus: prepare a very
ftrong rod of fufficient length; fix a grafhopper to the hooks,
place yourfelf fo as not to be perceived by the fifh, and drop
in the bait about two feet from the place where a Chub
lies; if he does not fee the angler, he rarely fails biting, and
is taken direétly; but he is fo ftronga fifh, that he fhould
be taken out carefully, after a great deal of play, otherwife the.
tackle will be in danger; a beetle, or any large fly, will an-
{wer the purpofe in the place of a grafhopper; and: if none:
of them are to be had, the method of fifhing muft be altered,,

and the line be long enough for fifhing at the bottom.
In March and April, this fifh is to be caught with red
worms; in June and July, with worms, fnails, and cherries ;.
but.

( ae )
but in Auguft and September, the proper bait is good cheefe,
pounded in a mortar with fome faffron and a little butter.
Some make pafte of cheefe and Venice turpentine for the Chub
in winter, at which feafon the fifh is better than at any
other; the bones are lefs troublefome in this feafon, and the
flefh’more firm and better tafted. The roe is alfo generally
Well flavoured. ie angler muft keep his bait for this fifh at

the’ bottém in’ cold weather, and near the top in hot.” The
fith will bite eafily.

The

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Is the largeft of the genus Afelli, by authors called Afellus
Maximus, and fometimes Afellus Varius, five Striatus. It
is diftinguifhed from other fifhes of the fame kind by the
following marks. Its colour on the back and fides is a dufky
olive, intermixed with yellow fpots; a white belly, with a
white line running along each fide from the gills to the tail,
which is curved at the abdomen, but ftraight elfewhere. It
has very finall fcales, which adhere firmly to the fkin; its
eyes are large; a fingle beard hangs at the angle of its lower
jaw, whichis fhort, feldom longer than one’s finger. It has a
broad tongue, and feveral rows of teeth, one being much longer
than the reft. Among thefe there are fome moveable teeth, as
in the Pike; and in the palate, near the orifice of the ftomach,
and near the gills, it has fmall clufters of teeth; it has three
back-fins, two at the gills, two at the breaft, and two at the

anus; and the tail is plain.

UPB The

Th HADDOCK

Is, according to the Artedian fyftem, of the genus of Gadi.
It is called by Salvian the Afellus Major, or Greater Afellus,
and by Turner and Willoughby the Orus, or Afinus of the
Ancients. Cliarlton tells us, that it was the Callaris Galeris,
or Galaxis, of the old Romans, mentioned by Pliny; but
Artedi has fome doubt about that. It is likewife called by
Artedi the Gadus; with a bearded mouth, three fins on the
back, a whitifh bedy, with the upper jaw longeft; the tail a
little forked. Large Haddocks begin to be in roe about the.
middle of November, and continue fo till the end of January ;
from that time till May, their tails grow thin, and they are
out of feafon. .

The {mall ones are very good from May to February; and
thofe which are not old enough to breed in February, March,
and April. It is faid by fifhermen, that in rough weather
they hide themfelves in the fand at the bottonr of the fea, and.
among the ooze, and fhelter themfelves till the ftorm is over,
becaufe they take none in ftormy weather. They live in the
fummer on young Herrings, and on other young fith; and in:
winter, on a f{pecies of fefpula, called the ftone-coated Worm,
and by the fifhermen, Haddock-meat. The great fhoals of

Haddocks

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Haddocks come periodically on the coaft of Yorkfhire. The
large ones quit the coaft as foon as they get out of feafon, and
leave behind them a number of fmall ones. They are faid to
vifit the coafts of Hamburgh and Jutland in the fummer.
There is a large black {pot on each fide of the Haddock,
afcribed by fuperftition to the mark which St. Peter’s thumb

made, when he took the tribute money out of the mouth of a

{pecies of this fith.

B 2 The

( “#6 )

The HERRING.

HareEncus, in I&hyology, a fpecies of the Clopea. Its -
Harengi forms are thefe: its length is generally feven or
eight inches, though it fometimes grows to a foot; its head is
flatted, and its mouth placed upwards: it has a green back and
fides mingled with blue, and a belly of a filver caft; its feales
are large and round. Itis not fpotted at all, and its belly is
carinated; the ridge is quite {mooth, and not at all ferrated;
its fide lines are fmall, and fcarce diftinguifhable; the lower
jaw is ftronger and more prominent than the upper; its gills
are four innumber, as in other fifhes; their fibres very long,
and open remarkably wide; fo that this fifh dies almoft as
foon as taken out of the water: it has one fin on its back,
which confifts of about feventeen rays, and is between the
head and the tail; the two ventral fins have nine rays, the
~ pectoral feventeen, and the anal fourteen ; the tail is forked.
The name Herring, takes its derivation from the German
Heer, an army, which expreffes their number when they
migrate our feas. Herrings are found in vaft quantities from
the higheft northern latitudes as low as the northern coaft in
France; on the coaft of America large fhoals of them are to
be met with as low as Carolina. In Kamtfchatka they are

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alfo to be found, and very poffibly in Japan: their winter
rendezvous is within the artic circle; they retire there after
{pawning, and wherever they can meet with infe@ food.
They are in full roe at the end of June, and in perfedion till
the commencement of winter, when they begin to depofit

their fpawn.
PRESERVED HERRINGS,

Various are the names given to them, and according as they
are ordered: as,

1ft. Sea-Sricxs are what are caught all the fifhing feafon,
and but once packed. A barrel of thefe contains fix or eight
hundred; according to law, eight barrels go to the hundred.
A hundred of Herrings is one hundred and twenty; a laft is
ten thoufand; and they generally reckon fourteen barrels to

the laft.

ad. RepackeD Herrines are Herrings repacked on {fhore.
Seventeen barrels of Sea-Sticks make from twelve to fourteen
barrels of, repacked Herrings. They repack them in the
following manner: take out the Herrings, wafh them in their
own pickle, and lay them orderly in a frefh barrel: they have
no falt put to them; but after being clofe packed, have a {worn

copper put over them with the pickle when the barrel is
half

( 1 4
half full: the pickle is brine; fo ftrong that the herring may

fwim in it.

gd. Summers are what are caught by the Dutch Chafers,
or Divers, from June till the middle of July. They are
fold in Sea-Sticks; they will not endure repacking: they go
one with another full and fhotten; but the repacked Herrings

are forted.

4th. The Sick and SHorren Herrines by themfelves;
the barrel fhould be marked.

th, Gruss Herrines are what are caught after the mid-
dle of September; they-are cured with falt upon Salt: all
thefe are full Herrings.

There is likewife another fort, called Cowzp Hearrines.
Thefe ferve to make Red Herrings from September to Odo-
ber; they fhould be-carried on {hore within a week after they
are taken; they are roed in falt, but never gipped; thofe
awhich they make Red Herrings of, are wafhed in frefh water
‘previous to their being hung up in the Herring-Houfes, gene-

gally known by the appellation of Herring-Hangs.

‘Then followeth the manner of falting Herrings. When the
fithes

Oe 18

fifhes are taken out of the nets and put into the warbacks
which ftand on the fide of the veffel, one fills the gipper’s.
bafkets. The gippers, after having cut their throats and
taken out their guts, proceed to fort them. When the gipped.
are put into the bafket, one man takes it to the rowerback,
wherein there is falt; one ftirs them about in the fait, whilft
another takes them from him, and carries them in bafkets to
the packers. Each barrel is packed by four men, who lay
the Herrings one by one in a very even manner; which barrel
being full; another man takes it from them. The barrel
is ufually left to ftand open for a day or two, to diffolve the
falt; afterwards it is filled up, and the barrel is headed:
Obferve, that the pickle be ftrong enough to fuftain the fifh;

etherwife they will decay in ite

The

The Pi CK meRUE I.

A. VERY common fea fith of the Schomber kind. Its nofe is
fharp pointed and tapered; its eyes large; and both its jaws
of the fame length: the teeth are {mall, but very numerous;
the body comprefled on the fides; towards the tail, it is
rather flender, and fomewhat angular. ‘The firft dorfal fin is
placed a little behind the pectoral fin; it is triangular, and
has nine or ten {tiff rays; the fecond has twelve foft rays, and lies
at a diftance from the other; the pectoral has twenty, and the
ventral fix rays: at the bafe of the annal fin, is a long fpine.
Betwixt the laft dorfal and the tail, are five fmall fins; the
fame number, likewife, betwixt the anal and the tail. The
tail is broad and femilunar; the colour of the back and fides
above the lateral line is beautiful green, variegated with black
lines pointing downwards; beneath the line, the belly is of
a beautiful filvery colour. The eyes of the Mackarel are
almoft covered with a white film, which grows in winter,
during which time they are nearly blind: they caft it in
the beginning of fummer.

It is in high eftimation amoneft the Romans, becaufe it

furnifhed the precious garum.

a Mackarel,

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Th MoU Fake. T,

Isa name given indeterminately to fifh of feveral kinds;
but the true meaning of the word is the fame with that of
the Mugil, or Cephalus. The charaéters of the Mugil are
thefe. The branchiofteze membrane on each fide contains fix
crooked bones; the upper one being the broadeft, and hid
under the gills; only five are difcernible; the {cales are large,
and cover the head and the opercula of the gills, as well as
the body of the fifh. ‘The head is depreffed in the anterior
part; the body oblong and comprefled. According to thefe.
diftinGions, there is only one fpecies of Mugil, namely,
the Mugil of Ovid and the Ancients. It refembles the Thy-
mallus in its external figure; its jaws are tender and thin, and
have no teeth in them; the tail is forked. The Linnean fyi
tem reckons two {pecies; viz. the Cephalus and Albula.
Three or four different {pecies of the Mugil have been
defcribed by Rondeletiis and others ; but their difference
feems to arife merely fromaage, place, and the like accidents.
The nofe is fharp, the belly awed; the head plain and
flatted; the fcales are very large, and cover the body entirely.
The back is of a dufky blue, or greenifh-brown colour; the
belly white, and the fides variegated, from the head to the
Hi . C AY tail,

fe

( 22.)

tail, with green and black lines; its tongue is rather rough;
it has no teeth. It preys upon no fifh, and is therefore fup-
pofed to feed on weeds. At certain times it comes up the river,
ut it is generally caught at fea.

The Mullet is a very good tafted fifh; we make tobago of
ats {pawn.

Mullets are to be found chiefly on the fandy coafts; par-
ticularly where there are influxes of frefh water. They come
an great fhoals; and they keep rooting the mud like hogs,
and leave their trace in the form of large round holes.

They are very cunning; and when furrounded with a net,
the whole fhoal frequently efcape by leaping over it; for if

yone takes the lead, the others are fure to follow.

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The PEARC HA, or PERCH,

Ts a genus of fifh of the order of Thoracci; the characters:
of thefe are, that the membrane of the gills has feven bones,,
and the back has one or two-fins; the firft fpiny, and the fecond
foft: the body is covered with rough {cales; the edges. of the
gill-covers are fealy and ferrated. Linneus enumerates thirty-
{ix {pecies; this fifh.is variegated. with black fpots.

There is a ftrange variety of Pearch; fome of which are quite
hunched; and the backbone, near to the tail, very much diftort--
ed: in colour and other refpects, it is fimilar to the common:
kind.

The beft time fortheir biting is betwixt {pring and fummer,.
as at that time they are very greedy; and the angler, with good
management, may take all that are in the hole, at one ftanding,
if there were ever fomany.. The Pearch will bite all day long,
ifit be cloudy; but the beft time is from eight till ten in the
morning, and from:three till fix in the afternoon. It is very
abftemious in the winter, and will feldom bite; if it does atall, .
itis in the middle of the day. All fith bite beft at this time
of the day in that feafon..

C'S The

OC ets 3

. The PT aa

As iche Buchs Efox of Linneus. It has a very flat head; the
upper jaw is broad, and fhorter than the lower, which turns up
a little at the end; the body is long, flender, and comprefied
fideways; the teeth are very fharp, difpofed only in the front
of the upper jaw, but in both fides of the lower; fometimes
in the roof of the mouth, and frequently in the tongue.

The eyes are fmall, and the flit of the mouth very wide; the.
dorfal fin is placed very low on the back, and confifts of twenty-
one rays; the pedtoral of fifteen, the ventral of eleven, and
the anal, of eighteen; the tail is bifurcated.

They are to be found in moft of the lakes in Europe.
Lapland produces very large ones, fome eight feet lone; they
are dried there, and exported for fale. | |

The Pike was introduced into England in the reign of Henry
VIII. in 1537, when a Pike was fold for double the price
of a houfe lamb in February. Befides its ufual food, fith and
frogs, it devours water-rats and young ducks. It is remark-
able for its longevity: we read of one that lived till ninety
years old, and of another that was no lefs than two hundred
and feventy years old. they

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authors the Rutilius and Rubiculus, and by others the Rubellio.
It is afpecies of the Cyprinus, according to the new fyftem of
Artedi, and the Cyprinus Rutilius of Linnezus. It has been
looked upon (though without much reafon) remarkable for
its livelinefs and viyacity, from which comes the proverb
‘¢ found as a Roach.” In fome parts of the world, this fith
will only live in ftanding waters: it thrives very much in ponds
and deep, full rivers: it is very remarkable for its progeny; a

pond being fooner flocked with this fifh than any other.

T . 4
iS the Englifh name of a very common fifh, called by fome

The

Th SHAD

Is the name of a fea fifth of the Herring kind: it is alfo called’
the Mother of Herrings; by fome authors Clupea and Trifia ;
by the Ancients Trechis, or Trichias; and the Clupea Alofa of
Linnzus. In its general form, it very much refembles the.
Herring; only it is flatter and broader, and grows to a cubit
long and four inches broad. The back is convex and rather
fharp; the head floping confiderably from it. The body grows
eradually lefs to the tail from thence. The lower jaw is
rather longer than the upper; the teeth very minute. The
dorfal fin is fmall, and placed very near the center: the mid-
dle rays are the longeft. The pectoral and ventral fins are-
fmall; the belly very fharp; the tail forked: the body is of
a dufky blue. ~ Above the gills is a line of black fpots, which
mark the-upper part of the back on each fide. The number
af thefe fpots is different in different fifh, from four to ten.
iene very common in. many of our-feas, and in fome of our
rivers which lie near the fea. They run up there in great
numbers, and.are then very fat; they afterwards become lean,
and go down to the fea again. They ufually {wim in large.
fhoals together. |
The Shad is in higher perfection in the Severn than in any

other

P- $
= Ny aia awd i
ee a eT,

——<$——<——

Lapeer: Valashi:. tShad..

(ie 7a)

‘other river in Great Britain. Tt appears there in May, and in
very warm feafons, in April; it continues about two months.
At its firft appearance, it is efteerned’a very clicate ‘ftth; -efpe~
cially at Gloucefter, where it fells dearer than Salmon. The
London fifhmongers diftinguifh it from that of the Thames by
the French‘name of Alofe. Whether they {pawn in the Severn
and Wye, is not determined, as their fry has not yet been af
certained. The old fifth come from the fea in full roe.

The fifhermen imagine, very erroneoufly, that the Bleak,
which appear in multitudes near Gloucefter in the months of
July and Auguft, are the fry of the Shad: many of thefe are
taken in thofe months only; but none of the emaciated Shad
are ever caught in their return.

The Thames Shad does not frequent the river till the month
of July, and is thought a very coarfe, infipid fifth. At that
time, the Twaite, a vatiety of Shad which makes its appearance
in Gloucefter, and is taken in great numbers in the Severn, but
held in as great difrepute as the Shad of the Thames. The
real Shad weighs fometimes eight pounds; but in general
from four to five. The Twaite,‘on the contrary, ‘weighs
from half a pound to two pounds, which it never exceeds. It
only differs from the {mall Shad, by having one or more black
{pots on its fide, which are generally placed one under the
other.

Lhe

( 28 )

Th TENCH

I S, in Iéhyology, the Englifh name of the Tinca of the modern -
authors; but, according to the Artedian and Linnzan fyftem,

a fpecies of the Cyprinus. It is diftinguifhed by Artedi by

the name of the blackifh, mucous, or flimy Cyprinus,

with the end of the tail even.

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Soe

The TRO UT

Is a very valuable river-fith ; the charaGters of which are

thefe. It has a long body; its head is fhort and round, its
~nofe blunt at the end: its tail is very broad; its mouth large,
and each jaw. furnifhed with one row of fharp teeth. In its
palate there are three parcels of teeth, each of an oblong figure,
in the congeries, and all meeting in an angle near the end of
the nofe; the tongue has alfo fix, eight, or ten teeth on it.
It is very beautifully variegated on the fides with red fpots.
‘The colour of the Trout, and of its {pots, varies greatly in
different waters and different feafons; yet you may reduce
each to one f{pecies.

In Llyndivi (a lake in South Wales), there are Touts cal-
led Coch y Dail, marked with red and black {pots about the
fize of a fixpence; others, not fpotted, and of a reddifh hue,
which fometimes weigh from eight to ten pounds: they are
very ill tafted. In Lough Neagh, in Ireland, there are Trouts
called Buddagh, many of which weigh thirty pounds; others
are taken of a much fuperior fize, in Hulfe Water (a lake in
Cumberland), the fame as thofe Trouts in the lakes of Geneva.

The ftomachs of the common ‘routs are very thick and

mufcular, as they feed on the fhell.fith of lakes and rivers ‘as
“well as the {mall fith 5 and take gravel or ftones. into their

D . ftomachs

ftomachs to affift in comminuting the teftaceous parts of their
food. The Trouts of certain lakes in Ireland are remarkable
for the great thicknefs of their ftomachs, which, from fome
refemblance to the digefting organs in birds, are called Giz-
zards; and the fpecies which have them, are called Gizzard
Trouts. Thefe ftomachs are frequently ferved up to the table
in Ireland, under the nomination of Gizzards.
Trouts are a very voracious fifh, affording the angler great
amufement. The under jaw of the Trout is fubje& to the
fame curvature as that of the Salmon. There is likewife a.
{fpecies of Trout, which migrates out of the fea into the river
Iifk in Cumberland, from July to September, and called, from
its colour, the Whiting, Its tafte is delicious. When they
firftt make their appearance from the falt water, they have
Salmon Loufe adhering to them. They have milt and {pawn ;
but no fry has been yet obferved. It goes under the appel-
lation of Phinocs, among the Scotch. They are never more
than a foot in length; the upper jaw is fomewhat longer than
the lower; the upper contains ‘two rows of teeth, and the
lower one: on the tongue there are fix teeth. Its form is
truly elegant; the colour dufky, mingled with filver. Firft
dorfal fin fpotted with black; the tail quite black, and forked ;.
the firft dorfal fin has eleven rays; the pectoral thirteen; the

ventral nine; the anal nine.

rnp

The UMA LT ING

Is, in Icthyology, the Englifh name of a common fifh of the
Afellus kind, called by fome Afellus Mollis, and by others
Afellus Albus, or Merlangus. It is certainly, according to
the Artedian fyftem, one of the Gadi; diftinguifhed by that |
author by the name of Gadus with three fins on the backs
without beards, with a white body; the upper jaw long than
the lower.

The Whiting, or Gadus Melangus of Linnzus, has a very
elegant form: its eyes are large, its nofe fharp; the teeth of
the upper jaw are very long, and appear above the lower
when clofed. The frft dorfal fin has fifteen rays, the fecond
eighteen, and the laft twenty. The head and back are of a
pale brown colour; the lateral line white and crooked; the
belly and fides filvery; the fides being marked lengthways
with yellow.

They appear in the fea, by large fhoals, in the {pring, keep-
ing at the diftance of about half a mile to that of three
miles from the fhore. They are the moft delicate and whole-
fome of any of the genus, and feldom grow to more than ten

or twelve inches in length,

WV Sa:

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ais ce lahldnt iy hat eae es By Pe oet 3° ewollyg dap
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(DISCOURSE

Oo F

FISH-PO

‘

The Hon. ROGER

.
/

a

(RtaOn 29008

ee a

(25° 9)

A

DISCOURSE

OF

FISH AND FISH-PONDS.

Of the Situation and Difpofstion of the principal Water.

On E great point in the condu& of fifth, is, to have them at
command; another is, to have perpetual recruits, to fupply
your ftock as you draw it off. This is not to be done with-
out a certain order and method; and with it, nothing is more
practicable and eaty.

Your methed muft be, to have fome great waters, which
are the head-quarters of the fifh, from whence you may take,
or wherein you may put, any ordinary quantity of fifh. Them
to have ftews, and other proper auxiliary waters, fo as you
lead the fifh from one to the other, whereby you never fhall
want, and need not abound; and, which is more, lofe no
time in the growth of the fifh, but employ the water, as you
do your land, to the beft advantage,

This will appear more diftin@ly in the fequel of this dif-
courfe, which fhall begin with the fituation and difpofition of
the principal waters, whereupon you muft depend for the
raifing and feeding the greateft part of the ftock.

Firft, you muft examine the grounds, and find fome fall be-

twixt

( 336 ))

twixt two hills, as near a flat as may be, fo as there be a fuf-
ficient current for the water. If there be any difficulty in
judging of fuch, take an opportunity after fome fudden rain, or
the breaking up of a great fnow in winter, and you fhall fee
plainly which way the ground cafts; for the water will take
the true fall, and run accordingly.

The condition of the place muft determine the quantity of
gtound to be covered with water. “Ifliould propofe in all, fif-
teen acres in three ponds, or eight acres in two, and not lefs.
And thefe ponds fhould-be placed one above another, -fo as
_ the point of the lower may almoft reach the head or bank of
_ the upper; which will be very beautiful, as well as profitable,
as will appear afterwards.

The head or bank, which, . by flopping the water in its cur-
rent, is to raife the water, and fo make a pond, muft be built
with the clay and earth taken from the pan or hollow dug in
the loweft ground above the bank; and that pan fhould be
fhaped as half an oval, whereof the flat comes to the bank, and
the longer diameter runs fquare from it.

But were there not need of earth for this purpofe, it were
better to leave the natural foil for the fith to feed upon. I
fhall give the reafon afterwards, and confider the manner of
- raifing and fortifying the bank particularly.

Of

($359

Of the Manner of the making ay raifing Pond-Heads.

TF is obvious, that if you make a dam crofs a valley or fwamp,
where at any time after, the water runs, it will produce a pond;
and as the bank or dam is higher at the point or center, which
is againft the loweft ground, fo much is the pond deeper ;
and if the hills on each fide rife fteep and quick, the water
{topped will cover lefs ground than if they rife flow.

Now firft, for making the bank or head, you mutt be fure it
is tight, and that it do not few or leak, as it will certainly do,
if it be compofed of mere earth; therefore a bed or wall of
clay, the whole length of the bank, muft be carried up with
good ramming, from a foot or two below the furface of the
ground, to fuch height as you propofe the water fhall ftand.

If you do not give the bed of clay this foundation, the water
lying under a great weight from the depth of it, will work it-
felf underneath, fo allow a {pit or two at leaft for it. Then,
as you ram the clay, you muft be fure that earth be brought to —
carry the bank up with it, or elfe the fun will fearch and crack
it, which is of pernicious confequence ; fo when it is come to
its full height, clofe and cover it with earth immediately, left
the inconvenience happens.

You muft allow three feet to the breadth of this bed of
clay, and raife it to the height you intend the water thall ftand;
and lay. earth three feet higher; two feet would have ferved,
but that the allowance-of one at leaft muft be made for the

E finking

( 34 )

finking of the bank; for it will do fo notwithftanding the
prefling of tumbrels, horfes, and men working upon it.

If you projec many ftews, or other ponds to be funk right
down about the fame time, you will have great advantage by
the clay you take out of them, which will be much more than
is neceflary for the bed, and that may fortify the bed, by being
preffed down by the tumbrels on each fide of it; and fo the
bank will be very much confirmed, and it will alfo fave break-
ing of ground within the pond, which is a great advantage im

the feed of the fith.

The Dimenfions of Pond-Heads..

THE dimenfions of thefe banks are governed by the manner
of the hills rifing ; for if it be quick, then, to cover a compe-~
tent quantity of ground, you muft raife the bank higher, and:
confequently it muft be made ftronger, than when the ground
rifeth flow, fo as a moderate height fhall caft the water upon
ground enough. And of this there will be great difference ;
for in fome places, ten feet high fhall cover as much as twenty
feet in others. And this will be eafily difcovered by the
water-level, ufed according to art, whereby you may flake the
water-line upon the ground to any height; and fo you will
fix the determinate height of the bank..

T wil

( 3 >)

I will fuppofe a medium, and that a bank, fourteen feet
high at the center, will cover the quantity of ground. Then
you muft make your bank at the foot at leaft’ fifty feet wide,
and fo ftraitening by equal degrees on either fide, bring it to
fixteen at the top ; and fo you will have a fufficient flope,
and the bank will ftand firm and durable, fearce to be deftroyed
without as much pains and induftry as made it.

By this proportion, pond heads of any dimenfion may be
projected; the matter is not fo nicely circumftanced, that a.
little more or lefs fhould fignify. But it muft be noted, that to
make them too flight, is the greateft error, and moft to be
avoided ; let them be rather made too ftrong, for then you have
not only amore fecure bank, but a more beautiful walk, and
more room for wheel-carriage, befides a capacity of fome wood;
all which compenfate the charge of what is fuperfluous.

Of fecuring your Banks.

IF the bank be well made, and in, fufficient dimenfion, nothing
_can hurt it, but great land-floods, or water-fhots, which, if
fuffered to run over the bank, will carry away the fifh, which
in) a warm flood will rife, and go with it to feek adventures,
but alfo gurry holes in the back of the bank, and weaken it fo
E2 much,

( we)

much, that if the flood continues, it fhall carry all away
together.

For preventing of this mifchief, there are two wavs; r.
Grates at each end of the bank, planted upon the level that is
to be the higheft of the water. 2. Channels of diver-
fion, which being taken fo high in the current as may lead the
water upon the fide of either hill above the bank, you have
the power to turn out all the water when you pleafe, fo that
none fhall come upon the bank.

1. As to grates, the way of them is well known; however
obferve, that if they be made of wood, the banks muft be fet
diagonally, like window-bars ; for fo rubbifh ftops leaft againft
them, and the water paffeth freely. And in regard you can-
not allow any great diftance between them for keeping in the
fith, you muft-help out the room by extending the grate from
each fide of the cut in the bank where the water is to. vent,
fome confiderable {pace from the bank, and there to meet in
1 point, forming a triangle upon the bank. Here are many
more {lits for the water to vent at, than if the grate lay flat
upon the bank, covering the paflage only. Andif need be,
there may be doors to flide up and down, made in the grate,
to let the water pafs more freely ; but this endangereth lofing
the fifth. If you will afford iron for thefe grates, you need
only cover the paflage of the bank; for the bars need not
be fo thick, but there will be fpace enough for the water to
vent at.

2. The channels for diverting the water are very ufeful in
this and many other refpeds; for they give you a perfe&

command

(7)

command of the water, and you may turn it which way you
pleafe, fo as to fill or keep dry any of the ponds, and in a wet
feafon are a perfect fecurity. Thefe fhould be made four feet
wide, and on each fide of the ponds the lofs of ground is not
confiderable ; for wood growing there will make amends for
it.

The ftring of ponds in Hyde-Park are admirably difpofed
in this refpeat; for the current of the valley is carried along by
the fide of all the ponds, and may be let into any of them,
or any may be emptied into it; than which, there is not a
greater command of water.

However carefully a bank is made, it is probable it will
few a little at firft; but this fhould be no difcouragement ; for
by the fettling of the earth, it will continually srow higher,
and in a few years, if made with tolerable care, be as firm as a

rock.

Of Sluices.

"PHESE are very requifite tothe good command of a wa~
ter, and though very ordinarily ufed, yet require an experienced
carpenter to make and fix them as fhould be, efpecially in great
waters; and fuch as have not experience, fhall err moft grofsly
in this work, They muft be framed foas to ftand firm, that

the

(38 2

the force of any thruft, or a boat’s running againft them, may
do’no prejudice to them: for if they are any thing ftrained,
they are apt to prove leaky; and in fo great an height as is
needful for deep waters, a fmall matter will do it, satel they
are extraordinarily well abutted.

The timber-work muft be heart of oak, efpecially the top,
and that all of one piece, how long foever it be; and the vent
hole muft be guarded with large boxes perforated fo as the
water, but no fifth, may pafs. And all this well framed, and
what is under ground extraordinarily rammed with clay, elfe
it will be apt to leak.

The ufe of thefe is very great: for if a great water muft
be emptied, you muft either apply engines, cut the bank,
or draw a fluice. As for engines, they are too chargeable,
and puzzling to ix; however, I may propofe to them that
are lovers of art, fome facile ways of lifting great quantities of
water. Then, if you cut the bank, the paffage is interrupted
and made troublefome by the earth, and you fhall fearce ram
it up fo well again, but it will perpetually leak about the place
where the fiffure was; but fluices vent the water certainly,
though flowly, without any labour, charge, or inconvenience.

Of

(ga

Of the Manner of working to raife a Pond-Head.

No W, as for the manner of raifing this bank, which I think
is the only chargeable work you have, I fhall give fome light
into the way of working, fo as to abridge the expence as much
as may be. The advantage of trades, is, that by continual ex-
perience, they find nearer ways of doing things, {pending fewer
ftrokes, and lefs time, than others can. And in the condu&
of this work, there is much to be faved; every man’s reafon
leads him to contrive compendiums of bufinefs, as 1 have done
in the difpofition of my waters; which experience of mine
may fave others the thought, as well as lofs by making their
own experiments.

When you have projected your work, for which the latter
end of June, or the beginning of May, is the beft time, take
the afliftance of your neighbours, and. provide yourfelf with
fix tumbrels, four good horfes, and two ftout labourers, befides.
the driver to each pair of tumbrels. I call them pairs, becaufe
they work alternately with the fame horfes; fo that one is
filling, while the other is moving, and your labourers, as well.
as horfes, are always at work.

The firft work to be done, is, the taking up the firft fpit of
earth where the bank is to be, and from the pan of the pond).
and to lay it by for the ufes I fhall declare hereafter.

Then lay down your fluice, with trunks fufficient to convey

the:

-

( 4) )
the water through the head or bank. This mnft be done at
the deepeft part of the ground, which probably will fall in
the center of the bank. This will employ two pair of tumbrels
and four labourers, for digging and fetching of clay, befides
four labourers to ram it, which muft be, as was faid, very well
done. And the carpenter, who beforehand hath fitted his
work, muft attend alfo one whole day to help in the laying it
down, and to fee it well rammed.

The next day’s work may be the employment of two pair
of tumbrels in fetching of clay, and four or five good labourers
to ram the foundation of the bed of clay. And I fuppofe this
may rife a foot in one whole day’s work, more or lefs, as the
length of the head is. Clay rifeth ftiff, and for that, if it
rifeth near, as in the pan of the pond, three labourers to a pair
of tumbrels, are requifite to dig and fill, otherwife the
horfes will be idle, and want work as well as the rammers.

The day after employ four pair of tumbrels more, to fetch
earth out of the pan of the pond to lay along the bank on each
fide of the bed of clay, the whole length of the head ; and
to this work, two labourers for a pair of tumbrels are enough.

Here you muft lay on fix labourers at leaft, to ram the bed
of clay, and {pread earth upon the bank, fo that it may be
done‘as faft as the fix tumbrels fupply it; and by this means
the bank and bed of clay will mfe together.

Thus you proceed till the bank is finifhed, which will rife
fafter as you come nearer the top, and fo will fomewhat alter
the employment of the tumbrels and men, which you muft
conform in proportion accordingly. And obferving thefe

directions,

( 46° J

‘dire@ions, you may make two ponds in one month (fuppofing
the weather propitious), which fhall be three, four, or five
acres apiece, as the ground gives, and not expend in money
above eighty pounds, although you pay for every hour’s work
of man and horfe.

But confidering that a gentleman is fuppofed to intend this
bufinefs, not only as a care, but an entertainment, he will not
fuffer his own fervants and horfes to be without a fhare of it;
and then I cannot imagine which way he can expend above
fixty pounds, fuppofing labourers work for twelve pence per day,
which I cannot fay they will do in all countries.

The third pond may be a work of another year; and if the
ground lies fair for it, that is, much upon a level, I would not
be without it; for it will add much to the ornament of your
eftate, becaufe it will fll up a range or ftring of waters, which
two do not; and befides contribute vaftly to the increafe of fifh,
as I fhall thew; and I prefs this thing the rather, becaufe with-
out it, in the method I propofe, you will have the ufe of but
ene pond as to water every year. Nay, were not ceconomy,
and faving charge, one great branch of my defign, I fhould re-
commend more of thefe waters, if the place will receive them.

And to demonftrate the charge is not fo very great, compar=
ed with the other expences gentlemen are at for their diverfion,
without any return of profit, as to deter any from undertaking
this particular work; I muft remember, that once, at the
command of my Lord North, I did, as I have direéted, proceed
to the making one great pond, and one ftew, at Catledge,

EF which

( 42 j

which are ftill to be feen, but negle&ted; and befides, the
regard to profit by the fifh they would maintain and fupply,
the very ornament of them was worth the charge. I was li-
mited to ten pounds, befides the work of his lordfhip’s horfes,
which I compute to be four pounds more ; fo the whole did
not coft fifteen pounds, and yet a full acre of ground | ayunder
water, and all was completed in twelve days. His lordfhip
would not allow the laying down a fluice, elfe that water was
a f{pecimen of my propofition, as well for the condua&, as the
charge of the work.

Of Auxiliary Waters.

Asa great garrifon muft have many fubfervient forts and re-
doubts difperfed about the place, for fecuring the country, and
collecting the contributions, which are to maintain the head-
quarters ; fo the great ponds, which are the head-quarters of
the fith, muft be accommodated with many other fubfervient
waters, which I call auxiliary, becaufe they ferve to relieve
the greater when over ftocked, to fupply them when under
ftocked, and to rear up and maintain fry and young ftores, as
well as to render the fifh eafy to be taken; without which con-
veniences, you will have but a forry account of the fifh.-
There

( 43)

There are ftews, moats, and ordinary ponds difperfed about
in your eftate and neighbourhood ; the employment of which
being very confiderable in the well ordering of fith, I will con~
fider each apart 5 and farft, of ftews.

Of Stews.

"THE peculiar ufe of thefe, is, to maintain fifh for the daily
ufe of your houfe and friends, whereby you may with little
trouble, and at any time, take out all or any fifh they con-
tain; therefore it is good to place them in fome inclofed
grounds near the chief manfion-houfe. Some recefs in a gar-
den is very proper, becaufe the fifh are fenced from rob-
bers, and your journey to them is fhort and eafy, and your
eye will be often upon them, which will conduce te
their being well kept, and they will be an ornament to the
walks. oh
If you have two great waters of three or four acres apiece,
I do advife, that you be not without four ftews, of two rods
wide and three rods long apiece. The way of making thefe,
is, by cutting the fides down fomewhat floping, and carrying
the bottom in a perpetual decline from end to end, fo as you
may have a convenient mouth, fuch as horfe-ponds ufually have,
for taking out your nets when you draw for fifh.

F 2 If

( 46.9

If you have ground enough, it is better to make a mouth.
at both ends, and the deepeft part in the middle; for fo you
may draw your nets backwards and forwards, lofing lefs time,
and the fifh will not have fuch fhelter, as the depth under a
head will be. Befides this, you will find the fifh will delight
themfelves in coming upon the fhoals, and it may be, thrive
better. But for this manner you mutt allow at leaft a rod of
ground in length more than for the other.

Thefe I intend for carps chiefly, though not abfolutely ;
and if you find the tench and perch increafe and profper, you
may make other lefler ftews to accommodate them apart, if
you pleafe ; and fo you will have them at command, without
difturbing the other fifh; only obferve this by the way, that
perch will fcarce live in ftews and {mall waters, if the weather
be hot, but will pine, grow lean and thin, if not die; there-
fore the ftews are to be their winter-quarters; from whence
you take them for the ufe of your table, but in fummer tran-
flate them to the greater ponds.

Thefe flews being defigned at the fame time you raife the
pond-heads, will be done almoft under the fame charge, as is
hinted elfewhere: and once made, you have the fifh at a
minute’s warning ready for the kettle, or any other ufe ; which
convenience is the great end of all the charge and pains, and.
without it, you are not a mafter of fith.

of

( 45 )

Of Moats.

THESE were made ordinarily for fecuring of dwelling
houfes, rather than for fith; and fince wars have been lefs
frequent, or rather, grown fo much an art, that the ancient
way of fortifying is not ufeful, are almoft difufed. For being
laid fo near the dwelling, as we obferve commonly they are,
for want of fun, and air to purge them, the water grows putrid
and flimy, yielding no pleafant {cent to the houfe; befides,
when laid dry, as is neceffary fometimes, the {tench and filth of
them are infupportable ; and therefore many gentlemen have
either flighted them wholly, or prefented the form only, as a walk
or low garden, planting the fide- walls with fruit, but without
water: and fo is the moat at Althrop in Northamptonfhire,
a feat of the Earl of Surderland’s, much of late beautified,

put in order, and from a defeat, turned to a great perfection.
But I am an advocate for moats, ordered as they might be,
and do efteem them avery great accomplifhment to a feat in
many refpeéts. 1. Though they are not a fortification for
refiftance in time of war, yet againft pilferers and tumults,
they are fufficient and better than any walls you fhall make.
2. They hall nourifh a world of fifh, which, though not fo
well at command as in other waters, yet for angling, and the
fporting part of net-fithing, are better than the others are,
becaufe nearer, and fifhed with fmaller nets. 3. They are an
ornament and delight toa feat beyond ima_ination, as will
appear

( 46 )

appear when I have fhewed how I would have them made;
and of that next.

They fhould encompafs not only the houfe, but all the out
houfes, yards, orchards, and it may be a pightle or two, fuch
as are neat for ordinary convenience of horfes, or a cow or two:
I fay, all that is called the home-ftall,, fhould be environed by
the moat. It fhould be no lefs than forty yards, or one hun-
dred feet over, cut down with a flope on each fide, as your
pond-heads were, without walls; which are too great charge
to keep in repair. And towards the paftures, you may make
a mouth; if it runs the whole length of one fide of your moat,
it is the better, and fifth will increafe and thrive from it. Let
there be but two avenues with bridges: And to prevent the
charge of crofling fo great a length with bridge-work, you
may leave the earth on each fide broad enough for carriages,
but not to meet by ten or twelve feet, which may be covered
by a bridge, and underneath, the water to communicate; fo
the pafs fhall be, as upon a caufeway, with a draw-bridge ; for
fo it may be made, if you pleafe.

I know all fituations and foils will not adinie of this; for
fome are low and marfhy, and fo have naturally too much
water; others are upon hanging ground, which for want of a
Jevel, cannot be meated in this manner; others are fandy, and
will not hold water: But the happieft of all, is, fuch a fitu-

ation as either hath fprings, or will take a current, and dif
charge it again by a fluice or gates, fo that the moat fhall be
perpetually fed with a frefh water, and may at any time be
jaid dry; therefore in thefe affairs there muft be a previous
judgment

Cay

judgment of the place, elfe undertakings will not fueceed,
and that is a great difgrace.

Now, fuch a moat as this hath all the convenience I fpoke
of, befides ferves the houfe with water; which from the wind
and the fun’s free accefs to it in a great body, will certainly
preferve it {weet and wholefome. The finks of the houfe will
not foul it, as it doth in leffer quantities, even to kill the fith,.
as well as make the water unfit for ufe. The view of it is:
a delicacy the greateft epicures in gardening court, and we
hear of it by the name of canal. Then the moving upon it in
boats, either in calm weather, or with fome wind that ftirs the
water, and gives a power of employing fomewhat of fail, after a
romantick way ; and thus circling an houfe, taking the variety
of walks and gardens here and there, vifiting {tables and offi-
ees, feeing the horfes air upon the banks, &c. are pleafures not
given to be underftood by any but ftatefmen, laid afide for their
honefty, who by experience are taught the variety of greatnedfs,.
and have an underftanding to diftinguifh the true felicities:
of life.

I know the objection of charge, which muft be very ‘great
in fuch a work as this; but I confider the great profufion of.
money that is allowed to tranfitory vanities; fuch as habits,
treats, equipages, not to mention vices too well known; fuch.
as are tellers of money and depauperate families, leaving
nothing but difeafesto fhew for them. If fo much, or a.much:
lefs proportion being difpofed to employ mankind, the poor
efpecially, inanaking holes, and filling them again, were much:
more commendable. What is it then to produce advantage

Ta::

( 48 )

to yourfelf and family, to improve your habitation and eftate,
preferve health and reputation?

But even the charge might be alleviated, if not in great part
faved, by good management. For fuch grofs works as this
may be put out to undertakers, and you may compute by the
folid foot or yard, what the charge will be; and the mafters
will fee the men work, which you cannot do if you are mafter,
and do all by the day. Then, every one delights to have raifed
walks and terraces about an houfe and garden; fo that the
earth being employed in fuch, and raifing mounts in proper
places, will produce a real equivalent for the charge: but this
is a digreflion which here I conclude, and return to the affair
of fith.

Then confidering moats, as commonly they are, it is not
expected that the fifh fhould be much at command, becaufe it
ds difficult, and perhaps not convenient to lay them dry.
However, they fhould be kept full ftocked, and will maintain
a great many... This will mend your angling, and the fifhing
with nets will feldom be labour in vain, as certainly it will
prove if under ftocked. Thefe waters will receive a great
fhare of your fry and ftores that are fuperfluous, and fo pre-
ferve them. .

Ifa moat come to be laid dry, as will be necefiary fome-
times to keep at from turning all to mud, after you have by
a fluice or cut, drained the water as low as you can, make
dams with boards and clay, and ram them to be water-tight;
fe you may tofs the water out of one divifion to another, and
take out the fifh in good order; but if you dry all together,

you

( fg. .)

you will not be able to fecure all; befides, having one divifion
full of water, you can relieve the fry and eels by letting it
upon them; which elfe, for want of a frefh to let in upon
them, will be loft. So when one divifion is fifhed, that is re-
lieved by tofling the water out of the next. And this courfe
is not amifs, though you intend to throw out the mud; for
the faving the fifth while you are taking them out, quits the
charge of making the ftanks.

Of other auxiliary Waters.

GG) gale lamenaiher less Inches ftews, to affift in the
difpofition of the fifth; for laying a pond in that great order
dry, as I propofe, once in every year, there will be a great
quantity of fifh to be difpefed ; fo that you muft have a fuf-
ficient quantity of waters to receive when you abound, and to
recruit when you want. ‘The ftews will carry fixty, feventy,
or eighty carps apiece, fuppofing you fpend continually out
of them; fo other waters will receive their proportion, by
fending this way and that the ftock of fifh, you will preferve
all, and know where to find them again.

Thefe bye-ponds will be difperfed about your eftate, where -
perhaps your predecefiors thought fit to make them, for the |
convenience of their paftures, or you may make them as you

G can

[ op)

can beft, with refpect to charge and other advantages, obfery-
ing always in a ground to take that part for your pond, to
which the waters are moft apt to fettle. In fome places, but
very few, the waters ftand beft upon the hills, and the valleys,
when fandy, will.not hold well. The nature of the ground
is to be regarded.

Some ponds of good depth, of about five or fix rods fquare,
fhould be afligned to maintain pikes, which, when great, ought
to be kept. by themfelves; for in a few years they will devour
other fith, and greatly furprife you in the deftruction they will
make, But I fhall {peak more of this when I come to the
ftocking of waters.

I do much approve of cleanfing and cafting out the mud
of {mall ftanding waters once in feven or eight years, and fo
letting them lie dry one fummer, if you can {pare the water;
which, from moats, and pafture-waters, can fcarce be done,
without great inconvenience. Thefe matters exercife the in-
vention of a good ceconomift, who will endeavour to prevent
damage, as well as fave time, and turn even his pleafures to
profit.

One thing I advertife here, which is, not to let carps con-
tinue ina {mall ftanding water above two fummers and one
winter; for fo you run a much lefs hazard from froit, than
otherwife you, will do; befides, the fifh will grow much more
upon tranfplanting, than by continuing in the fame water,
and more in the great, than in the fmall waters: but of thefe
things more afterwards.

The Courfe of laying the Great Waters Dry.

BEFORE I come to the bufinefs of fith, I will finifh what
I had to fay about ponds, and the condué of them; and of
that only remains to fpeak of the courfe of laying them dry.

As for the fmaller waters, I have touched what concerns
them already; as for the greater, or principal ponds, proceed
thus:

In OGober, or after, draw the fluice of the firft made pond,
and lay it as dry as poflible you can. It may be the fluice,
efpecially if the pond be many acres, will not vent the water
fuddenly. That is of no great import, becaufe, as the waters
fall, you wiil have opportunity of ffhing with nets, and fo
clear the fifh by degrees; which left to the laft, will be too
great a burden to clear, and will not be done without damage;
befides, the hurry will diforder every thing. If the fluice will
not vent all the water from the pan, a labourer or two will
foon throw it out with feuppets. Here you find the ufe of
the channels of diverfion, fpoke of before; for they will keep
off all land-waters, if the time fhould prove rainy, and fo per-
mit the pond to empty, and continue dry, which you could
not anfwer for a day without them; and therefore they fhould
be made on both fides of the waters, on each hill one, which
will defend the fhot of thefe hills, that otherwife would retard
the work.

When your pond is dry, and thus fecured, keep it fo all

G 2 fummer,

[$2.9

fummer, and you may make a profit of the foil fufficiently,
either by ploughing or feeding. And at Michaelmas next, or
a little fooner, let fall the fluice, and turn in all the water you
can, that the pond may fill, and at the being near full, it is
ready to receive the ftock again. .

At the fame time lay another. dry, proceeding as before;
which you may do alternately during your whole life: nay, if
you have but two great ponds, this is the beft courfe, and will
turn moft to the profit and feed of the fifh, as I fhall thew
when I {peak of feeding.

If your ftock be very great, you may let your ponds ftand
full two or three years, but not longer, unlefs you delight to
fee ftarved lean fifh; for fuch they will certainly be, unlefs you
keep an under-ftock by three-fourths continuing in the fame
water four or five years. And it is a certain rule, that the
oftener waters are laid dry, the better the feed of the fith fhall
be, and more fhall be maintained. And a little experience
will demonftrate the advantage to be great, as to the fize, fat-
nefs, and fweetnefs of the fith.

When your pond is dry, concern not yourfelf to carry out
the mud for the firft fourteen or fifteen years; and then let
it be only out of the pan whence you took the earth to raife
the bank, but never break the turf of the reft of the ground
flowed: but when it comes to be a yard thick in mere mud,
it is good to take it out; for though mud be good to improve
eround, yet, when it is taken from the pond, down to the
dead earth, your ground and foil are depauperated, and the
water by confequence, which cheats the fifh, that is, yourfelf. .

of

( 33-3

Of the Breeding of Fifb.

HAVING done with ponds, the manner of making, pre-
ferving, and ufing them, I intend next to difcourfe of fith, and
how beft to difpofe them to maintain the waters in full ftock:
but before I come to the ftocking of waters, I muft fpeak of
‘the courfe of breeding fifth, whereby the ftock is to be recruited
and fupplied. : }

Some have thought, that great difference is to be found in
the forts of carps, fome whereof are more apt to grow up to
a great fize, others to fpread and look thick, and others for
the fweetnefs of the meat. I do not deny but there may be
fome difference, but I cannot efteem it fo confiderable, as to
be worth the looking after. Varieties in nature are infinite,
and in the feveral breeds of fith, as of other creatures: yet I
have not obferved fo much of it in carps, that I could tell
how to diftinguifh them, where I could promife myfelf better
fuccefs with one fort than another. ‘This is a nicety which
fifhmongers, that make a trade of buying and felling, talk of,
intending it only as a topic of myftery, which all trades affect,
and to have fomething to fay for valuing or undervaluing, as
they fell or buy, to juftify in their talk the prices they pro-
pofe to take or give; therefore this nicety is left to them.

I do yet believe, that a fort of fifh, bred in great numbers
in bad waters, over-ftocked, and almoft ftarved, may in pro-
cefs of time degenerate, and both lofe a good fhape, and be

lefs

(954 5)

lefs apt to grow up to a due greatnefs, than others that have been
better defcended of a cultivated ftock: and on the other fide,
it is no lefs poflible, that by coming into good quarters, fifh
may improve and mend; fo that a gentleman is to expec the
goodnefs of his fith from the cleannefs of his waters, and the
plenty of their feed, and not from any choice of his ftock or
breed; and Ict him get them where he may, if well ordered, |
“he may affure himfelf they fhall anfwer his expectations.

It is a common obfervation, that fome waters will, and
others will not breed. It is my experience, that moft waters,
the firft year after having lain dry a fummer, do breed, and
that numeroully, efpecially carps, which I have known increafe
to fuch an incredible fry, that I have been troubled how to
difpofe them, fo as to have them again after three or four
years, when they became good {tock for great waters. Eels
and perch are of yery good ufe to keep down the breed of
fith; for they prey much upon the fpawn and fry of bred fith,
and will probably deftroy the fuperfluity of them.

The quality of breeding is {carce to be found out by any
certain fymptom; for fome very promifing ponds do not prove
afeful that way. The beft indication I know of a breeding
pond, is, when there is good ftore of rufh and grazing about
it, and gravelly fhoals, fuch as horfe-ponds ufually have.
When a water takes thus to breeding, with a few milters and
{pawners, two or three of each, you may ftock a country.

As for pike, perch, tench, roach, &c. they are obferved to
breed in almoft any waters, and very numeroufly; only eels
mever breed in perfec {landing waters, and withont fprings;

and

C ee}

and in fuch are neither found, nor increafe, but by putting’
in; but where fprings are, they are never wanting, though not
put in: and which is moft ftrange of all, no perfon ever faw
in an eel the leaft token of propagation, either by milt or
fpawn in them; fo that whether they breed at all, and how
they are produced, are queftions equally myfterious.

Lhe Manner of Stocking Waters.

T-WAVE found a great analogy between the flocking waters
with fifh, and paftures with cattle; and that the fame con-
du& and. difcretion belong to both. Waters may be over-
ftocked, as paftures often are; fo both may be under-ftocked.
The latter is the lefs error; for if you over-ftock, you lofe the
whole fummer’s feed; if you under-ftock, you lofe only the
reft of your profit; what you do feed, is much the better, and
turns to account by more ready fale. So alfo of beafts; fome
of the fame age and feeding will not thrive fo well as others, .
I have found the like in my fifh. And waters themfelves, like
pattures, have varieties of goodnefs; fome will raife carps from:
five to eighteen inches, in five years; others will not do it in
ten. This is moft fenfible between your great waters made

upon a fall; and the {mall flanding waters, which have more.
incon=

C 56) 9

jaconveniencies, and are liable to frofts, and other 4 he
more than the others are.

Therefore I propofe, that the {maller waters fhould be ufed
as nurferies, and either to breed, or be ftocked with the bred_
fry of other waters, to raife them to a fitnefs for ftores in your
principal feed; that is, to fix or eight inches. And of thefe
bred fry, you may put one hundred into four rods fquare of
water, or near that proportion, and fail not to remove them in
two years time; and fo you will have good recruits of ftores
for your greater waters.

And thus the many thoufands of bred fifth that you will
have upon the draining your great waters, which many are apt
to flight, may be fent feveral ways to the waters about that
and your neighbour’s grounds, and there fed up like chickens,
and in time turn to great profit, as I fhall fhew; therefore
they ought not to be flighted, but carefully to be preferved;
the rather, becaufe confidering a pond (as I propofe) will,
though but four acres, feed up one thoufand fix hundred carps
in two, and perhaps in one year, from ten to eighteen inches,
fit for your table-prefents, or fale. How is it poflible you
fhould reftock your waters the winter after, without this pro-
vidential forecaft, whereby you have magazines of fifh in other
ponds, fit ftores to fupply your occafion?

Now, as for your great and principal waters, it is hard to
aflign a certain proportion for the ftock; but perufing the
methods I propofe, you will foon come to the knowledge what
ftock the waters will carry; for laying a pond dry every year,
you will fee the fith well fed, or elfe thin and lean; and ac-

cordingly

rss <n

( *57 )

gordingly you judge whether the flock was too little or too
much for the water. Thus, by the thicknefs or fatnefs of

cattle, you judge if your ground will carry more or not; and

both as to {pecies and number of fifh, experience muft be your
guide in the flocking of waters.

However, to fave lofs of time, which you muft fuftain by
making your own experience, I will give the beft directions I'can,
for the firft entry upon your bufinefs, and not leave the matter
wholly in the dark.

If the pond be fupplied with a aehite fat water upon great
rains, you may put into it at firit three hundred carps per acre,
in cafe there be three or four acres, elfe not fo many. And
it will be expedient to put in forty or fifty tenches for a trial,
becaufe this fort of water is moft proper for carp; but being
laid dry, fometimes may prove well for tenches alfo, which,
when thriven, are a very good fifth; but this proof by trial
muft determine.

You may add perches to any number, and not hurt the
water: I propofe fix hundred; for though they are great
breeders, being alfo fifhes of prey, they devour their own

fpecies as much, if not more than any other; and by deftroy-

ing‘the fry of bred fith, they preferve the food for the main-

tenance of theirifeeders, which the fry would intercept; fo

do good rather than harm. I took once out of a perch’s

belly of ten inches, ten other perches. This is efteemed one

of the beft forts of frefh-water fth, and therefore defervedly

to be-encouraged.

‘Have a great care/of putting:bream in this fort of waters ;

H “(for

( (8. i

‘for they will grow up very flowly, though at laft they will be

great 5 but in the mean time they breed fo infinitely, and fuch
a flimy nafty fry, as both robs and fouls the water, making it
unfit for the other fifth. But when a water is ten or twelve
acres, and fed with fome brook, winter and fummer, they will
do very well; otherwife not to be made ufe of.

As for pike, which are inferior to no frefh-water fifh, and
now more efteemed than ever, being lefs plentiful upon drain-
ing the fens, and fo harm more ; they are dangerous guefts in
the great waters; for if grown large, they will devour and
deftroy the beft fifth, and depopulate the water. But thus far
you may truftthem ; if you can procure ‘one. hundred jacks
once in two years not exceeding nine inches, you may put
them with the carps into your great waters, fo as your carps
are not under nine or ten inches ; but take care that they ftay
not above two years, and then fend them. to their peculiar
ponds, and feed them as I fhall hereafter difcourfe; and fo they
will erow to be very large and fine fifh, which you. would
not want.

I cannot advife the ftocking great flanding waters with eels,
for they grow flow, and being of an indifferent fize, will be
lean and dry ; but in moats, which havethe finks of an houfe
drain into it, is proper enowgh for them, and they will thrive in
it. It isa fort of fifth, as. I noted, that belongs to a {pringy-
water.

‘Fhefe dire@tions belong to the firft ftocking of new-made
ponds, which, as to feeding, lie under a difadvantage; the
reafon J have touched, and.is from the dead earth in the, pan

from.

(. 58.)

from whence you raifed the bank, and that at firft, which is
about an acre, is almoft unprofitable. But afterwards, when
that dead ground hath contracted a little new foil from the
fettling of the water, efpecially after land-floods, and lain
dry a fummer, whereby it will begin to graze, it will become
like the reft of the pond, and put forth as good feed for fith
as any other part. ‘This may feem ftrange and new, but is 4
great truth, known to me from ihdtibitable experience.

Then after one, two, or three years (for longer the pond
muft not ftand full), when you come ta reftock, and fo on in
all like oceafions, you may put four hundred carp, or three
hundred carp, and eight hundred tench (if the water feeds
them) into an acre, befides perches, It is incredible te thofe
who have not feen it, as J have done, how carps thus ordered,
by tranfplanting them every year or two, willgrow. I affirm,
that from fix, they will grow to twelve and better the firft, and
to fifteen or fixteen the next year; and then they are moft fit
for a gentleman’s table ordinarily ; for though greater are mere
oftentatious, yet thefe are the moft {weet and beft meat, as
young flefh is commonly preferred to old,

It is to be noted, that if the fifh wherewith you ftock the
waters, were kept fo clofe together, and come from over-
ftocked waters, which renders them lean and poor, you muft
double the ftock at firft; elfe the two fudden plenty of food at
firft will furfeit them, and they will die of overmuch Eee
as I have found fo my great lofs,

H 2 OF

( 60 }

Of the Manner of feeding Fifb.

IN a few you may keep up thirty or forty carps, from Odto-
ber to March in winter, without feeding ; and by fifhing with
trammels or flews in March or April, you may take from your
great waters, to recruit the ftews; but you muft not fail to
feed all f{ummer, from March to October again, as conftantly as
your cooped chickens are fed, and to as good and certain ac-
count. ‘The reafon you feed in fummer, and not in winter,
is, becaufe the fifth will lie clofe in cold weather, and feed
little, not caring to ftir, efpecially upon the fhoals, where it
is proper to give them meat.

If you would bring more fifh together into your ftews, you
may preferve and improve them by feeding; but there are
bounds, becaufe the water is but fmall, and will.not admit
any great number: but if you have a great number of ffh to
be kept for an opportunity, and you put them into a confi-
derable water, you may in that manner ftock to any quantity,
taking care duly to feed them ; and fo not only maintain, but
improve one thoufand per acre; but if thus over-ftocked, and
you do not feed fuffiiciently, they will fink, and you be a great -
lofer.

Now, as for your ftews, the care of feeding is -beft intruft-
ed toa butler or gardener, who are or fhould be always at
home, becaufe the conftancy and regularity of ferving the fifh,
conduce very much to their well eating and thriving; for-

they

( Ge, 9)

they will expec their meat as duly as horfes, and appetite in any
creature waftes by difappointment.

Any fort of grain boiled is good to feed with, efpecially
malt coarfe ground. Peafe boiled a turn or two are as good.
as any other grain. ‘The grains after a brewing, while they
are good and fweet, are very proper; but one bufhel of malt
not brewed, will go as far as two of grains. The chippings of
bread, and orts of a table, fteeped in tap-droppings of good
{trong beer or ale, are very good food for carps. Of thefe the
quantity of two quarts to thirty table carps every day is fufh-
cient ; and to feed morning and evening, is better than once a
day only. :

The place to feed is towards the mouth, at about half yard
deep ;, for that: Keeps:the deep clean and fit, as a parlour to
retire to, and reftin. ‘The meat plainly thrown into the wa-
ter, without other device, will be picked up by them, and no-
thing fhall be loft.. However,.there are feveral ways to give
them meat, efpecially peafe, which are ufeful, as a {quare board
let down, .with the meat upon it, by the four corners, whence a
{tring comes; and made faft toa ftick like a fcale, is very ma-
nageable. A gentleman had found out a very facile way to
feed carps; worth noting, becaufe I have heard it was fuccefs-
ful. He let down the very kettle in which the peafe were boil-
ed, into. the water, and the. fifh would come and. take out:
every grain. . .

When you feed in the greater waters, where. the numbers :
are alfo great, it will be a charge as well as trouble ; but. when :

you take out the fith, and fee how they are thriven, you will:
allow.

( 62 )

allow both well employed. Either malt boiled, or frefh grains,
is the beft food in this cafe: and what is not fupplied from
your own houfe and brewings, you may take of neighbouring
alehoufes, who will be willing, for a fmall matter, to throw
into the water, at a place you fhall affign, a certain quantity
every brewing. ‘Thus carps may be fed and raifed like capons.
And tenches will feed in ftews, as well as carps; but perch, as
was faid, are not for a ftew in feeding time.

There is a fort of food for fifh, which I may call accidental,
and is no lefs improving, than the beft you can contrive ; and
that is, when the waters happen to receive the wath of com~
mons where many fheep are fed, the water is enriched by the
earth, and fhall feed many more carps, than otherwife it
would, This is the cafe at Antlingham in Norfolk, where
there are ponds in a common that raife carp wonderfully, al-
though the foil be fandy and poor, and the waters feldom let
out; and this earthy wath is the reafon of it, When cattle
are fed upon the paftures by your great waters, if they have
accefs to them, in hot weather ‘they will take delight to ftand
in the water; the dung that falls from them, is alfo a very
great nourifhment of fifh, :

It ‘is “belicved, that about London the Afhmongers have
ways of making carps fat by the offal of butchers shops and
flaughter-houfes; which I do not at all recommend to others,
if that were to be done, becaufe a fudden filthy feeding can
neither be wholefome nor fweet. But I haye not obferved,
that carps. do in any fort delight in blood, nor indeed any
other fifth, except breams; and thofe will feed much upon

new

( Gig 5)

new grains mixed with blood; fo that if you will be at the:
charge of feeding them in ftews, like carps, you may have
large breams in ‘fix or feven years, which are a very flow
grower, unlefs it be in fpringy waters.

One way of feeding fifth is worth remembering, though
not fit to be ufed in waters that you ever look upon. It is
laying a dead carrion upon ftakes in the middle of the water,

and it will breed maggots, which falling into the water, feed

g
the fifh very confiderably ; but I have not proved it.

As for pikes, the beft food to raife them up to an extra~
ordinary fatnefs is eels; and without them it is not to be
done, but in a long time; otherwife fmall perches are the beft
meat you can give them. And. the common opinion, that
pikes will not eat perches, becaufe of their armed backs,
is a great miftake, as I have found. by certain. experience.
Breams put into-a pike-pond, will breed exceedingly, and
are good enough. to maintain pikes, who will take care they
fhall not increafe overmuch. And the great fry of roaches
and rouds that come from the. greater waters,, removed into
the quarters of your pikes, will be good-diet for them.

- Pikes in all waters, and carps in hungry fpringy waters,
being fed at certain times, will come up and take their meat
almoft from your hand; and it is diverting enough to fee the
greedinefs and ftriving that will be amongft them for the good.

bits, and the boldnefs, that by conftant and regular feeding,
they will come to. —

( 64 )

Of difpofing your Increafe of Fifh.

Tuts care prefleth when you employ your great waters;
and unlefs you have projected beforehand how you fhall dif-
pofe your fifh, you will find yourfelf in great diforder.

As for carps for the fervice of your houfe, and alfo tenches
and perch for winter, they are to be difpofed into your ftews.
The reft of your fifh, except the fry, you may put into the
great water, and in March or April after, with flews or
trammels, take out good quantities to recruit your winter's ex-
pence taken from your ftews; the fry goes to your pikes,
except carps, tench, and perch, which may go to fome of your
auxiliary waters to be raifed, in order to become ftores again
when you want. And if, after all, you find your ftock too
high, you muft feed as I have already difcourfed.

_ But you may contrive to keep your ftock within compais;
for you ‘may enlarge the expence in your houfe, and gratify
your family and friends that vifit you, with a difh as acceptable
as any you can purchafe for money; or you may oblige ‘your
friends and neighbours, by making prefents of them, which,
from the ‘countryman to the king, is well taken; for many
‘that have waters, not being in a method of hufbanding them,
‘as well as others that have none, want and defire fath, and
look upon fuch a prefent, as of a rarity, valuing it not by your
plenty, but their own fearcity. And where fifh is plenty, it
is a pofitive difgrace to appear covetous of them, rather more
than

{ 05)
than of venifon, or any other thing;

C
only expedient, but neceffary to be made by y him’ that pro-

fefeth a maftery of fith.

AD EIDEE aD a race 4
ann are net

Another way, more prudent, though in, the account ef
fhallow people, lefs reputable, is that of felling. If there
were any colour for difreputation in that matter, I fhould
beftow fome words upon it; but feeing it refides only among
vain women, or women-like men, I let the humour pafs, and
fhould as foon preach againft the opinion of fairies and Rebin-
Goodfellow, as that. aly by the way, I prefume to advite
the cenforious fparks te do nothing unjuft; let their dealing
be plain, though in felling of horfes, {pend what is their ewn,
provide for their families, and be true to their friend; and
after this, whether they fell corn, cattle, conies, fheep, deer,
horfes, or fifh, I will infure their honour for a farthing. It
is the truth and fubftance of things, and no perfon’s opinion,
that governs honour, which confifts wholly in doing what is
truly juft and good, and nothing otherwile.

This matter being difmiffed, I proceed to direét the courfe
to be taken: when vou propefe to fell. Firft contraé& with
the perfon you deal with for a quantity; which, if for fale
to eat, will be by the meafure of fo much per inch, for every
inch above a foot; if for flores, then fo much per hundred,
or dozen, between certain lengths, as between nine and
twelve, and feven and ten inches, to be delivered alive where
it is agreed.

This trade will be eafy, if you are planted within forty
miles of London, which will take off quantities for retailing,

I | elfe

(BR

elfe it will be hard to find contractors; but for ftores, there
will be fome always beginning in fifh, with whom you may
deal ; and fo few will feduloufly apply to the condué of their
waters, as is neceflary toa command of fifh, you need not fear
the country will be overftocked. If the humour of living in
the country once repoffeffeth the gentleman, there may be
much more occafion for ftores than at prefent there is, becaufe
their feats are let to tenants, and the waters uncultivated.

When you have contracted, you are at a certainty, and may
proceed ; for it is a great inconvenience to take and carry fifh,
and then be paid with a wrangle; therefore let your terms be
certain, and you can have no difpute, becaufe all is to be de-
clared by meafure.

You will find your ftews and auxiliary waters of great ufe
to you upon fuch occafions ; for you clap in what fifh you
pleafe for fourteen or fifteen days; for inftance, five or fix
hundred carps to a brace of ftews, and they take no harm: if
they continue longer, it is but feeding them until they are
fetched or carried away.

Of firing for Carriage.

A\S for the particular ways and methods of taking fith, fuck
as I have dealt in, is at prefent befides my defign, though I
may.

(167, (3)

may not perhaps altogether pafs it by, fo much as concerns
the carriage of fifh, which I look upon as a confiderable item
in the managery as to profit, which I principally aim at, I
fhall now obferve.

When your fifhing is in order to remove far, whether the
waters are great or {mall, it muft be done in winter, between
the firft of O@ober, and the laft of March; and the colder
the weather is, the better. One great caution is, not to handle,
or any way to batter or bruife them ; for it is a great truth,
and common fenfe {peaks it, that fifh battered and bruifed, will
not thrive upon tranfplanting, fo well as others; therefore
when your pond is drawn, and you come to the fifth, take
them out of the water with hoop-nets fixed upon ftaves about
ten feet long, and ten or twelve fifh at a time in a net is fulici-
ent, though buta foot long; more, by their weight and frug-
gling, will damage each other infenfibly, fo as to hinder Seal
growth and thrift, and perhaps be the caufe that many die.
Let the fifth be as little out of the water as may be; for when
fouled, and almoft choaked with mud, they will nee and re-
cover themfelves with water, which frefhen upon them often,
till you come to put them up for carriage.

If you fith with nets, and make a great draught, as probably
you will when the water is low, be not hafty to draw the fith
upon the ground, but fecure them by taking the lead line upon
the ground, and holding up the cork line, and fo let them ftir
a little, they will be the cleaner; and then take them out with
hoop-nets, as before. And if there be occafion to keep them
any time out of the water, let it be upon the grafs, when there

I2 is

(684

is no fun, or clfe in the fhade, for heat is the greateft enemy
to the life of fifth out of water that can be.

The beft veflel for conveyance (if you carry above twenty
miles) is a great tun that holds five hogfheads; but if no
more than ten, fifteen, or twenty miles, ordinary hogfheads
will do well enough. I know by experience you may fafely
carry three hundred-carps, fix and feven inches long, in one
hogfhead ; but from feven to a foot, not fo many by a fourth
part. If they exceed a foot, then not above feventy or eighty
ina hogfhead. Let every hogfhead have ten or twelve pails
of frefh clean water (not well-water), every fix or feven
miles, if it may be had. There is no need of any great
liberty for the fifh, if their water be frefh, and often renewed ;
for one great ufe of the water is to bury the fifh, that with
mere weight they might not crufh and deftroy one another.

When you are arrived at the place of difcharge, pour the
fith into an hoop-net a few at a time, and difpofe them forth-
with where they are defigned; and with this care you will
tearce lofe a nith.

Some ufe to put up fifh in bafkets or hampers for carriage,
{towing them with grafs between ; but this is not fo good as
water, for the grafs cleaving to the flime of the fifh, rubs
and cleans it from the feales; which done, a carp fcarce ever
thrives after. And although perhaps the fifh may live, they
will not grow or thrive, becaufe their natural flime, fearce
recoverable, is rubbed off; and for the fame reafon, it is not
good to let carps lie at all in grafs, but keep them always in
water, to preferve them from bruifes, and lofing their flime.

Of

( 69 )

Of Nurferies to Ponds and Fifb.

(GENERALLY fpeaking, the frefher air and cleaner foil
your water hath, the better fifh thrive. Wood of any fort
near the water is bad, not only from its hindering the wind
and fun from purifying the water, but from the leaves falling
in, and rotten wood; both which are pernicious to fith. But
ofiers and willows may be allowed of, without much
inconvenience. Oak boards, or timber laid in water, as
fometimes is done to feafon, will in all probability deftroy
all your fifh; and likewife hemp laid to rot; all which are
therefore to be avoided. Dung-hills, ftables, or cow-houfes,
permitted to drain into ponds, are very ill neighbours, and
mott efpecially wafh-houfes, which certainly {poil a ftanding
water.

Of Frofis, and the Ways to fave the Fifo in rhein.

THE great plague and bane of fifh in moats, great and
fmall, and other little ftanding waters, are great and fharp
frofts. I have ufed all the tricks that I have heard of, which
are not a few, or could devife, to fave my fith in fuch waters;

and

() ae*,)

and yet in ten years time I have loft three or four thoufand
carps.- But yet I have found ways to fave the life of many a fair
carp, when my neighbours have loft all; which I fhal! declare
as my own experience, and may be profitable upon like oc-
cafions to any that will ufe them.

Firft, as to the forts of fifh that fuffer moft, I can only
fay, that the tench, if any, is froft-proof, and will fhift in
extremity; but if the froft be intenfe and long, the other
forts, as carps, eels, pike, perch, and roach, will go near to
petifh; and I have found not any great difference of hard-
nefs, but when one fifh complains, they are all in imminent
danger.

The waters moft obnoxious to frofts are fuch as are ftand-
ing, fhallow, or fmall. For if there be either a water-
current, or a frefh fpring, no fifh dies for froft. If an hard
winter fucceeds a very dry fummer, the fifh fuffers moft. If
the ponds are large and deep, fuch as I have directed to be
made upon the channel of water, which may not run but
upon floods or rain, the fifh will never die in froft there; but
fuch waters you muft look upon as the afylum for the
fecuring the fifh in extremity; and all that you can put in
there alive, though through ahole in the ice, will certainly live.
If the bank of a pond fews, it will preferve the fith in froft;
the reafon, as I imagine, is, becaufe where the water fews out,
the air will bubble in, which relieves the fifh; or perhaps it
might put the water into fome degree of motion. If fo, the
ftirring water with a board flat upon a pole put under the ice,
might do good; but this is conje@ure.

The

(ay)

The fymptom of mortality to your fifh in time of froft, is,
their fhewing themfelves; which,if you perceive in the leatft,
conclude all are going; and without a thaw, that water will
not keep them alive. For it is the nature of fifth in cold
weather to lie as clofe and deep as they can; fo that nothing
but the pangs of death fhall make them move. If no holes
are broke, they will rife and ftick to the ice, and be frozen to.
it; if there be holes, they will move about them, as if they
came up for frefh air.

When the froft hath continued long, and hard, that you
begin to fufpect your fifh, you may make a trial by cutting
holes in feveral places, fome in the middle, and fome by the
fides of the waters that are obnoxious; that is, after about
ten days freezing ; and by the appearing of the fifh, or not,
you fhall difcover the temper and condition they are in; there-
fore watch them diligently. If they are not well, they will
appear; then prepare all hands to take out every fifth, as near
as you can; for what you take out, you may preferve, and all
that are left behind, are probably loft.

Many ufe to break holes to relieve the fifth, and, as they
think, give them frefh air; fome have put dung bound up
together into the holes, as if the warmth of that keeping the
hole open would preferve the fifh; but thefe ways, and all
others that I have heard of, except taking out the fifh, are
mere vanities. I have cut many holes, and large ones, and
employed men to take out the ice, and keep them open, but
tonoadvantage. One thing appeared very oddly to me, when
I took that courfe. Many of the fifth in a large moat had

gathered

(ye )

gathered together in a corner obveried to the South, where
the or ‘sien rofe under an high bank, to a fhoal-water. ‘Fhek

©)

ith, their motion and heat, together with the fun’s heat,
that was aaa: there, kept the water from freezing, and I
could’ plainly fee every fifh, great and fmall. There were
carp, pike, perch, eels, and fry in abundance, collie@ed as if
it had been a general counfel of all the orders of fifh, met to
confider what was to be done in that extremity, very divert-
ing to obferve.

But to leave: conceits, and come to the only expedient
which I have found effedtual to fave the fth in this cafe; and
that is, to fet great tubs or fats full of water in fome outhoufe,
not far from a fire; and as faft as the fifh appear, take them
out, and put them there; and from thence you may convey
them ina bafket to your great waters, where you may make
an hole at about eight feet deep, and putting the fith in, pre-
ferve them; or if you pleafe, you may keep them there, frefh-
ening the water every twelve hours, until the froft breaks, and
putt ee, into their own houfes again. You may plainly per-
ceive how the fifth, though funnel and numb with the froft,
coming into the fat, will by degrees recover, and be perfetly
well again; and a you may keep them five weeks, or
longer, if the froft continues.

I have gone farther: fometimes fifh have been to all ap-
pea ance dead, others frozen and inveloped i in ice, yet by this
method I have prefery ed them; for heating water, and putting
it mto the fie until J brought the water there to a Mid-
fammer heat, and then J have put fuch ffh is, with their

fhell

CONTR
fhell of ice upon them, and in fix or feven hours the ice was
gone, and the fifh alive and well; and fo I have delivered
them to my great waters, brifk as any.

This may feem ftrange, but it is moft true, and to be at-
tefted, if need were; therefore in froft ufe this and no other
means, for all elfe will prove but labour in vain.

In {mall waters, where is the greateft danger of froft, ob-~
ferve never to put in ftock, but the laf week of February, or
beginning of March; for then they take lefs hurt in removing,
and they may be taken out in O@ober after, and fo all hazard
of froft prevented; and if you venture them there one winter,
be fure never let them run the hazard of another. So you
have two fummers feed, which will raife a carp from ftore to
the table, and venture but one winter’s froft; and in winter
they neither feed nor grow any thing confiderable.

Of the ordinary Benefits and Improvements by Fifh.

"THESE were touched when I {poke of difpofing the in-
creafe of fifh; that is, furnifhing your table, obliging your
friends, and raifing money. I fhall only add to the laft, that
it is moft reafonable, if it can be contrived, that pleafures pay
for the charge of them. Then what is more juftifiable, than

K to

(74%)

to make ponds yield a profit to anfwer the great charge in
making them?

But we mutt go farther: ground*fhall be vaftly improved by
fith, and fhall be intrinfically worth, and yield more this
way, than by any other employment you can give it: for
fuppofe it meadow of two pounds per acre (which is an high
value for the beft meadow far from London), I will juftify,
that four acres in pond fhall return you every year one
thoufand carps fed up, from — to fourteen or fifteen inches,
befides pikes, perch, and tench, and other fry, ufeful on many
accounts, if the water fuits them. The carps are faleable,
and will bring perhaps twelve pence, but in all likelihood not
lefs than nine pence; yet, let it be fix pence apiece, there is
twenty-five pounds, which is fix pounds five fhillings per
acre; a little charge of carriage perhaps to be deducted. This
is improvement enough.

But lay afide profit, and confider how a gentleman fhould
entertain himfelf and his family, which I muft fuppofe every
one hath, who lives upon an eftate, and it may be numerous;
he muft find fome fort of diverfion for them. Mutt it be
altogether going abroad to make, or at home receiving vifits?
Or if the female part are fo grave, to decline that courfe of
life, muft they always be within? Or if they ftir out, have
nothing but mere air to invite them? Perhaps the gentle-
man himfelf may find diverfion by hunting, &c. and meeting
company upon feveral diverting accounts; and fhall all his
entertainments be exclufive of his family? No, certainly;

whoever aims at an eafy and fatisfaf@tory courfe of life, muft

feek

C 75)

feek that his family, as well as himfelf, be pleafed: and if he
doth not order it fo that they fhall be entertained, it is ten to
one they will find fuch entertainments as fhall not be very
grateful to him; therefore there is advantage enough in the
maftery of fifh, from the diverfion, not to fpeak of the em-
ployment that it brings to a family. Young people love
angling extremely; then there is a boat, which gives pleafure
enough in fummer, frequent fifhing with nets, the very mak-
ing of nets, feeing the waters, much difcourfe of them, and the
fith, efpecially upon your great fweeps, and the ftrange fur-
prizes that will happen in numbers and bignefs, with many
other incident entertainments, are the refult of waters, and
dire& the minds of a numerous family to terminate in fome-
thing not inconvenient, and, it may be, divert them from worfe.
Parks, bowling-greens, and billiard-tables, are of the fame
defign; but it will be eafily granted, this of fifh is beyond
them all.

If it be faid, that this is not a pleafure, it is all care and
pains, efpecially to him that is the mafter, who muft be per-
petually vexed at the negligence and blockifhnefs of fervants,
that will never perform what he expeéts and orders: I anfwer,
that is a good reafon for leaving the world. The plague of
fervants is the fame in all bufinefs, wherein you ufe and de-
pend upon them; therefore, to be rid of it, give away your
eftate, retire, and be an hermit: and even then you fhall
find the gnawing of your own mind a more perverfe evil,
than all the bufinefs, fervants, with the crofles and vexations
attending them. We were not made perfect, but muft live

K 2 | in

ea

in perpetual difeafe; the only point is, which way to lefien
it; and that muft be by employment, which diverts the fenfe
of our innate mifery. What can be a greater torture, than
to live chained toa bed, though the beft in the world, and
have no company nor bufinefs? ‘Therefore court bufinefs, if
you would pafs for an epicurean, and let it be fuch as brings
comfort to nature, and not pain and torment in the confe-
quence; that is to fay, lawful, profitable, obliging, and tem-
perate. So you avoid offending the publick, increafe your
{tore, win your friends and family, and preferve your health;
all which, I take it, are accomplifhed, in great meafure, by
the maftery of fith.

Now, as to the vending of fith, obferve that it is beft to be
content with the market price, as you can find it, as moft are
for other vendible commodities; and for carps between thirt
teen or fourteen, or fixteen inches, meafuring from nofe-end
to tail-end, twelve pence is a good priee; {elling to the nobi-
lity or gentry, may produce one penny more, and may meafure

up to feventeen; but never promife above twenty turned of
fixteen in twelve {core.

Of Benefits, befides the main Defign.

LHESE are many, and not inconfiderable: as firft, when
you make a great water, you take the firft {pit of the ground

upon

OC om. 9

upon which the bank is to ftand, and from the pan of the
pond. In cafe you take earth there for the bank, and this
you carry to fome place where it is moft eafily removed upon
your tillage-ground, and there let it lie to rot the fod, and
then there is not a better manure, and more than pays the
charge of digging and carrying it.

2. You gain the making of ftews, and, it may be, other
ponds for the convenience of your cattle, all under one
charge: for if you muft dig clay and earth for your bank, it
is as eafily taken where it doth this, as otherwife.

3. Hf the foil about the waters be any thing moorifh, it
may be planted with ofiers, which yield a certain yearly
crop.

4. The feed of the pond when laid dry, or the corn, that
is, Oats, which you may have upon the bottom, though mere
mud, is very confiderable. This hath been touched before.

5. You will invite all manner of help to your fifhing, by
the fry given among thofe who afflift you; and though you
pay them, they will expe& fith; and with expectations of
carrying home a difh of frefh fifh, men will work in wet and
dirt, to a wonder, without other pay.

6. If you graze cattle near your great waters, they will
delight to come and ftand in the water; and it conduceth
much to the thrift of your cattle, as well as the feed of your
fifh, which is much fupplied by the dunging of the cattle;
and therefore it is good to have ponds in cow-paftures and
grazing grounds.

As to the fowing of oats in the bottom of a pond, obferve

to

(978 7}

to dry your great water once in three, or at moft four years,
and that at the end of January, or beginning of March;

which, if not a very unreafonable year, will be time enough.
After Michaelmas following, you may put in a very great
ftock; and thin them in following years, as the feed will
decline.

The Conclufion.

‘Luus I have given, as fhort and intelligibly as conveniently
I could, the beft of my knowledge, contracted by twenty
years practice and experience, of fifh and waters: and if I am
fo happy thereby, to contribute in the leaft to the fatisfaction
or diverfion of my friends, it will extremely content, if not
encourage me to add fomewhat farther concerning the na-
ture of the feveral forts of fifth I deal in, the ways of taking
them, of nets, angling, engines for clearing waters, and other
particularities that I have proved. In the mean time, they
may command thefe as myfelf, both being alike open, con-
fiderable, and at their fervice.

INDEX.

Tue Barbel — foo ties es Be
Carp — — — — aes ae
The Chub — pes aids tt
The Cod Fith — — sath hie.
The Haddock — sey fas fans
The Herring == = ast pbs pike
The Mackarel — a uhh ie] at tolls
The Mullet a == ue wi
The Pearch, or Perch, — — xy ie
The Pike SUN ph) ig ee aals a3 a
The Roach — — anal? SNR OLN rial
The Shad — == at ahi
The Tench a aes) ah ya ahi
The Trout eeite Licoh aed anf ees eae
The Whiting ss ae i zh

A Difcourfe of Fifth and Fifh Ponds — —
Of the Situation and Difpofition of the Principal Waters —_

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Of

20 IN DYE X.

Of the Manner of making and raifing Pond Heads

The Dimenfions of Pond Heads — —
Of {ecuring your Banks — a .%
Of Sluices — aye — a
“Of the Manner of Working to raife a Pond Head
Of Auxiliary Waters _ — —
Of Stews — ca asa) S.
Of Moats ee es ie ue |
Of other Auxiliary Waters — _ —
‘The Courfe of laying the great Waters dry eet
Of Breeding of Fith _ ah pe
The Manner of Stocking Waters — _—
Of the Manner of feeding Fifth pas ze
Of difpofing your Increafe of Fith _ _
Of fithing for Carriage — = ae
Of Nurferies to Ponds and Fith —

Of Frofts, and the Way to fave the Fifh in them
Of the ordinary Benefits and Improvements by Fifh
Of Benefits befides the main Defign _ ee
‘The Conclufion = — = =

nen: ARM | C2 ARES

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