FISHING. 49 



Worms on being unearthed (and not intended 

 for immediate use,) should be placed for three or 

 four minutes in a vessel containing water; the 

 farther effect of this immersion is to cleanse them 

 partially of what imparts to the skin a dingy hue. 

 Thus washed, they should be allowed to crawl 

 about on a clean dry board, with a view of freeing 

 them from all superfluous moisture. When this is 

 sufficiently done, transfer them into a large jar, 

 filled, or nearly so, with hartshorn moss. 



The hartshorn is a species of moss found chiefly 

 on moorland and in boggy places surrounded by 

 heath. Externally, on the exposed parts, it 

 possesses a reddish tinge ; the lower foliage is of 

 a pale yellow. When dry it keeps for years, and 

 the worm-fisher ought to possess a stock of it, as 

 in cultivated districts it is difficult to procure. 

 Before using the moss, let it be well washed, the 

 hard and whitish stalks twitched off, and the red 

 portions retained. The drier the moss among 

 which the worms are placed, the quicker they be- 

 come fit for use ; at the same time be it remem- 

 bered, their natural juices are sooner exhausted, 

 and if kept beyond a certain period without mois- 

 ture, pine away and die. 



The dryness of the moss ought, therefore, to 

 be regulated by circumstances by the state of the 

 weather, the temperature of the apartment where 



