124 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



which of all others is the most excellent bait for a 

 salmon, and too many to name, even as many 

 sorts as some think there be of several herbs or 

 shrubs, or of several kinds of birds in the air ; of 

 which I shall say no more, but tell you that what 

 worms soever you fish with are the better for being 

 well scoured, that is, long kept before they be used. 

 And in case you have not been so provident, then 

 the way to cleanse and scour them quickly is to 

 put them all night in water, if they be lob-worms, 

 and then put them into your bag with fennel. 

 But you must not put your brandlings above an 

 hour in water, and then put them into fennel, for 

 sudden use ; but if you have time, and purpose to 

 keep them long, then they be best preserved in an 

 earthen pot, with good store of moss, which is to 

 be fresh every three or four days in summer, and 

 every week or eight days in winter ; or at least the 

 moss taken from them, and clean washed, and 

 wrung betwixt your hands till it be dry, and then 

 put it to them again. And when your worms, es- 

 pecially the brandling, begins to be sick and lose 

 of his bigness, then you may recover him by put- 

 ting a little milk or cream, about a spoonful in a 

 day, into them by drops on the moss ; and if there 

 be added to the cream an egg beaten and boiled 

 in it, then it will both fatten and preserve them 

 long. And note that when the knot which is 

 near to the middle of the brandling begins to 

 swell, then he is sick, and if he be not well looked 

 to is near dying. And for moss you are to note 



