76 SOUTH COUNTRY TROUT STREAMS 



not exactly plentiful, but there are a fair number 

 running from i^ lbs. up to as much as 5 lbs. Very 

 few fish of under the former weight are to be seen, 

 but sometimes much larger ones are taken. At 

 Astwick Mill a 13-lb. trout, I believe, has been 

 killed, and in the mill head at Radwell, in Hertford- 

 shire, an 8-lb. trout was captured only last summer 

 (1897). There is no May-fly, and the favourite 

 artificials are the Wickham, the blue or olive dun, 

 and the governor. The trout are anything but free 

 risers at the fly. There are no clubs on the Ivel. 



The Hiz, or Hir, is a tributary of the Ivel, which 

 it joins at Arlesby, in Bedfordshire. It rises at 

 Hitchen, a pleasant town in north Hert- 

 fordshire, and one of the few places in this 

 country where lavender and peppermint are success- 

 fully cultivated. Here it has three branches, is a 

 capital trout stream, and is well stocked and 

 looked after. Both the Hiz and the Ivel have 

 been stocked by Mr. Christian, who resides at the 

 Norton Mills at Radwell, and takes much interest 

 in pisciculture. Some of the trout put in these 

 North Hertfordshire waters came from the lower 

 Mimram, near Panshanger, where there are some 

 splendid fish. The Hiz is, unfortunately, subjected, 

 as is the Ivel, to a good deal of sewage, and as a 

 result many fish turned black and perished last 

 season. The Hiz is a May-fly stream, and the 

 trout run large, as in the Ivel. 



The Rhee, a tributary of the Cam, rising in North 

 Hertfordshire, is not a trout stream. We may 

 therefore turn south again and consider the Ver 

 and the Gade. The Colne, which is unworthy of 

 much notice until it is joined by the Ver near 

 Bark Street, is dealt with as a Middlesex stream, 



