FISHERIES AND THEIR PRODUCE. 49 



fishmongers j which a few years since it would 

 have been useless to have sent, will be exe- 

 cuted with such speed, that the same day on 

 which the letter is posted, and certainly the 

 next, will bring the fish in high condition to 

 hand. The impossibility, therefore, of provid- 

 ing fish for an entertainment or dinner will be 

 no longer a complaint. Thus, then, may we 

 look for an increased consumption of this pro- 

 duce of the teeming waters throughout the 

 whole of our island. To France, and the con- 

 tinental countries of Europe, where the interior 

 towns are so remote from the coast, the above 

 observations will even more strongly apply. 

 In these countries, river and pond fish are in 

 far more general requisition than in England, 

 and the reason is obvious, there are no means 

 of conveying sea fish fresh and fit for food into 

 the interior of the country ; and hence in many 

 states, as in Germany, Austria, Prussia, etc., 

 extensive ponds and sheets of water become 

 profitable as fisheries, and great attention is 

 paid to the maintenance of the stock. An acre 

 of water will often let for as much, or more, than 

 an acre of land, and yield the renter good profit. 

 With respect to the means employed in 

 taking fish in the fisheries, we have hitherto 

 said nothing. They vary according to the 



