42 THE ART OF FISHING. 



it would be superfluous to say anything more ; 

 and the same observation must apply to angling 

 (common angling, I mean) for any other fish 

 than those I have mentioned. 



My province lies principally concerning the 

 most merciful way of proceeding, and of this I 

 shall now treat. 



Before you place the worm * on your hook, place 

 it on the palm of your right hand ; throw it then 

 on the ground, as hard as you well can. Were 

 you to take it in your fingers, and in this way 

 cast the worm on the ground, it would not fall so 

 evenly nor so hardly. The worm, by the method 

 I recommend, will become at once paralysed and 

 constricted. Instantly nip off his head, and run 

 your hook down his full length till the barb 

 reaches his tail. "Yes, this may be all very 



* The worm should be tolerably transparent, free from any- 

 thing like dirt, either outside or inside ; it should also be very 

 tough and elastic. You must not expect to get such worms 

 as these from your garden ground or from dung-heaps the day 

 you go fishing : they must be collected at least a fortnight or 

 ten days previously, and put into a common large brown milk- 

 pan with plenty of clean damp moss, and fed with a little cream 

 sprinkled on it every day or two ; and the moss should be 

 washed before you repeat the sprinkling of the cream. Without 

 this preparation your worms will break, and the dirt ooze out of 

 them. When thrown hard on the ground, as instructed, they 

 should be killed. 



The benefit of washing the moss every now and then is to take 

 away the sourness of the cream before you add fresh cream. 



