TO SCOUR AND PRESERVE WORMb. 23 



cloth, which has never been shrunk in the Pull- 

 ing-mill, wash it very clean, and let it dry : then 

 soak it in the liquor where a fat piece of fresh 

 beef has been boiled, and wring it out, but not 

 so hard as to press out all the liquor ; then lay it 

 in a deep earthen pan, that has a large bottom, 

 and put your worms thereon, that they may 

 crawl in and out and so scour themselves : when 

 they have remained there twenty-four hours, 

 wash out your cloth as before, but do not dry it; 

 then wet it again with some of the same liquor, 

 and having placed your worms thereon, keep 

 them in a close cellar ; repeat this every other 

 day during the heat of the summer, and you 

 will not only preserve your worms alive for three 

 weeks or a month, but make them very red, 

 clear, and tough. When you take them out for 

 angling put them into moss that has been well 

 washed and not wrung dry ; and when you come 

 home at night put them again into the pan, by 

 which they will recover and gather fresh 

 strength; take care that there is no salt in the 

 beef liquor, for if there is your worms will purge 

 themselves to death. 



Mr. Gay, in his Rural Sports, is particularly 

 partial to the Gilt-tail $ as is apparent by the 

 following lines : 



You must not every worm promiscuous use, 

 Judgment wili tell, the proper baits to choose 5 

 The worm that draws a long immod'rate size . 

 The trout abhors, and the rank morsel flies j 

 And if too small, the naked fraud's in sight, 

 And fear forbids while hunger does invite. 

 Those baits will best reward the fisher's nains, 

 Whose polish'd tails a shining yellow stains : 

 Cleanse them from filth, to give a tempting gloss. 

 Cherish the sully'd reptile with moss ; 

 Amid the verdant bed they twine, they toil, 

 Ad from their bodies wipe their native soil* 



