THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 77 



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, especially the brandling, begins to be sick 

 and lose of his bigness, then you may recover him by putting 

 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, that there be divers kinds of 

 it, which I could name to you, but I will only tell you that 

 that which is likest a buck's-horn is the best, except it be soft 

 white moss, which grows on some heaths, and is hard to be 

 found. And note, that in a very dry time, when you are put 

 to an extremity for worms, walnut-tree leaves squeezed into 

 water, or salt in water, to make it bitter or salt, and then 

 that water poured on the ground, where you shall see worms 

 are used to rise in the night, will make them to appear above 

 ground presently. And you may take notice, some say that 

 camphor, put into your bag with your moss and worms, gives 

 them a strong and so tempting a smell, that the fish fare the 

 worse and you the better for it. 



* The following is also an excellent way : viz., Take a piece of hop-sack, or 

 other very coarse cloth, and wash it clean, and let it dry ; then wet in the 

 liquor wherein beef has been boiled ; but be careful that the beef is fresh, for 

 salt will kill the worms, and wring it, but not quite dry ; put the worms into 

 this cloth, and lay them in an earthen pot, and let them stand from morning 

 till night ; then take the worms from the cloth, and wash it, and wet it again 

 in some of the liquor: do thus once a day, and you may keep worms in perfect 

 health, and fit for use, for near a month. 



Observe that the lob-worm, marsh-worm, and red-worm, will bear more 

 scouring than any others, and are better for long keeping. H. 



