THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 219 



And note, that clods ofgTass thrown into any pond, feed any 

 carps in summer ; and that garden-earth and parsley thrown 

 into a pond recovers and refreshes the sick fish. And note, 

 that when you store your pond, you are to put into it two or 

 three melters for one spawner, if you put them into a breeding 

 pond ; but if into a nurse-pond or feeding pond, in which 

 they will not breed, then no care is to be taken, whether there 

 be most male or female carps. 



It is observed, that the best ponds to breed carps are those 

 that be stony or sandy, and are warm and free from wind, and 

 that are not deep, but have willow trees and grass on their 

 sides, over which the water sometimes flows : and note, that 

 carps do more usually breed in marie-pits, or pits that have 

 clean clay-bottoms, or in new ponds, or ponds that lie dry a 

 winter season, than in old ponds that be full of mud and 

 weeds. 



Well, scholar, I have told you the substance of all that 

 either observation, or discourse, or a diligent survey of Du- 

 bravius and Lebault hath told me : not that they in their long- 

 discourses have not said more ; but the most of the rest are 

 so common observations, as if a man should tell a good arith- 

 metician, that twice two is four. I will therefore put an end 

 to this discourse, and we will here sit down and rest us.* 



[Mr. Gottlieb Boccius is one of the best practical breeders of river-fish 

 amongst us. He has written a "Treatise on River-Fish," from which, with 

 his permission, I make the following extracts : 



" THE PONDS on STEWS. These ought to be three in number, and it 

 is requisite to make choice of a slight elevation for the first pond. If 



* It is observable that the author has said very little of pond-fishing, 

 which is, in truth, a dull recreation ; and to which I have heard it objected, 

 that fish in ponds are already caught Nevertheless I find, that in the canal at 

 St. James's Park, which, though a large one, is yet a pond, it was, in the reign 

 of Charles II., the practice of ladies to angle. 



" Beneath, a shoal of silver fishes glides, 



And plays about the gilded barges' sides j 



The ladies, angling in the crystal lake, 



Feast on the waters with the prey they take : 



At once victorious with their lines and eyes, 



They make the fishes and the men their prize." 



Waller, " Poem on St. James's Park," lately improved hy His Majesty. H . 

 [Pond-fishing is not now " a dull recreation." The very best bottom-fishing 

 and trolling for pike are, at the present day, to be had in our ponds and reser- 

 voirs. Nor is it at all correct to say, " that fish in ponds are already caught" ; 

 for instance, to catch carp with rod and line is an angling feat very difficult to 

 perform. ED.] 



