154 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



worm, which of all others is the most excellent bait for a 

 salmon, and too many to name, even as many sorts as some 

 think there be of several herbs or shrubs, or of several kinds 

 of birds in the air ; of which I shall say no more, but tell 

 you 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 earthern 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, espe- 

 cially 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 



