PRESERVATION OF LIVE BAITS FOR ANGLING. 127 



PRESERVATION OF LIVE BAITS FOR ANGLING. 



KEEP every kind by themselves. Put red or bramble- 

 worm into a red clotb, with a handful of fennel, and some 

 black rich mould, taken from the bottoms of elm-trees. 

 Renew it every night, and every other day put a little 

 fresh cow-dung to it. Large gentles or maggots should 

 be put into sheep's suet or bullock's liver, cut small. 

 Scour them in sand, in a flannel bag : hang them near 

 the fire an hour or two, when in the suet or liver. Frogs 

 and grasshoppers keep well in moss and grass, wetting 

 it every night. Frogs may be killed before putting them 

 on the hook, by pricking them in the spinal marrow. 

 Fish will readily bite at them if moved about. Dry 

 young wasps, hornets, and bees, slowly by the fire, then 

 dip their heads in blood and honey mixed, and dry them 

 again : these are good for carp and tench. Worms or 

 gudgeons are for perch and eels. Paste for roach, dace, 

 &c., is to be made as follows : Take bean-meal, rabbits' 

 flix, bees' wax, and sheep's suet ; beat them well in a 

 mortar, with a little clarified honey ; temper the paste 

 before a fire, and stain it with vermilion, or cherry-juice, 

 if in season. 



To dip your baits in when angling, take oil of asp, 

 coculus Indicus berry, and assafetida, equal quantities ; 

 beat the berries well, and add as much honey as will 

 bring it to a proper consistence. Keep it in a small jar, 



