SIZE OF WORM. 139 



well-fed trout ; and it is quite common to meet 

 anglers using worms so large as effectually to pre- 

 vent their having the least sport. It is a great 

 error to suppose that a large worm insures a large 

 trout ; quite the reverse. A large worm will seldom 

 capture anything but some audacious little fellow of 

 a parr, or equally insignificant trout. 



Trout do not seem to evince any decided pre- 

 ference for one kind of worm before another, so that 

 the angler may use whichever kind he likes best or 

 can get most easily. The great point is to have 

 them of the right size and well scoured. When 

 newly dug, they are so full of earth as to be unfit 

 for use. Brandlings may be scoured in a day or 

 two ; but the other kinds require to be kept ^at 

 least a week. Immediately on being dug, they 

 should be washed in water, and put into an earthen- 

 ware jar with plenty of moss. The moss should 

 be well washed, and wrung as hard as possible, and 

 all the small sticks and straws picked carefully out, 

 as they are apt to cut the worms. The jar should 

 be examined every second or third day, and all the 

 dead or sickly worms picked out and the moss 

 changed. The process of toughening worms can 

 only be accomplished by keeping the moss dry, so 

 that the worms may lose some of the moisture of 

 their bodies, and thus become tougher and more 

 durable. This is objectionable, as it impairs the 

 vitality of the worms, giving them, if carried to any 

 extent, a very withered look. When thoroughly 



