THE ROACH. 163 



bread and bran. Break a stale loaf into ten or 

 more pieces ; let these pieces soak for the Ground- 

 night in an earthenware pan, taking care ^^^*- 

 that the whole of the bread is covered with water. 

 The bread should be kept under water by a strainer 

 or something similar being placed on it. There are 

 two ways of mixing the bread with bran : either by 

 squeezing the water out of the bread, kneading the 

 bread and crust into a stiff paste, and then kneading 

 as much bran into the bread as it will take ; or by 

 placing the bread and crust, with the water just 

 wrung out of it, on the top of the bran, and knead- 

 ing the bread and bran together at one operation, 

 which saves much time, and is perhaps as good as 

 the first plan, though some prefer the two kneadings. 

 In either case, the bread and bran must be tho- 

 roughly well pressed and kneaded together, bran 

 being squeezed into the bread till the bread will 

 hold no more of it. The groundbait must not be 

 pulpy or watery, but the lumps must be firm and 

 hard. The long soaking should do away with all 

 lumps in the bread (if it has had plenty of water 

 to soak up and has been quite covered) ; if by 

 chance any lumps are left in the bread, they must 

 not be allowed to remain in the groundbait, or they 

 will detach themselves and float to the surface. I 

 do not like meal mixed with the bread and bran for 

 roach. I have taken considerable trouble to study 

 groundbait for roach of late years, and find that 

 careful preparation amply repays the trouble taken. 

 One thing I have particularly noticed : many more 

 roach are caught by entirely omitting clay from the 

 composition of the groundbait, especially in the 

 Hampshire Avon. Weight can be given by en- 

 closing stones in the lumps of groundbait, which 



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