F I S 
F I S 
tho greatest part, should be taken out an- 
nually in September or October, counted in 
braces, and such as are from five to seven 
inches long thrown into the pond called No. 4. 
The contents of No. 4, when grown one 
year from the length of five or seven 
inches, must be put into No. 3. lhe 
contents of No. 3, having grown one year 
from No. 4, must be removed into No. 
2. And in like manner, the contents of No. 
2, after one year, must be removed into No. 
], which is' to contain only such fish as are 
fit for the table. It is obvious that this pond 
for safety and convenience, should be the 
nearest to the house. 
As No. 5 is to be the largest water, so 
No. 1 is to be the least; the rest of sizes be- 
tween the two. 
The shape of No. I should be oblong, for 
the convenience of the net, and the less dis- 
turbance of the fish in taking out what are 
w anted from time to time. 
A book should be kept of the number and 
size of each kind in every pond. 
Carp are fit for the table from three to 
seven pounds each. 1 ench from one pound 
and a half to three pounds each. . Perch 
from three quarters of a pound to one or two 
pounds, &c. 
It is supposed that none of the ponds have 
a strong current of very cold, acrid, innu- 
tritions water. 
One acre of water upon a loam, clay, or 
marl, or any of these with a mixture ot 
gravel, has been stated to be capable of sup- 
portin'’' 2000 pounds weight ot fish , the 
number of the fish making that weight being 
immaterial. 
Carp and tench breed most freely in ponds, 
or pits newly made. Tench likewise in al- 
most any ponds, where cattle are admitted. 
It is evident that perch and pike should 
not be admitted in any degree in No. 5 ; but 
in all the other numbers, besides their own 
value, they are of important service, pro- 
vided that they are strictly confined to a 
size greatly subordinate to that of the carp, 
or tench. For they destroy not only the 
accidental spawn of fish which breed, but 
also several animals, whose food is the same 
with that of carp and tench, as frogs, newts, 
&c. Pike above the weight of one or two 
pounds must not be admitted even amongst 
carp of the largest size and weight. 
With regard to the absolute weight of fish, 
which any particular pond will support, this 
can only be determined by observation and 
experience; as it depends on. the dilferent 
decrees of nutrition in different waters. It 
is said, that carp and tench in waters which 
feed well, will before they are aged, double 
their weight in one \ear. 
The third part of an acre in No. 1 would 
probably be sufficient for the demand of any 
family. For, upon the calculation above 
given, it would support near 700 pounds of 
fish, which might be divided thus. 
50 brace of carp of three pounds each and 
upwards. 
50 brace of tench, of two pounds each 
and upwards. 
50 brace of perch, of one pound each and 
upwards. ; 
That is, three brace of fish, weighing at 
least twelve pounds, tor the use of every 
Allowing one acre for No. 5, one-third of 
F I S 
an acre for No. l,and one acre and two- 
thirds for the intervening numbers, the whole 
water would be three acres. I pou this cal- 
culation the stock of No. 1 at 8 d. per pound, 
would be worth 23/. 6.9. 8 d. per annum, 
and the expence annually of changing the 
fish from No. 5 to 4, &c. will not exceed 
1/. 6s. 8 d. So that the value of each acre 
would he at lowest 7/. 6s. 8 d. annually. 
No. 1 being supposed to be near the 
house, and at no great distance from the 
garden, if the fish should not thrive sufficient- 
ly, which will be seen by the disproportioned 
size of the head, and the whiteness or pale- 
ness of the scales, they may easily be sup- 
plied with more food by loose peas from the 
garden, the sweeping of the granary, worms 
saved by the gardener in digging, and the 
offal of the poultry killed for the kitchen ; 
or by letting down the water about two feet, 
in the spring or summer, where there is a 
sufficient supply, and sowing the sides with 
oats, barley, rye, or wheat, very lightly raked 
in, and then stopping the sluice again. 
In ponds already stocked, but not accu- 
rately regulated, it would be advisable to 
begin with that which has the most pike, 
otherwise with No. 4, or what is intended 
for No. 4, and throw all the fish under five 
inches length into No. 5, and the laiger, 
according to their sizes, into the other num- 
bers: and so on with No. 3, 2, 1. 
Store-fish procured elsewhere, if taken in 
summer, should be moved in the night in 
clean straw, wetted occasionally after they 
are packed: except perch and pike, which 
can only be carried in clean pond or river 
water. In moving fish from one pond to 
another, they should be first put into tubs of 
,/ater already prepared tor them, and after- 
wards carried in buckets without water. In 
taking pike or perch, great care must be ob- 
served to avoid raising mud in the water. 
In breeding-ponds, all water-fowls, as 
geese, ducks, &c. should be discouraged ; 
and herons carefully destroyed. It any 
white fish, as roach, dace, &c. should be 
found, they are to be taken out ; and it theie 
is a spare piece of water for large pike they 
should he put into it as food for the pike. 
Eels may be put with advantage into any 
except the breeding-ponds, in lieu of perch. 
The most easy way of taking them is by 
trimmers laid overnight, baited with small 
fish, not with worms ; otherwise they may- 
catch the carp; or a small thief- net may be 
baited with white fish. 
Common sewers and drains from the laun- 
dry are prejudicial to fish : so are the leaves 
falling from trees in great quantities. The 
use of grains should likewise be avoided in 
large quantities, as having little nutriment 
whilst they are thus washed with water. 
It seems better for the use of the table, as 
well as more humane, to kill fish designed 
for food by an incision with a sharp-pointed 
penknife, or punctures made with a pin lon- 
gitudinally- into the brain, about half an inch 
or an inch, according to the size of the fish, 
above the eyes. As this produces an instan- 
taneous effect, it would probably save the 
cruel operation of crimping or flaying fish 
while alive, as in the case of pike and 
eels. 
It is obvious, that this method of regulat- 
ing fish will apply with its full effect in larger 
spaces of water : it will likewise apply m a 
F I S 733 
considerable degree to smaller pieces, even 
where the change is but from a pond for the 
use of cattle to a single canal in a garden. 
In situations near the great inland manu- 
factures, and near the turnpike roads lead- 
ing from an easy distance to the metro- 
polis, water may be made by this kind of 
management, with little trouble or expence, 
to produce a large annual rent. 
FISH ERMEN. There shall be a master, 
wardens, and assistants of the fishmongers’ 
company, in London chosen yearly, at liie 
next court of the lord mayor and aldermen 
after the 10th of June, who are constituted a 
Court of assistants ; and they shall meet once 
a month at their common hall to regulate 
abuses in fishery, register the names ot fisher- 
men, and mark their boats, &c. 
FISHERY, a place where great numbers 
of fish are caught. 
The principal fisheries for salmon, herring, 
mackrel, pilchards, &c. are along the coasts 
of England, Scotland, and Ireland; for cod, 
on the banks of Newfoundland; for, whales, 
about Greenland ; and for pearls, in the East 
and West Indies. 
Fishery, free, in law, or an exclusive 
right of fishing in a public river, is a royal 
franchise ; and is considered as such in all 
countries where the feodal polity' lias pre- 
vailed : though the making such grants, and 
by that means appropriating, what it seems 
unnatural to restrain, the use of running wa- 
ter, was prohibited for the future by Magna 
Charta; and the rivers that were fenced in 
king John’s time were directed to be laid 
open, as well as the forests to be disforested. 
This opening was extended by the second 
and third charters of Henry HI. to those 
also that were fenced under Richard I. ; so 
that a franchise of free fishery ought now to 
be as old at least as the reign of Henry II. 
This differs, as judge Blackstoue observes, 
from a several of piscary, because he that has 
a several fishery must also be the owner of 
the soil, which in a free fishery is not requi- 
site. It differs also from a common fishery, 
in that the free fishery is an exclusive right, 
the common is not so ; and therefore, in a 
free fishery, a man lias a property in the fish 
before they are caught ; in a common pis- 
cary, not till afterwards. Some indeed have 
considered a free fishery not as a royal fran- 
chise, but merely as a private grant of a li- 
berty to fish in the several fishery of the 
grantor. But the considering such right as 
originallv a flower of the prerogative, till re- 
strained 'by Magna Charta, and derived by 
royal grant (previous to the reign of Richard 
I.) to such as now claim it by prescription, 
may remove some difficulties in respect to 
this matter, with which our law-books are em- 
barrassed. 
Fishery, denotes also the commerce of 
fish, more particularly the catching them for 
sale. Were we to enter into a very minute 
consideration of the fisheries established in 
' this kingdom, this article would swell beyond 
its proper bounds ; since fisheries, however, 
if successful, are not only objects of great 
commercial importance, but also contribute 
materially to our naval strength, by becom- 
ing permanent nurseries for seamen, we shall 
take notice of some of the most considerable 
of the British fisheries, and the institutions 
set on foot for their support, 
i The situation of the British coasts is tire 
