crumble into it some white bread; and when the water begins to grow warm, and the fish put up their heads to the top, add a small quantity of this powder, which cools the reservoir, and preserves the fish. The water, if possible, should be changed every four or five miles, and the powder added, as occasion may require. By these means, trout may be carried above forty miles alive, and in good health.
Feeding of fish.—When they are kept in large pools or ponds, either boiled malt, or fresh grains, is a very proper food; thus, carp may be reared and fed like capons, and tench will also prosper. If reared in a stew, any sort of corn, or leguminous fruit boiled, especially peas and malt coarsely ground, are equally fattening.
Fish, in general, are less nourishing than other animal food, though they are not difficult of digestion, while in a fresh state; but, when salted, they partake of the stimulating and pernicious properties of beef, or pork, accordingly as they are lean or fat. Although the rancid and putrescent tendency of fish may, in a great measure, be counteracted by acid sauces and pickles, yet they should never be eaten by febrile patients and convalescents, in whose stomachs their fat is insoluble, and almost indigestible. On the whole, we are convinced from experience, that salt-water fish are lighter and more wholesome, and that among these, what are commonly called white fish, are the most easy of digestion. Such as are fed in muddy ponds, or other stagnant waters, are, of all aquatic animals, the least conducive to health.—With respect to the most proper method of curing and dressing fish, there can be no doubt that such as are dried in the open air, and afterwards quickly boiled, afford the most salubrious nutriment. But we cannot approve of either fried or broiled fish, especially when butter is used for these culinary processes: hence, we think it our duty to reprobate those luxurious customs, as being highly pernicious to health; and to contradict, in the most solemn manner, the suggestions of a recent compiler, who has not hesitated, indirectly to countenance the use of that hurtful animal oil. For, though liberally availing himself of the industry and talents of others, he has not even acknowledged the sources which supplied him with the principal part of a volume.
FISHING, the art of catching fish, whether by means of nets and spears, or of lines and hooks. The former are used in fresh and salt waters, for the taking of large fish, which go in shoals; the latter are employed for catching single ones, such as bream, carp, &c. to which we refer.—See also Angling.
The most important point in fishing, is the proper season, together with the place, bait, and mode of application.—In March, April, and September, the warmest days are the most successful for this sport, when the bait should be deep; for during those cool months the fish lie near the bottom. For fly-fishing, the most proper seasons are the months of April, May, or June, after a gentle shower of rain has beaten the insects down upon the water, without rendering it turbid; and the most promising hours are about nine or ten in the morning, and three or four o'clock in the afternoon; in still, warm evenings, however, fish will readily bite, till night approaches; because at those
