CERTAINE EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING FISH AND FRVITE Practised by IOHN TAVERNER Gentleman and by him published for the benefit of others ANCHORA SPEI LONDON Printed for William Ponsonby 1600. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR EDMOND ANDERSON KNIGHT LORD CHIEFE IVSTICE OF THE COMMON PLEAS RIGHT Honorable my good Lord it was my bap lately to light vpon a Book dedicated vnto your Lordship by one M. George Churchey intituled A new booke of good husbandrie and intreating of fishponds and ordering of the same which booke as it should seeme was first written in Latine by one Iames Dubrauius but translated into English by the industrie of the said Maister Churchey wherin his good meaning and trauell is greatly to be commended I thereby gathering that your Lordship tooke some delight in that practise being before that time minded to put in writing certaine experiments that my selfe had obserued concerning those matters did presently conclude with my selfe humbly to craue that the same may passe vnder your L. protection your vertues also deseruing that I should make choise herein of your Lordship before others as one vnto whom the whole commonweale of this Realme in general is greatly bounden for the great and painfull watchings care and trauell you take in administration of Iustice in your place and calling and therefore I in particular find my selfe willing if by any meanes I may to moue vnto your Lordship any delight or liking though neuer so litle And if your Lordship haue bene any practiser of these delights I meane making of fishponds or planting of fruite I doubt not but you shal in this litle Treatise find somewhat that you knew not before and thereby your delight that way augmented which if it so happen to be my expectation herein is most amplie satisfied Beseeching the Almightie to blesse preserue and keepe you and all yours with such felicitie as your heart desireth This 22. of Ian. 1600. You Lordships in all humblenes IOHN TAVERNER To the Reader GOOD Reader in seeking to shun that Monster Idlenes and hauing a desire by all honest meanes possible to benefit this my natiue countrie of England and finding my abilitie otherwise insufficient to performe the same I haue thought good to set downe some experiments that my selfe haue had concerning fish and fruite of which two things especially of fruite although many authors haue more learnedly written yet many of them being strangers inhabiting in Climates far differing from ours here in England doe also for the most part teach how such fruite as their countries bring forth are to be vsed of which kind of fruites here in England we haue litle or no vse As also concerning fish there are none that haue written in our vulgar tong to anie purpose that euer I haue seene sauing that one Maister Churchey hath procured to be translated into English a Treatise compiled by a stranger a Morauian as I take it Howbeit by reason the translator as it should seeme had no great experience in that matter he therfore that shall practise shall find great want in that booke to supplie his desires that way Notwithstanding the good indeuour of Maister Churchey is greatly to be commended neither is my meaning herein to say what may be said in these matters but onely what things my selfe haue obserued and practised And if I should set downe by way of preface the exceeding great benefit that might grow to this Realme by practising to haue aboundance of the two foresaid cōmodities the preface would grow to a greater volume then now the whole booke containeth And although I know that many men can say more then my self can do herein yet I also beleeue that most men know not so much for whose sake I haue compiled this litle treatise by which if they take either profit or honest pleasure I haue my desire Farewell CERTAINE EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING FISH AND FRVITE FIrst it is requisite to speake of ponds I meane such as be necessarie profitable and conuenient to be vsed with vs here in England not such in which the prodigall Romains vsed to spend their superfluous wealth and treasure rather for vaine ostentation then for any honest recreation of mind or profite vnto themselues or the common wealth whereunto I wold wish our countrey people in all their actions to haue chiefe regard It should seeme that many of the Romains imployed incredible wealth in making of ponds in which with sea water they kept diuerse kind of sea fish for delicacie and wantonnesse rather then profit for that such kind of ponds were onely made neare vnto the sea side wheras the like fish might more conueniently be taken in the sea it selfe I would rather wish the greatest store of our ponds to be made farre vp land in the inmost partes of the Realme vnto which places fish cannot well be brought from the sea to be eaten fresh whilest it is good and sweete The ponds I meane to speake of shall be of two sorts the one digged right downe into the ground by labour of man the other made with a head in a valley betweene two hils by swelling of the water ouer grassie ground not in former times couered with water Those that are digged right downe are for the most part but small and serue indeed to little vse vnlesse it be to keepe fish in for the winter time to spend as need requireth or to feede fish in otherwise of themselues they are not able to sustaine any number of fish in any good sort to increase in grouth or goodnesse of meate and therefore I meane not to speake much of such ponds But the other kind of pond made with a head being rightly ordered as hereafter is mentioned will giue great nourishment to fish without any feeding saue of it selfe It is therefore requisite for him that would haue good fish to haue two such ponds with heads so made as with their sluces he may lay them drie when he pleaseth and againe to fill them with water when he shall thinke good to the end that one of them may lie drie one yeare the other the next yeare The greatnesse of his ponds may be according to the aptnes of the place where he maketh them and to the cost he meaneth to bestow And that valley that hath not any sudden descent but descendeth by little little hauing also some littell rill or brooke running through it is fittest for this purpose by reason that in such places a man shall with least charges in making the head ouerflow greatest quantitie of ground The sayd ponds are to be made as followeth The making of a pond for fish Hauing a place conuenient viz. a valley betweene two hilles and some small brooke or rill running through the same you are to dig a channell or pond as it were from the one hill to the other ouerthwart the valley and with the earth that you take out of the same to make your head Alwayes making your head downe the streame
in good plight and fat yet so much corne or hay you may lay in that acre that you may feede therein ten or twentie oxen And euen so although one acre of ground ouerflowed with water will naturallie and if it selfe keepe but 300. or foure hundreth Carpes or other fsshes yet so much feeding you may adde thereunto that it may keepe three thousand or foure thousand in as good plight as three hundreth or foure hundreth without such feeding Of all creatures fish are the greatest increasers in number and so great is the increase of them that I do verily suppose the Sea it selfe and all fresh riuers likewise would be ouerstored if they did not deuour one another in very great quantity yet haue they many other enemies besides fish that do continually pray and feede vpon them as for pond fish first the small Eeles when the Carps Breams Tenches or Roches do lay their spawne in egges in spawning time you shall many times see sixe ten or more small Eeles follow them and as the spawne falleth from them they eate it as also Duckes will do the like Afterward so sonne as it is quicke the Eele and especially the Perch will deuour it in great quantitie before it be able to swimme any thing fast After that it is foode for the Kings fisher all kind of shel-foule the Bitture the Hearne the Cormorant and the Ospray And when it is at the greatest as if it bee a Carpe of three foote long the Otter will kill him otherwise all ponds would quickly be ouerstored if it also go not away with flouds which is greatly to be foreseene I remember myselfe did once put three spawning Carps into a pond that was some three acres of ground and with them nine or ten milters about February and in Nouember next following I did sew the same pond and of those breeders I had 9000. and vpwards of Carpe frie notwithstanding all the foresaid enemies and surely a Breame will increase in number much more The ingendring and breeding of the like fish as aforesaid I haue noted to be in this manner sometime in May and sometime in Iune as the season happeneth to fall out apt for generation the water by Gods prouidence hauing then a naturall warmth to performe the same the male fish by course of nature will chase about the female seeking copulation and as in all other creatures so in this the female seemeth to shun and flie from the male so that you shall see three foure or fiue male fish chase one female and so hold her in on euerie side that they will force her to swimme through weedes grasse rushes straw or any such like thing that is in the pond wherein she being intangled and wearied with their chasing they find oportunitie to ioyne in copulation with her mingling their milt with her spawne sometime one of them sometime another at which time the spawne falleth from her like little egges and sticketh fast to the sayd weedes some eight nine or ten dayes after which time it quickneth taketh life and hath the proportion of a fish yea two or three dayes before it quicken if you take such an egge and breake it vppon your naile you shall perceiue the proportion of a fish therein After it is quicke it mooueth very little for some fortnight or three weekes and then it gathereth together into sculles by the shore side where the water is shallow howbeit the Tench frie will lie scattering in the weedes and not flote in sculles And if there run any water from your pond you shall not possible keepe Eeles out of the same they will come into the same against the streame Their manner of breeding is very vncertaine and vnknowne but vndoubtedly they are bred in the brackish or sea water and at the first full Moone in Maie they begin to come into all great riuers and out of great riuers into lesser riuers and out of those lesser riuers into all small brookes rils and running waters continually against the streame all the beginning of Sommer as likewise with the first floud that commeth about Michelmas they couet to go downe the streame and will not stay vntill they come into the deepe and brackish waters if they be not taken or letted by the way I know that some hold opinion that they breede of the May deaw for proofe whereof they say if you cut vp two turfes of grassie in a May morning and clap the grassie sides of those turfes together and so lay them in a riuer you shall the next day find small young Eeles betweene the sayd turfes and so you shall indeeede for the most part do Howbeit not therefore they do breede of the deaw for if you likewise take a little bottle of sweete hay straw or weedes that haue had no May deaw fallen thereon and sinke it in a riuer at that time of the yeare and take it out suddenly the next morning and you shall find likewise many small Eeles therein The reason is at that time of the yeare that riuer being full of such young Eeles they will creepe into euery thing that is sweete and pleasant And for proofe that the sayd Eele frie doe come out of the brackish waters against the streame into all other Riuers Rils and Ponds if in the beginning of the Sommer you do diligently obserue at the taile of any water Mill especially neare vnto any great riuer you shall see them in great numbers early in the morning and late in the euening in Iune or Iuly at the chinckes and holes in the floud-gates to labour exceedingly to get vp against the streame although they be often times driuen backe with the violence of the water yet cease they not still againe to labour vntill they haue gotten vp against the streame The like do Salmonds Barbils Troutes Roch Date Cheuin Gogions and other riuer fish at Weres and Dammes in great riuers for that they couet to spawne in shallow waters and not in the deepe the which thing when they haue performed they then presently couet to go downe the streame vntill they come vnto the brackish or sea water It may be here expected that I should set downe the baites to be vsed for all kind of pond-fish for all seasons of the yeare but therein I haue not had such exact knowledge to prescribe vnto the diligent practiser any better then himselfe can find out I haue found that the Carpe Breame and Tench being vsed to feeding will bite at the red worme paste made of dough or the grashopper most part of the Sommer season The Tench also is a fish very easilie taken in a Bownet and whosoeuer hath of them in his ponds it behooueth him to take great heede that he be not deceiued by leud people The shallow or pond Roch with the red fins will spawne in most ponds The riuer Roch and Dace will not spawne in any pond howbeit if your
twelue yeares growth you may take commoditie by ploughing or mowing your ground and grasing the same with horses and afterward by mowing and grasing the same with any other cattell especially if you set your trees twentie foote asunder one way and thirtie foote another way as aforesaid The Peare will prosper in a ground inclined to wet better then the apple will do There is a disease in trees which is called a canker wherevnto the pippin chiefly is greatly subiect and the same doth spoile manie trees I know no better remedie for the same then to cut it cleaue out in the winter time which oftentimes doth helpe the same so that the barke will againe ouergrow the sore and do well but if it haue once gone more then halfe about the tree it will hardly be euer recouered and for the most part the best and most delicate fruite is most subiect to this infirmitie It may be here expected I should treat of all kindes of grafting as to graft in the cleft in the leafe in the noch or otherwise but surely for apples peares or most kind of plummes I haue found to graft in the clift some foure inches aboue the ground to be the best Howbeit the Abricocke plumme the vine and such other as haue great store of pith they are fittest to be grafted in the leafe or eie as the call it The third way to graft in the noch the cyent must be in effect as great as the stocke and such grafts for the most part grow to be toppe heauie and therefore that kind of grafting to no great purpose in my opinion Some writers teach that apples may be grafted vpon the willow the Elme the Ash Alder and such others but a man had better be without such fruite-trees in his Orchard then to haue them for that they will haue a tast of the stocke that they are grafted on An apple is not good to be grafted but vpon the stocke of the wild apple or crab as likewise the peare and warden vpon the wild peare stocke If you graft a Peare or a Warden vppon a white thorne it will be finall hard cappard and spotted The Medler is good to be grafted vpon the white thorne The Quince is best to be planted of the wild siences that grow out of the root of other Quince trees and so likewise the Philbard The Chesnut and Walnut are to be set of Nuts and besides the commodity of the fruite do also become very good timber The Chesnut timber will outlast the heart of oke to lie either alwayes wet or alwayes drie or sometime wet and sometime drie The perry wil not last well aboue one yeare but the cider will last good two or three yeares FINIS Where to lay your sluce When to store your ponds Not good to handle fish in hot weather Rauening fish Fish not of the rauening kind A Breame long in growing and a great increaser The first yeare your fish will spawne exceedingly The nature of fish No water to run through a pond in the Sommer time How to order your fish at sewing time To preserue ouer many fry is a hinderance to the owner To feede Pikes with your superfluous fry The proportion of fish according to the greatnesse of your pond Causes why ponds shold lie drie euery other yeare What maketh sweete fish Great difference in goodnesse of pond fish The second sort of ponds How fish may be fed in such ponds The Tench good to be fed The great increase of fish Eeles and afterward Perches great deuourers of frie. Fish haue many enemies to destroy them How fish do breede The breeding of Eeles very vncertaine and vnknowne Eeles come from the brackish and sea water In the riuer of Seuerne I haue seene great store of these small Eele frie taken going against the streame when they are no greater then a wheate straw Eeles go against the streame and so doth most other fish in the spring time Fish couet to go downe the streame in the latter end of the Sommer Baites for euery seuerall fish Many opinions concerning breeding of fish A Breame very slow in growth Carpe Troughts may be kept in ponds Fish to be charily handled in the cariage The Carpe will abide most hardnesse Tenches and Eeles not to be caried with other fish A nurcery of plants and grafts An especiall note to be obserued Wet groūds vnfit for an Orchard An especiall matter to be noted in planting of any trees whatsoeuer Many men are at great charge◠in planting of Orchards and yet can haue no good fruite only by reason their trees are at the first set too deepe howbeit do not perceiue the reason thereof
teeth like to the eye teeth in a man apt to grind chew withall with which two neather iawes they grind their meate against a certaine flat bone in the roofe of their mouth or vpper part of their throte which is commonly called the stone in the Carpes head and is in steede of his vpper iaw and teeth and of many thought to be a remedy for excessiue bleeding at the nose for man The like is in the head of the Tench and Roch although by reason of the smalnesse it is not easie to be found Of the same nature also is the Barbill Cheuen Dace Bleke and riuer Roch although I haue not seene them vsually in any pond Howbeit they wil liue and wex in a pond especially the riuer Roch but not spawne vnlesse it haue great store of watea running through it continually neither will the Trought spawne in any standing poole but will liue and grow very fat and good if the pond be of any greatnesse as some fiue or sixe acres of ground or more and that he may haue good store of small fry to feede on and will also be very fat and good all the winter long by reason he doth not spawne as aforesayd The best fish in my opinion is Carpe Breame Tench and Perch howbeit if your pond be not aboue foure or fiue acres of ground a Breame will be fiue or sixe yeares at the least before it be of any bignesse to eate as also they will ouer-store any pond with fry which is a great hinderance to the growth of your bigger fish Hauing stored your pond as aforesayd you shall find that the first yeare your fish will spawne exceedingly Howbeit if any water run through your pond your fry will very hardly be kept in for that all the beginning of the sommer they will go away against the streame and in the latter end of the sommer they will go away with the streame if they be not with very good grates kept in and herein you are to vse very great diligence And therefore your pond being full of water it is good to conuey away the residue in some ditch along hard by the one side of your pond casting the banke of your ditch toward the pond the leuel of the water will direct you where to make your ditch so may your conuey away your superfluous water If any water runne through your pond especially in the Sommer time it will also make your fish leane with laboring against it as it is their nature to do and also in manner vnpossible to keepe in your frie. A pond being thus ordered and your fish therein feeding all the Sommer time it is requisite that about Hollantide next you sew your pond taking out all your fish the best and such as you meane to spend that winter to put into small ponds or stewes whereas with a dragge you may take them againe as you neede to spend them the other store-fish you may put into the like pond as aforesayd either new made or one that hath lien dry all the Sommer before Howbeit if you haue any great number of frie especially of Breame it were better to preserue but part of them and the residue to put into some stew or small pond with Pikes so shall you alwayes haue good Pikes and also your Carpe Breame and Tench will be very fat and good If your ponds be not ouerstored with fry your pond being sewed and your fish bestowed it is good to let that pond you last sewed to lie as drie as you can by any meanes all that winter and the next sommer vntill Michelmas and then to fill it with water of the first floud that happeneth about that time and sew your other pond betweene Michelmas and Hollantide vsing the same as is before rehearsed As for hauing any fish to spend in the Sommer time it is requisite to trust to your angle a bownet a tramell or such like by which meanes you shall seldome faile of some fish for your spending If you should keepe any Carpe Breame or Tench in stewes in the Sommer time they will wex leane vnlesse you do feede them with corne as barly sod pease or oates or any other kind of corne It may be heare expected I should set downe some proportion of number of fishes hauing regard to the greatnesse of your pond and the greatnesse of the fish Surely as the fertility of some soyle will nourish double the number of cattle that some others will do euen so of pondes if the soyle bee a fat clay or other good ground it will nourish double the number of fish that a leane barren heath ground or drie sand will do Howbeit the ordering of a pond in such sort as aforesayd and to lie dry euery other yeare will much mend any ground euery yeare especially if in the Sommer time when it lyeth dry cattell and especially sheepe may feede and lie therein as hereafter shall appeare by good reason Howbeit in an indifferent soile I suppose you may well keepe foure hundreth Carpe Breame or Tench for euery acre supposing your fish to be eight or ten inches in length and the greater your pond is the greater number in proportion it will keepe as for example a pond of foure acres will much better keepe 1600. fish then a pond of two acres will keepe eight hundreth of like fish for euery hundreth of such fish as aforesayd you may keepe halfe a hundreth Perches in the same pond after you are once sufficiently stored of frie and not before for that a Perch is a very great deuourer of frie especially of Carpe I haue seene in the belly of a small Perch sixteene or seuenteene small Carpe frie at once but hauing sufficient of frie they do good in a pond rather then otherwise and will themselues be very fat and good The Pike is in no wise to be admitted into your great ponds with your other fish he is so great a deuourer and will grow so fast hauing his fill of feeding that being but eight or ten inches in the beginning of Sommer he may be eighteene or twentie inches before Hollantide at what time he will eate more fish euery day then will suffise a man and will feede onelie of Carpe before anie other fish if there be Carpe frie in the pond Howbeit hauing two such ponds as aforesaid made with heads you shall euerie yeare haue sufficient store of reffuse frie to feede some good number of Pikes withall wherewith they will be made verie thicke sweete and well growne but not fatte vnlesse you haue some store of small Eeles wherewithall to feede them some moneth or sixe weekes before you take them to spend for that only that feeding vpon Eeles being cut in peeces so as they may stir in the water and yet not be able to escape awaie will make the Pikes verie fat The causes mouing to haue a pond lie but one
yeare with water and fish and the next yeare emptie and drie do hereafter ensue First by that meanes you shall auoide superfluous number of frie which greatly hinder the growth and goodnesse of your greater fish Secondly by that meanes you shall so proportion your pond that it shall neuer be ouerstored Thirdly by that meanes your water shall alwayes be excellent sweete by reason it ouerfloweth such ground as hath taken the sunne and ayre all the sommer before wherein also if cattell do feede or especially be fodered and lie their dung and stale together with the naturall force of the Sunne at the next Spring ouerflowing with water will breede an innumerable number of flies and bodes of diuerse kinds and sorts which in a faire sunshine day in March or Aprill you shall see in the water as thicke as motes in the Sunne of which bodes and flies the fish do feede exceedingly Also great store of seedes of weedes and grasse shedding that sommer that it lieth drie is a great feede to your fish the next Sommer after when it is ouerflowne with water The sayd bodes doe for the most part breede of the blowings and seede of diuerse kinds of flies and such like liuing creatures in the sommer when your pond lieth drie in the dung of cattell and otherwise and take life and being the neâ—t Spring time by the naturall heate of the Suune together with the moisture of the fat and pleasant water as aforeiaid for surely many and sundrie kinds of flies that flie about in the ayre in Sommer time do take life in the water ouerflowing such ground where they haue bene left by the blowings and feede of other flies And I haue often obserued and beheld in a sunshine day in shallow waters especially where any dung or fatte earth is therewith mingled I say I haue seene a young flie swimme in the water too and fro and in the end come to the vpper crust of the water and assay to flie vp howbeit not being perfitly ripe or fledge hath twice or thrice fallen downe againe into the water howbeit in the end receiuing perfection by the heate of the sunne and the pleasant fat water hath in the ende within some halfe houre after taken her flight and flied quite awaie into the ayre And of such young flies before they are able to flie awaie do fish feede exceedingly Fourthlie your fish shall euerie yeare haue feeding in proportion to their increasing in bignesse for it standeth with reason that Carpes or other fish of twelue inches long will require more feeding then so many of siâ—e inches long will do but chieflie by meanes aforesayd of sewing euerie yeare you shall haue oportunitie to be rid of the great increase of frie and your greater fish more sweete and fat then any other hath by farre Fish will liue in a manner in any pond and without any feeding or such other industrie as aforesayd but then they are forced to liue vppon the muddie earth and weedes that grow in such ponds and being so fedde they will eate and taste accordingly and there is as great difference in taste betweene fish that is kept as aforesaid and other fish that is kept in a standing pond without feeding or other industrie as is betweene the flesh of a Larke and the flesh of a Crow or Kite And I suppose that that is the cause that most men are out of loue with all pond fish because they neuer tasted of any good or well ordered pond fish That Sommer that your pond lieth drie as aforesaid if there happen to grow any sower or rancke weedes therein as many times there will it is good to cut them vp and being dried with the sunne to burne them so shall you haue sweete grasse or yong weeds come in their place that cattell will feede on and also the heate of the sunne shall much amend your ground Also trench out the water that it may lie as drie as may be possible and if you can plough it and haue Sommer corne therein as bucke or barley that Sommer that it lieth drie I thinke it very good I haue heard the common people in the fenne countries affirme and that very earnestly that their fishes do feede of ashes by reason that in a drie Sommer when much of their fenne grounds lie drie and are pastured with cattell then towards the winter time such ranke grasse sedge reedes or weedes as the cattell do leaue vneaten they will burne them with fire to the end that the next Sommer such old sedge reedes or weedes may not annoy the comming vp of young and better sedge reedes or grasse And the common people find by experience that after such a drie Sommer as aforesaid all the next Winter the water ouerflowing those grounds their fish will be exceeding fat and good and therefore say they surely the fish do feede vppon the ashes of the weeds and such like burnt as aforesaid But the truth is in such a drie Sommer as aforesaid the cattell then feeding in such grounds as then lie drie do bestow therein great quantitie of dung and stale wherein is bred great abundance of such bodes flies and wormes as aforesayd as also the naturall and liuelie heate of the Sunne piercing such grounds doth make the same pleasant and fat and to bring forth the next Sommer many hearbes and weedes the seedes of which do yeeld vnto fishes verie great foode and nourishment and not the barren drie ashes as afore is imagined He that cannot haue such ponds as aforesaid and hauing but some small mote or other horse-pond in his ground that standeth continuallie full of water may often times haue a dish of good fish if he will bestow some feeding of corne as sod barley or pease cheese-curds or bloud of beasts to throw into his pond in the sommer time for that fish being not of the rauening kind do then onelie feede But it behoueth to do it in such sort as he may be assured that the fish do eate it and that he be not beguiled with duckes geesse or such like He may therefore make a square thing of some two foote broade of Elme boords with ledges some three or foure inches deepe and therein sincke his corne with a line tied vnto the foure corners thereof so that he may pull it vp and let it downe when he pleaseth and after the fish haue once found the vse thereof you shall well perceiue they will haunt it Sweet graines in small proportion are also good but if they be once sower or mustie the fish will not feede on them and also they will stench your pond The Tench of all other fish will best like to be fed as aforesaid and will be very good sweete and fatte and next vnto him the Carpe It is with fish as it is with other creatures for like as one acre of ground will hardly feede one ore throughout the yeare to keepe him
pond be neare any riuer and that there runne any water from it in the Sommer time you shall find that they will come into the same against the streame where you would thinke it vnpossible and so will Pickerell and Perch And I haue heard some affirme very constantly that water-fowle do often times bring the spawne of such fish in their feathers into ponds Others will affirme that the heate of the Sunne may draw vp such spawne of fish before it be quicke and so the same taking life in the moist ayre may afterward fall downe in a shower of raine into a pond the reason that hath mooued many men so to thinke is because they haue found such kind of fish in their ponds where they are sure that they nor any other haue euer put any such Howbeit surely the same haue come into the sayd ponds against the streame as aforesaid in Sommer flouds and not by any such other monstrous generation as is last afore mentioned And somewhat to say of the growth of fish as nature may be helped by art in other things so likewise in fish very much for that a Carpe may with feeding the first yeare be brought to be sixe inches long and the next to twelue or foureteene inches whereas in ordinary ponds without feeding they will hardly be brought to be fourteene inches in fiue or sixe yeares I do not thinke that ground would yeeld vnto the owner any other way so much benefite as to be conuerted into such ponds with heads as is afore mentioned if onely fish were spent vppon the dayes by law ordained for that purpose in this Realme the which thing if it were obserued no doubt would turne this Realme to incredible benefite many and sundry wayes But now those that should spend such fish will rather bestow their money in Rabbets Capons or such like Howbeit I am perswaded that fish vsed as aforesayd and dressed whilest it is new taken is very wholsome for mans body and also more delicate then most kinds of flesh A Breame will be very long in growing before it come to any bignesse as commonly fiue or sixe yeares before he be a foote long but if your water be not very great he will hardly be a foote long in ten yeares The Tench will grow and prosper very well howbeit will neuer be so great as some Carpes will be I haue seene a Carpe of xxxiii inches betweene the eye and the forke of the taile but neuer any Tench aboue two and twenty inches of like measure The Pike will grow exceedingly if he may haue his fill of other small fish as the first yeare to twelue or fourteene inches the next to twenty or two and twenty inches And whosoeuer hath ponds with heads as aforesayd shall euery yeare very conueniently feede some good number of Pikes in some ditch or small stew with refuse frie. If you haue such ponds as aforesayd often or twelue acres of ground or more neare any riuer where Troughts are you may get Troughts to put into such ponds with your other fish so there be no Pikes amongst them Howbeit when you come to sew your pond and that the water commeth any thing neare the mud your Troughts will then die yet haue I seene them grow exceedingly in such a pond in one yeare and to be very fat and good howbeit they must be very charily handled in the cariage and a few of them caried in a great deale of faire and cleane water and that in cold weather and may not be handled with hands but in a hand-net very charily and so likewise are all other fish to be vsed especially such as you meane to keepe for store If you haue Carpes in small ditches in the moneth of March at what time Todes doe ingender the Tode will many times couet to fasten himselfe vppon the head of the Carpe and will thereby inuenime the Carpe in such sort that the Carpe will swell as great as he may hold so that his seales will stand as it were on edge and his eyes stand out of his head neare halfe an inch in very vgly sort and in the end will for the most part die thereof and it is very dangerous for any person to eate of any such Carpe so inuenimed It is not sufficient that fish be aliue and swimme away when they are put into a pond but if they be brused or take heate in the cariage they will be long before they recouer againe and fall to their feeding and sometime neuer recouer but after long pining and sicknesse do in the end die also The Carpe of all pond fish will abide most hardnesse in cariage next to him the Tench then the Breame Pike and Perch A Carpe in the winter time may be caried aliue in wet hay or grasse that is sweete for the space of fiue or sixe houres If you cary any fish in water let not the Tench or Eele be caried among them because they cast great store of slime which will choke and kill your other fish especially Pike or Perch A Pike will hardly feede of any thing except it stirre and be aliue but the Perch and Eele will feede of the small guts of sheepe being cut or of any garbage of Chickens Coneys or such like and of bloud of beasts The Tench Perch and Eele being vsed to be fed will not lightly faile to bite at an angle anytime the Sommer halfe yeare The feeding of frie the first yeare will make them quickly past many dangers as of being past danger of eating of some other fishes and foules as also past danger of going away at grates or at the holes of water rats in bankes Also they will be of a larger and greater growth then euer they will be not being fed and it behooueth to feede them with such foode as they are able to feede on as the first moneth with otemeale or some other meale sodden and being cold may be like a gelly in thicknesse a very little in quantity to be laid in shallow places where onely the frie do haunt and not the greater fish A Carpe frie will begin to feede when he is not aboue an inch long at what time also they will begin to gather together in sculles after some fortnight or three weekes you may then make their meate thicker and increase in quantitie as your frie bee of abilitie to eate it giuing to euerie kind of frie such feeding as his nature requireth It is not good to handle any kinde of frie whilest it is very young and tender or at least wise not in handes but in some small mashed hand-net that is flatte and not deepe like a bagge or a sacke and a few at once that they rub not one vpon another The second yeare you may feede your frie with sodden barley or mault steeped in water and the third yeare with sodden pease for like as any kind of beasts especially such as