THE HISTORY OF ESCULENT FISH.
Price, in Boards, One Guinea and a Half, coloured.
THE
HISTORY
OF
ESCULENT FISH,
WITH PLATES, DRAWN AND ENGRAVED BY
ELEAZAR ALBIN:
AND AN
ESSAY
ON THE
BREEDING OF FISH,
AND THE
CONSTRUCTION OF FISH-PONDS,
BY THE HONOURABLE
ROGER NORTH.
_LONDON_:
Printed for EDWARD JEFFERY, Pall Mall; ROBERT FAULDER, New
Bond Street; J. CUTHELL, and J. DEIGHTON, Holborn; J. WALKER,
Paternoster Row; HAMILTON and Co. Beech Street, Barbican.
MDCCXCIV.
[Illustration: _Barbus: Barbeau. A Barbell._ _Elizabeth Albin Depictio
June 30. 1736._]
_The BARBEL_,
Called, in Icthyology, Barbus, but by some writers in Natural History,
Mustus Stuviatitis, and is a species of the Cyprinus. The Barbel is a
fish commonly known and so called from the barb or beard under its chaps
or nose, and is of the leather-mouthed kind.
It is but a moderate tasted fish, and the female is less esteemed for the
table than the male; but neither of them is much valued: the worst season
for them is in April. They love to be among the weirs, where there is a
hard gravelly bottom, and generally swim together in large shoals.
In summer, they frequent the strongest and swiftest currents of water,
as under deep bridges, weirs, and the like places, and are apt to get in
among the piles, weeds, and other shelter; but in winter, they retire
into the deepest and stillest waters; the best season for angling for
this fish, is from May to August, and the time for taking them is very
early in the morning, or late in the evening. The place should be baited
with chopped worms some time before; and no bait is so good for the
hook as the spawn of fish, particularly the Salmon: in defect of these,
lob-worms will do; but they must be very clean and nice, and the hook
carefully covered, otherwise he will not touch them. Old cheese steeped
in honey also is a fine bait.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _Cyprinus. Carpe. The Carp._ _Eleazar Albin delineavit
Decem. 12. 1735._]
_CARP._
Leonard Marchal first brought this fish into England about 1514: it is
the most valuable of all kinds of fish for stocking ponds, because of
its quick growth and great increase. If the feeding and breeding of
this fish were more understood and practised, the advantages resulting
would be very great; and a fish pond would become as valuable an article
as a garden. The gentleman who has land in his own hands, may, besides
furnishing his own table and supplying his friends, become a source of
much profit in money, and very considerable advantage to his lands at the
same time, so as to make it produce more than by any other employment
whatever. The sale of Carp makes a considerable part of the revenue of
the principal nobility and gentry in Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg,
Saxony, Mecklenburgh, Bohemia, and Holstein. Particular attention should
be paid to the soil, water, and situation of a Carp pond; the best kind
are those which are surrounded by the finest pasture, or corn fields,
with a rich black mould, and soft springs on the spot, or other running
water, that is neither too cold, or impregnated with acid, calcareous,
selenetic, or other seraneous, mineral particles. The water may be
softened by exposing it to the air or sun in a reservoir, or by forming
an open channel for it some distance from the pond; they should be
exposed to the influence of the sun, and sheltered from the eastern and
northerly winds.
By experience, it is found convenient to have three kinds of ponds for
Carp, viz. the spawning pond, the nursery, and the main pond: the first
pond must be cleared of all other kind of fish, especially those of
the rapacious kind, such as the perch, pike, eel, and trout; the water
beetle, and also of the newts or lizards. It should be exposed to sun
and air, and be supplied with soft water. A pond of one acre requires
three or four male Carp, and six or eight female ones; and in the same
proportion for each additional acre. The best Carp for breeding are
those of five, six, or seven years old, in good health, with full scale,
and fine full eyes, and a long body, without any blemish or wound: the
pond should be stocked in a fine calm day, towards the end of March, or
beginning of April. Carp spawn in May, June, or July, according to the
warmth of the season; and for this purpose, they swim to a warm, shady,
well-sheltered place, where they gently rub their bodies against the
sandy ground, grass, or osiers; and by this pressure the spawn issues
out at the spawning season. All sorts of fowl should be kept from the
ponds: the young fry is hatched from the spawn by the genial influence of
the sun, and should be left in this pond through the whole summer, and
even the next winter, provided the pond is deep enough to prevent their
suffocation during a hard winter; then the breeders and the fry are put
into ponds safer for their wintering.
The second kind of ponds are the nurseries; the young fish should be
moved, in a fine calm day, into this pond, in the months of March or
April: a thousand or twelve hundred of this fry may be well accommodated
in a pond of an acre. When they are first put in, they should be well
watched, and driven from the sides of the pond, lest they become the prey
of rapacious birds. In two summers, they will grow as much as to weigh
four, five, or even six pounds, and be fleshy and well tasted.
The main ponds are to put those into that measure a foot, head and tail
inclusive; every square of fifteen feet is sufficient for one Carp: their
growth depends on their room, and the quantity of food allowed them.
The best seasons for stocking the main ponds are spring and autumn. Carp
grow for many years, and become of considerable size and weight. Mr.
Foster mentions seeing in Prussia two or three hundred Carps of two and
three feet in length, and one five feet long, and twenty-five pounds
weight; it was supposed to be about sixty years old: Gesner mentions
one that was an hundred years old. These were tame, and would come to
the side of the pond to be fed, and swallowed with ease a piece of
bread half the size of a halfpenny loaf. Ponds should be well supplied
with water during the winter; and when they are covered with ice, holes
should be opened every day for the admission of fresh air, through want
of which, Carps frequently perish. Carp are sometimes fed, during the
colder season, in a cellar: the fish is wrapped up in a quantity of wet
moss laid on a piece of a net, and then laid in to a purse; but in such a
manner, however, to admit of the fish breathing: the net is then plunged
into water, and hung up to the ceiling of the cellar: the dipping must
at first be repeated every three or four hours, but, afterwards, it need
be plunged into the water only once in six or seven hours: bread soaked
in milk is sometimes given him in small quantities; in a short time, the
fish will bear more, and grow fat by this treatment. Many have been kept
alive, breathing nothing but air in this way, several successive days.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _Cephalus. The Chub._ _Fortin. Albin delin. 1740._]
_The CHUB_
Is, according to the Artedian and Linnæan system, a species of Cyprinus,
and is called by the French the Vilian and Testard, and was called by
the ancient Romans Squalus. The resorts of this fish are easily found;
being generally holes over-shaded by trees; and on a hot day, they may
be seen in great numbers, floating almost on the surface of the water.
For the table they are very poor fish, full of bones. They afford much
entertainment to the angler, and are easily caught. The best manner of
fishing for them is thus: prepare a very strong rod of sufficient length;
fix a grashopper to the hook; place yourself so as not to be perceived
by the fish, and drop in the bait about two feet from the place where a
Chub lies; if he does not see the angler, he rarely fails biting, and is
taken directly; but he is so strong a fish, that he should be taken out
carefully, after a great deal of play, otherwise the tackle will be in
danger; a beetle, or any large fly, will answer the purpose in the place
of a grashopper; and if none of them are to be had, the method of fishing
must be altered, and the line be long enough for fishing at the bottom.
In March and April, this fish is to be caught with red worms; in June and
July, with worms, snails, and cherries; but in August and September, the
proper bait is good cheese, pounded in a mortar with some saffron and a
little butter. Some make paste of cheese and Venice turpentine for the
Chub in winter, at which season the fish is better than at any other; the
bones are less troublesome in this season, and the flesh more firm and
better tasted. The roe is also generally well flavoured. The angler must
keep his bait for this fish at the bottom in cold weather, and near the
top in hot. The fish will bite easily.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _Asellus Major. The Cod-fish._ _E. Albin Delin: March 29.
1739._]
_The COD FISH_
Is the largest of the genus Aselli, by authors called Asellus Maximus,
and sometimes Asellus Varius, five Striatus. It is distinguished from
other fishes of the same kind by the following marks. Its colour on the
back and sides is a dusky olive, intermixed with yellow spots; a white
belly, with a white line running along each side from the gills to the
tail, which is curved at the abdomen, but straight elsewhere. It has very
small scales, which adhere firmly to the skin; its eyes are large; a
single beard hangs at the angle of its lower jaw, which is short, seldom
longer than one’s finger. It has a broad tongue, and several rows of
teeth, one being much longer than the rest. Among these there are some
moveable teeth, as in the Pike; and in the palate, near the orifice of
the stomach, and near the gills, it has small clusters of teeth; it has
three back-fins, two at the gills, two at the breast, and two at the
anus; and the tail is plain.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _Asellus Minor. The Haddock._ _Fortin. Albin delin.
1740._]
_The HADDOCK_
Is, according to the Artedian system, of the genus of Gadi. It is called
by Salvian the Asellus Major, or Greater Asellus, and by Turner and
Willoughby the Orus, or Asinus of the Ancients. Charlton tells us, that
it was the Callaris Galeris, or Galaxis, of the old Romans, mentioned
by Pliny; but Artedi has some doubt about that. It is likewise called
by Artedi the Gadus; with a bearded mouth, three fins on the back, a
whitish body, with the upper jaw longest; the tail a little forked. Large
Haddocks begin to be in roe about the middle of November, and continue so
till the end of January; from that time till May, their tails grow thin,
and they are out of season.
The small ones are very good from May to February; and those which are
not old enough to breed in February, March, and April. It is said by
fishermen, that in rough weather they hide themselves in the sand at the
bottom of the sea, and among the ooze, and shelter themselves till the
storm is over, because they take none in stormy weather. They live in the
summer on young Herrings, and on other young fish; and in winter, on a
species of sespula, called the stone-coated Worm, and by the fishermen,
Haddock-meat. The great shoals of Haddocks come periodically on the
coast of Yorkshire. The large ones quit the coast as soon as they get out
of season, and leave behind them a number of small ones. They are said to
visit the coasts of Hamburgh and Jutland in the summer. There is a large
black spot on each side of the Haddock, ascribed by superstition to the
mark which St. Peter’s thumb made, when he took the tribute money out of
the mouth of a species of this fish.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _Halec. The Herring._ _E. Albin Del: 1739._]
_The HERRING._
Harengus, in Icthyology, a species of the Clopea. Its Harengi forms are
these: its length is generally seven or eight inches, though it sometimes
grows to a foot; its head is flatted, and its mouth placed upwards: it
has a green back and sides mingled with blue, and a belly of a silver
cast; its scales are large and round. It is not spotted at all, and its
belly is carinated; the ridge is quite smooth, and not at all serrated;
its side lines are small, and scarce distinguishable; the lower jaw is
stronger and more prominent than the upper; its gills are four in number,
as in other fishes; their fibres very long, and open remarkably wide; so
that this fish dies almost as soon as taken out of the water: it has one
fin on its back, which consists of about seventeen rays, and is between
the head and the tail; the two ventral fins have nine rays, the pectoral
seventeen, and the anal fourteen; the tail is forked. The name Herring,
takes its derivation from the German _Heer_, an army, which expresses
their number when they migrate our seas. Herrings are found in vast
quantities from the highest northern latitudes as low as the northern
coast in France; on the coast of America large shoals of them are to be
met with as low as Carolina. In Kamtschatka they are also to be found,
and very possibly in Japan: their winter rendezvous is within the arctic
circle; they retire there after spawning, and wherever they can meet with
insect food. They are in full roe at the end of June, and in perfection
till the commencement of winter, when they begin to deposit their spawn.
PRESERVED HERRINGS.
Various are the names given to them, and according as they are ordered:
as,
1st. SEA-STICKS are what are caught all the fishing season, and but
once packed. A barrel of these contains six or eight hundred; according
to law, eight barrels go to the hundred. A hundred of Herrings is one
hundred and twenty; a last is ten thousand; and they generally reckon
fourteen barrels to the last.
2d. REPACKED HERRINGS are Herrings repacked on shore. Seventeen barrels
of Sea-Sticks make from twelve to fourteen barrels of repacked Herrings.
They repack them in the following manner: take out the Herrings, wash
them in their own pickle, and lay them orderly in a fresh barrel: they
have no salt put to them; but after being close packed, have a sworn
copper put over them with the pickle when the barrel is half full: the
pickle is brine; so strong that the herring may swim in it.
3d. SUMMERS are what are caught by the Dutch Chasers, or Divers, from
June till the middle of July. They are sold in Sea-Sticks; they will not
endure repacking: they go one with another full and shotten; but the
repacked Herrings are sorted.
4th. The SICK and SHOTTEN HERRINGS by themselves; the barrel should be
marked.
5th. CRUSS HERRINGS are what are caught after the middle of September;
they are cured with salt upon Salt: all these are full Herrings.
There is likewise another sort, called COWED HERRINGS. These serve to
make Red Herrings from September to October; they should be carried on
shore within a week after they are taken; they are roed in salt, but
never gipped; those which they make Red Herrings of, are washed in fresh
water previous to their being hung up in the Herring-Houses, generally
known by the appellation of Herring-Hangs.
Then followeth the manner of salting Herrings. When the fishes are taken
out of the nets and put into the warbacks which stand on the side of
the vessel, one fills the gipper’s baskets. The gippers, after having
cut their throats and taken out their guts, proceed to sort them. When
the gipped are put into the basket, one man takes it to the rowerback,
wherein there is salt; one stirs them about in the salt, whilst another
takes them from him, and carries them in baskets to the packers. Each
barrel is packed by four men, who lay the Herrings one by one in a very
even manner; which barrel being full, another man takes it from them.
The barrel is usually left to stand open for a day or two, to dissolve
the salt; afterwards it is filled up, and the barrel is headed. Observe,
that the pickle be strong enough to sustain the fish; otherwise they will
decay in it.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _Scombrus. Maquereau. a Mackarel._ _Eleaz. Albin del: May
3. 1739._]
[Illustration: _Scombrus. Maquereau. a Mackarel._ _Eleazar Albin
delinavit. July 21. 1735._]
_The MACKAREL._
A very common sea fish of the Schomber kind. Its nose is sharp pointed
and tapered; its eyes large; and both its jaws of the same length: the
teeth are small, but very numerous; the body compressed on the sides;
towards the tail, it is rather slender, and somewhat angular. The first
dorsal fin is placed a little behind the pectoral fin; it is triangular,
and has nine or ten stiff rays; the second has twelve soft rays, and lies
at a distance from the other; the pectoral has twenty, and the ventral
six rays: at the base of the anal fin, is a long spine. Betwixt the last
dorsal and the tail, are five small fins; the same number, likewise,
betwixt the anal and the tail. The tail is broad and semilunar; the
colour of the back and sides above the lateral line is beautiful green,
variegated with black lines pointing downwards; beneath the line, the
belly is of a beautiful silvery colour. The eyes of the Mackarel are
almost covered with a white film, which grows in winter, during which
time they are nearly blind: they cast it in the beginning of summer.
It is in high estimation amongst the Romans, because it furnished the
precious garum.
[Illustration: _Mullus. the Mullet._ _Eleaz. Albin Delin. 1739._]
_The MULLET_,
Is a name given indeterminately to fish of several kinds; but the true
meaning of the word is the same with that of the Mugil, or Cephalus. The
characters of the Mugil are these. The branchiostege membrane on each
side contains six crooked bones; the upper one being the broadest, and
hid under the gills; only five are discernible; the scales are large, and
cover the head and the opercula of the gills, as well as the body of the
fish. The head is depressed in the anterior part; the body oblong and
compressed. According to these distinctions, there is only one species
of Mugil, namely, the Mugil of Ovid and the Ancients. It resembles the
Thymallus in its external figure; its jaws are tender and thin, and have
no teeth in them; the tail is forked. The Linnæan system reckons two
species; viz. the Cephalus and Albula.
Three or four different species of the Mugil have been described by
Rondeletius and others; but their difference seems to arise merely from
age, place, and the like accidents.
The nose is sharp, the belly bowed; the head plain and flatted; the
scales are very large, and cover the body entirely. The back is of a
dusky blue, or greenish-brown colour; the belly white, and the sides
variegated, from the head to the tail, with green and black lines; its
tongue is rather rough; it has no teeth. It preys upon no fish, and is
therefore supposed to feed on weeds. At certain times it comes up the
river, but it is generally caught at sea.
The Mullet is a very good tasted fish; we make tobago of its spawn.
Mullets are to be found chiefly on the sandy coasts; particularly where
there are influxes of fresh water. They come in great shoals; and they
keep rooting the mud like hogs, and leave their trace in the form of
large round holes.
They are very cunning; and when surrounded with a net, the whole shoal
frequently escape by leaping over it; for if one takes the lead, the
others are sure to follow.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _Perca. Perche. A Pearch._ _Eleazar Albin Del. July 8.
1736._]
[Illustration: _The Pearch from the River Rhine._ _Eleaz. Albin del: May
1. 1739._]
_The PEARCH, or PERCH_,
Is a genus of fish of the order of Thoracci; the characters of these are,
that the membrane of the gills has seven bones, and the back has one
or two fins; the first spiny, and the second soft: the body is covered
with rough scales; the edges of the gill-covers are scaly and serrated.
Linnæus enumerates thirty-six species; this fish is variegated with black
spots.
There is a strange variety of Pearch; some of which are quite hunched;
and the backbone, near to the tail, very much distorted: in colour and
other respects, it is similar to the common kind.
The best time for their biting is betwixt spring and summer, as at that
time they are very greedy; and the angler, with good management, may take
all that are in the hole, at one standing, if there were ever so many.
The Pearch will bite all day long, if it be cloudy; but the best time
is from eight till ten in the morning, and from three till six in the
afternoon. It is very abstemious in the winter, and will seldom bite; if
it does at all, it is in the middle of the day. All fish bite best at
this time of the day in that season.
[Illustration: _Lucius. The Pike or Jack._ _Eliza. Albin delin. 1740._]
_The PIKE_
Is the Lucius Esox of Linnæus. It has a very flat head; the upper jaw is
broad, and shorter than the lower, which turns up a little at the end;
the body is long, slender, and compressed sideways; the teeth are very
sharp, disposed only in the front of the upper jaw, but in both sides
of the lower; sometimes in the roof of the mouth, and frequently in the
tongue.
The eyes are small, and the slit of the mouth very wide; the dorsal fin
is placed very low on the back, and consists of twenty-one rays; the
pectoral of fifteen, the ventral of eleven, and the anal, of eighteen;
the tail is bifurcated.
They are to be found in most of the lakes in Europe. Lapland produces
very large ones, some eight feet long; they are dried there, and exported
for sale.
The Pike was introduced into England in the reign of Henry VIII. in 1537,
when a Pike was sold for double the price of a house lamb in February.
Besides its usual food, fish and frogs, it devours water-rats and young
ducks. It is remarkable for its longevity: we read of one that lived till
ninety years old, and of another that was no less than two hundred and
seventy years old.
[Illustration: _Rubellio. The Roach._ _E. Albin Del: 1739._]
_The ROACH_
Is the English name of a very common fish, called by some authors the
Rutilius and Rubiculus, and by others the Rubellio. It is a species of
the Cyprinus, according to the new system of Artedi, and the Cyprinus
Rutilius of Linnæus. It has been looked upon (though without much reason)
remarkable for its liveliness and vivacity, from which comes the proverb
“sound as a Roach.” In some parts of the world, this fish will only live
in standing waters: it thrives very much in ponds and deep, still rivers:
it is very remarkable for its progeny; a pond being sooner stocked with
this fish than any other.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _Clupea: Halachie. A Shad._ _Eleazar Albin Del. June 30.
1736._]
_The SHAD_
Is the name of a sea fish of the Herring kind; it is also called the
Mother of Herrings; by some authors Clupea and Trissa; by the Ancients
Trechis, or Trichias; and the Clupea Alosa of Linnæus. In its general
form, it very much resembles the Herring; only it is flatter and
broader, and grows to a cubit long and four inches broad. The back is
convex and rather sharp; the head sloping considerably from it. The body
grows gradually less to the tail from thence. The lower jaw is rather
longer than the upper; the teeth very minute. The dorsal fin is small,
and placed very near the center: the middle rays are the longest. The
pectoral and ventral fins are small; the belly very sharp; the tail
forked: the body is of a dusky blue. Above the gills is a line of black
spots, which mark the upper part of the back on each side. The number of
these spots is different in different fish, from four to ten.
It is very common in many of our seas, and in some of our rivers which
lie near the sea. They run up there in great numbers, and are then very
fat; they afterwards become lean, and go down to the sea again. They
usually swim in large shoals together.
The Shad is in higher perfection in the Severn than in any other river
in Great Britain. It appears there in May, and in very warm seasons, in
April; it continues about two months. At its first appearance, it is
esteemed a very delicate fish; especially at Gloucester, where it sells
dearer than Salmon. The London fishmongers distinguish it from that of
the Thames by the French name of Alose. Whether they spawn in the Severn
and Wye, is not determined, as their fry has not yet been ascertained.
The old fish come from the sea in full roe.
The fishermen imagine, very erroneously, that the Bleak, which appear in
multitudes near Gloucester in the months of July and August, are the fry
of the Shad: many of these are taken in those months only; but none of
the emaciated Shad are ever caught in their return.
The Thames Shad does not frequent the river till the month of July, and
is thought a very coarse, insipid fish. At that time, the Twaite, a
variety of Shad which makes its appearance in Gloucester, and is taken
in great numbers in the Severn, but held in as great disrepute as the
Shad of the Thames. The real Shad weighs sometimes eight pounds; but in
general from four to five. The Twaite, on the contrary, weighs from half
a pound to two pounds, which it never exceeds. It only differs from the
small Shad, by having one or more black spots on its side, which are
generally placed one under the other.
[Illustration: _Tinca: Tenche: A Tench._ _Eliza. Albin Delin. May 27.
1737._]
_The TENCH_
Is, in Icthyology, the English name of the Tinca of the modern authors;
but, according to the Artedian and Linnæan system, a species of the
Cyprinus. It is distinguished by Artedi by the name of the blackish,
mucous, or slimy Cyprinus, with the end of the tail even.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _A Salmon Trout from Berwick on Tweed_ _E. Albin 1740._]
[Illustration: _Trocta, the Trout._ _Albin Fecit, 1741._]
_The TROUT_
Is a very valuable river-fish; the characters of which are these. It has
a long body; its head is short and round, its nose blunt at the end: its
tail is very broad; its mouth large, and each jaw furnished with one row
of sharp teeth. In its palate there are three parcels of teeth, each of
an oblong figure, in the congeries, and all meeting in an angle near the
end of the nose; the tongue has also six, eight, or ten teeth on it. It
is very beautifully variegated on the sides with red spots. The colour
of the Trout, and of its spots, varies greatly in different waters and
different seasons; yet you may reduce each to one species.
In Llyndivi (a lake in South Wales), there are Trouts called Coch y Dail,
marked with red and black spots about the size of a sixpence; others,
not spotted, and of a reddish hue, which sometimes weigh from eight to
ten pounds: they are very ill tasted. In Lough Neagh, in Ireland, there
are Trouts called Buddagh, many of which weigh thirty pounds; others are
taken of a much superior size, in Hulse Water (a lake in Cumberland), the
same as those Trouts in the lakes of Geneva.
The stomachs of the common Trouts are very thick and muscular, as they
feed on the shell fish of lakes and rivers as well as the small fish; and
take gravel or stones into their stomachs to assist in comminuting the
testaceous parts of their food. The Trouts of certain lakes in Ireland
are remarkable for the great thickness of their stomachs, which, from
some resemblance to the digesting organs in birds, are called Gizzards;
and the species which have them, are called Gizzard Trouts. These
stomachs are frequently served up to the table in Ireland, under the
nomination of Gizzards.
Trouts are a very voracious fish, affording the angler great amusement.
The under jaw of the Trout is subject to the same curvature as that of
the Salmon. There is likewise a species of Trout, which migrates out of
the sea into the river Esk in Cumberland, from July to September, and
called, from its colour, the Whiting. Its taste is delicious. When they
first make their appearance from the salt water, they have a Salmon Louse
adhering to them. They have milt and spawn; but no fry has been yet
observed. It goes under the appellation of Phinocs, among the Scotch.
They are never more than a foot in length; the upper jaw is somewhat
longer than the lower; the upper contains two rows of teeth, and the
lower one: on the tongue there are six teeth. Its form is truly elegant;
the colour dusky, mingled with silver. First dorsal fin spotted with
black; the tail quite black, and forked; the first dorsal fin has eleven
rays; the pectoral thirteen; the ventral nine; the anal nine.
[Illustration: _Asellus. The Whiting._ _Fortin. Albin. delin. 1740_]
_The WHITING_
Is, in Icthyology, the English name of a common fish of the Asellus kind,
called by some Asellus Mollis, and by others Asellus Albus, or Merlangus.
It is certainly, according to the Artedian system, one of the Gadi;
distinguished by that author by the name of Gadus with three fins on the
back; without beards, with a white body; the upper jaw longer than the
lower.
The Whiting, or Gadus Melangus of Linnæus, has a very elegant form: its
eyes are large, its nose sharp; the teeth of the upper jaw are very long,
and appear above the lower when closed. The first dorsal fin has fifteen
rays, the second eighteen, and the last twenty. The head and back are of
a pale brown colour; the lateral line white and crooked; the belly and
sides silvery; the sides being marked lengthways with yellow.
They appear in the sea, by large shoals, in the spring, keeping at the
distance of about half a mile to that of three miles from the shore. They
are the most delicate and wholesome of any of the genus, and seldom grow
to more than ten or twelve inches in length.
A
DISCOURSE
OF
FISH AND FISH-PONDS,
BY
The Hon. ROGER NORTH.
A DISCOURSE OF FISH AND FISH-PONDS.
_Of the Situation and Disposition of the principal Waters._
One great point in the conduct of fish, is, to have them at command;
another is, to have perpetual recruits, to supply your stock as you draw
it off. This is not to be done without a certain order and method; and
with it, nothing is more practicable and easy.
Your method must be, to have some great waters, which are the
head-quarters of the fish, from whence you may take, or wherein you may
put, any ordinary quantity of fish. Then to have stews, and other proper
auxiliary waters, so as you lead the fish from one to the other, whereby
you never shall want, and need not abound; and, which is more, lose no
time in the growth of the fish, but employ the water, as you do your
land, to the best advantage.
This will appear more distinctly in the sequel of this discourse, which
shall begin with the situation and disposition of the principal waters,
whereupon you must depend for the raising and feeding the greatest part
of the stock.
First, you must examine the grounds, and find some fall betwixt two
hills, as near a flat as may be, so as there be a sufficient current
for the water. If there be any difficulty in judging of such, take an
opportunity after some sudden rain, or the breaking up of a great snow
in winter, and you shall see plainly which way the ground casts; for the
water will take the true fall, and run accordingly.
The condition of the place must determine the quantity of ground to be
covered with water. I should propose in all, fifteen acres in three
ponds, or eight acres in two, and not less. And these ponds should be
placed one above another, so as the point of the lower may almost reach
the head or bank of the upper; which will be very beautiful, as well as
profitable, as will appear afterwards.
The head or bank, which, by stopping the water in its current, is to
raise the water, and so make a pond, must be built with the clay and
earth taken from the pan or hollow dug in the lowest ground above the
bank; and that pan should be shaped as half an oval, whereof the flat
comes to the bank, and the longer diameter runs square from it.
But were there not need of earth for this purpose, it were better to
leave the natural soil for the fish to feed upon. I shall give the reason
afterwards, and consider the manner of raising and fortifying the bank
particularly.
_Of the Manner of the making and raising Pond-Heads._
It is obvious, that if you make a dam cross a valley or swamp, where at
any time after, the water runs, it will produce a pond; and as the bank
or dam is higher at the point or center, which is against the lowest
ground, so much is the pond deeper; and if the hills on each side rise
steep and quick, the water stopped will cover less ground than if they
rise slow.
Now first, for making the bank or head, you must be sure it is tight, and
that it do not sew or leak, as it will certainly do, if it be composed
of mere earth; therefore a bed or wall of clay, the whole length of the
bank, must be carried up with good ramming, from a foot or two below the
surface of the ground, to such height as you propose the water shall
stand.
If you do not give the bed of clay this foundation, the water lying under
a great weight from the depth of it, will work itself underneath, so
allow a spit or two at least for it. Then, as you ram the clay, you must
be sure that earth be brought to carry the bank up with it, or else the
sun will search and crack it, which is of pernicious consequence; so when
it is come to its full height, close and cover it with earth immediately,
lest the inconvenience happens.
You must allow three feet to the breadth of this bed of clay, and raise
it to the height you intend the water shall stand, and lay earth three
feet higher; two feet would have served, but that the allowance of one
at least must be made for the sinking of the bank; for it will do so
notwithstanding the pressing of tumbrels, horses, and men working upon it.
If you project many stews, or other ponds to be sunk right down about
the same time, you will have great advantage by the clay you take out of
them, which will be much more than is necessary for the bed, and that may
fortify the bed, by being pressed down by the tumbrels on each side of
it; and so the bank will be very much confirmed, and it will also save
breaking of ground within the pond, which is a great advantage in the
feed of the fish.
_The Dimensions of Pond-Heads._
The dimensions of these banks are governed by the manner of the hills
rising; for if it be quick, then, to cover a competent quantity of
ground, you must raise the bank higher, and consequently it must be made
stronger, than when the ground riseth slow, so as a moderate height
shall cast the water upon ground enough. And of this there will be
great difference; for in some places, ten feet high shall cover as much
as twenty feet in others. And this will be easily discovered by the
water-level, used according to art, whereby you may stake the water-line
upon the ground to any height; and so you will fix the determinate height
of the bank.
I will suppose a medium, and that a bank, fourteen feet high at the
center, will cover the quantity of ground. Then you must make your bank
at the foot at least fifty feet wide, and so straitening by equal degrees
on either side, bring it to sixteen at the top; and so you will have a
sufficient slope, and the bank will stand firm and durable, scarce to be
destroyed without as much pains and industry as made it.
By this proportion, pond heads of any dimension may be projected; the
matter is not so nicely circumstanced, that a little more or less
should signify. But it must be noted, that to make them too slight, is
the greatest error, and most to be avoided; let them be rather made
too strong, for then you have not only a more secure bank, but a more
beautiful walk, and more room for wheel-carriage, besides a capacity of
some wood; all which compensate the charge of what is superfluous.
_Of securing your Banks._
If the bank be well made, and in sufficient dimension, nothing can hurt
it, but great land-floods, or water-shots, which, if suffered to run over
the bank, will carry away the fish, which in a warm flood will rise, and
go with it to seek adventures, but also gurry holes in the back of the
bank, and weaken it so much, that if the flood continues, it shall carry
all away together.
For preventing of this mischief, there are two ways; 1. Grates at each
end of the bank, planted upon the level that is to be the highest of the
water. 2. Channels of diversion, which being taken so high in the current
as may lead the water upon the side of either hill above the bank, you
have the power to turn out all the water when you please, so that none
shall come upon the bank.
1. As to grates, the way of them is well known; however observe, that if
they be made of wood, the banks must be set diagonally, like window-bars;
for so rubbish stops least against them, and the water passeth freely.
And in regard you cannot allow any great distance between them for
keeping in the fish, you must help out the room by extending the grate
from each side of the cut in the bank where the water is to vent, some
considerable space from the bank, and there to meet in a point, forming
a triangle upon the bank. Here are many more slits for the water to vent
at, than if the grate lay flat upon the bank, covering the passage only.
And if need be, there may be doors to slide up and down, made in the
grate, to let the water pass more freely; but this endangereth losing the
fish. If you will afford iron for these grates, you need only cover the
passage of the bank; for the bars need not be so thick, but there will be
space enough for the water to vent at.
2. The channels for diverting the water are very useful in this and many
other respects; for they give you a perfect command of the water, and
you may turn it which way you please, so as to fill or keep dry any of
the ponds, and in a wet season are a perfect security. These should be
made four feet wide, and on each side of the ponds the loss of ground is
not considerable; for wood growing there will make amends for it.
The string of ponds in Hyde-Park are admirably disposed in this respect;
for the current of the valley is carried along by the side of all the
ponds, and may be let into any of them, or any may be emptied into it;
than which, there is not a greater command of water.
However carefully a bank is made, it is probable it will sew a little at
first; but this should be no discouragement; for by the settling of the
earth, it will continually grow higher, and in a few years, if made with
tolerable care, be as firm as a rock.
_Of Sluices._
These are very requisite to the good command of a water, and though
very ordinarily used, yet require an experienced carpenter to make and
fix them as should be, especially in great waters; and such as have not
experience, shall err most grossly in this work. They must be framed so
as to stand firm, that the force of any thrust, or a boat’s running
against them, may do no prejudice to them: for if they are any thing
strained, they are apt to prove leaky; and in so great an height as is
needful for deep waters, a small matter will do it, unless they are
extraordinarily well abutted.
The timber-work must be heart of oak, especially the top, and that all of
one piece, how long soever it be; and the vent hole must be guarded with
large boxes perforated so as the water, but no fish, may pass. And all
this well framed, and what is under ground extraordinarily rammed with
clay, else it will be apt to leak.
The use of these is very great: for if a great water must be emptied,
you must either apply engines, cut the bank, or draw a sluice. As for
engines, they are too chargeable, and puzzling to fix; however, I may
propose to them that are lovers of art, some facile ways of lifting
great quantities of water. Then, if you cut the bank, the passage is
interrupted and made troublesome by the earth, and you shall scarce ram
it up so well again, but it will perpetually leak about the place where
the fissure was; but sluices vent the water certainly, though slowly,
without any labour, charge, or inconvenience.
_Of the Manner of working to raise a Pond-Head._
Now, as for the manner of raising this bank, which I think is the only
chargeable work you have, I shall give some light into the way of
working, so as to abridge the expence as much as may be. The advantage of
trades, is, that by continual experience, they find nearer ways of doing
things, spending fewer strokes, and less time, than others can. And in
the conduct of this work, there is much to be saved; every man’s reason
leads him to contrive compendiums of business, as I have done in the
disposition of my waters; which experience of mine may save others the
thought, as well as loss by making their own experiments.
When you have projected your work, for which the latter end of June,
or the beginning of May, is the best time, take the assistance of your
neighbours, and provide yourself with six tumbrels, four good horses, and
two stout labourers, besides the driver to each pair of tumbrels. I call
them pairs, because they work alternately with the same horses; so that
one is filling, while the other is moving, and your labourers, as well as
horses, are always at work.
The first work to be done, is, the taking up the first spit of earth
where the bank is to be, and from the pan of the pond, and to lay it by
for the uses I shall declare hereafter.
Then lay down your sluice, with trunks sufficient to convey the water
through the head or bank. This must be done at the deepest part of the
ground, which probably will fall in the center of the bank. This will
employ two pair of tumbrels and four labourers, for digging and fetching
of clay, besides four labourers to ram it, which must be, as was said,
very well done. And the carpenter, who beforehand hath fitted his work,
must attend also one whole day to help in the laying it down, and to see
it well rammed.
The next day’s work may be the employment of two pair of tumbrels in
fetching of clay, and four or five good labourers to ram the foundation
of the bed of clay. And I suppose this may rise a foot in one whole day’s
work, more or less, as the length of the head is. Clay riseth stiff, and
for that, if it riseth near, as in the pan of the pond, three labourers
to a pair of tumbrels, are requisite to dig and fill, otherwise the
horses will be idle, and want work as well as the rammers.
The day after employ four pair of tumbrels more, to fetch earth out of
the pan of the pond to lay along the bank on each side of the bed of
clay, the whole length of the head; and to this work, two labourers for a
pair of tumbrels are enough.
Here you must lay on six labourers at least, to ram the bed of clay, and
spread earth upon the bank, so that it may be done as fast as the six
tumbrels supply it; and by this means the bank and bed of clay will rise
together.
Thus you proceed till the bank is finished, which will rise faster as
you come nearer the top, and so will somewhat alter the employment of
the tumbrels and men, which you must conform in proportion accordingly.
And observing these directions, you may make two ponds in one month
(supposing the weather propitious), which shall be three, four, or five
acres apiece, as the ground gives, and not expend in money above eighty
pounds, although you pay for every hour’s work of man and horse.
But considering that a gentleman is supposed to intend this business, not
only as a care, but an entertainment, he will not suffer his own servants
and horses to be without a share of it; and then I cannot imagine which
way he can expend above sixty pounds, supposing labourers work for twelve
pence per day, which I cannot say they will do in all countries.
The third pond may be a work of another year; and if the ground lies
fair for it, that is, much upon a level, I would not be without it; for
it will add much to the ornament of your estate, because it will fill up
a range or string of waters, which two do not; and besides contribute
vastly to the increase of fish, as I shall shew; and I press this thing
the rather, because without it, in the method I propose, you will have
the use of but one pond as to water every year. Nay, were not œconomy,
and saving charge, one great branch of my design, I should recommend more
of these waters, if the place will receive them.
And to demonstrate the charge is not so very great, compared with the
other expences gentlemen are at for their diversion, without any return
of profit, as to deter any from undertaking this particular work; I
must remember, that once, at the command of my Lord North, I did, as I
have directed, proceed to the making one great pond, and one stew, at
Catledge, which are still to be seen, but neglected; and besides, the
regard to profit by the fish they would maintain and supply, the very
ornament of them was worth the charge. I was limited to ten pounds,
besides the work of his lordship’s horses, which I compute to be four
pounds more; so the whole did not cost fifteen pounds, and yet a full
acre of ground lay under water, and all was completed in twelve days. His
lordship would not allow the laying down a sluice, else that water was a
specimen of my proposition, as well for the conduct, as the charge of the
work.
_Of Auxiliary Waters._
As a great garrison must have many subservient forts and redoubts
dispersed about the place, for securing the country, and collecting the
contributions, which are to maintain the head-quarters; so the great
ponds, which are the head-quarters of the fish, must be accommodated
with many other subservient waters, which I call auxiliary, because they
serve to relieve the greater when over stocked, to supply them when under
stocked, and to rear up and maintain fry and young stores, as well as to
render the fish easy to be taken; without which conveniences, you will
have but a sorry account of the fish.
There are stews, moats, and ordinary ponds dispersed about in your estate
and neighbourhood; the employment of which being very considerable in the
well ordering of fish, I will consider each apart; and first, of stews.
_Of Stews._
The peculiar use of these, is, to maintain fish for the daily use of your
house and friends, whereby you may with little trouble, and at any time,
take out all or any fish they contain; therefore it is good to place them
in some inclosed grounds near the chief mansion-house. Some recess in a
garden is very proper, because the fish are fenced from robbers, and your
journey to them is short and easy, and your eye will be often upon them,
which will conduce to their being well kept, and they will be an ornament
to the walks.
If you have two great waters of three or four acres apiece, I do advise,
that you be not without four stews, of two rods wide and three rods long
apiece. The way of making these, is, by cutting the sides down somewhat
sloping, and carrying the bottom in a perpetual decline from end to end,
so as you may have a convenient mouth, such as horse-ponds usually have,
for taking out your nets when you draw for fish.
If you have ground enough, it is better to make a mouth at both ends, and
the deepest part in the middle; for so you may draw your nets backwards
and forwards, losing less time, and the fish will not have such shelter,
as the depth under a head will be. Besides this, you will find the fish
will delight themselves in coming upon the shoals, and it may be, thrive
better. But for this manner you must allow at least a rod of ground in
length more than for the other.
These I intend for carps chiefly, though not absolutely; and if you find
the tench and perch increase and prosper, you may make other lesser stews
to accommodate them apart, if you please; and so you will have them at
command, without disturbing the other fish; only observe this by the way,
that perch will scarce live in stews and small waters, if the weather be
hot, but will pine, grow lean and thin, if not die; therefore the stews
are to be their winter-quarters; from whence you take them for the use of
your table, but in summer translate them to the greater ponds.
These stews being designed at the same time you raise the pond-heads,
will be done almost under the same charge, as is hinted elsewhere: and
once made, you have the fish at a minute’s warning ready for the kettle,
or any other use; which convenience is the great end of all the charge
and pains, and without it, you are not a master of fish.
_Of Moats._