Natural history of British fishes : their structure, economic uses and capture by net and rod, cultivation of fish-ponds, fish suited for acclimatisation, artificial breeding of salmon / by Frank Buckland.

  • Francis Trevelyan Buckland
Date:
[pref. 1880]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Natural history of British fishes : their structure, economic uses and capture by net and rod, cultivation of fish-ponds, fish suited for acclimatisation, artificial breeding of salmon / by Frank Buckland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    A WORM NURSERY. Savage. The business of worm-selling has been going on some ten years, and is gradually increasing. The worms are not counted out, but are guessed at. Mr. Wells gives good measure. A member of the Piscatorial Society told me that he once counted out one of Wells’s “ thousand worm bags.” He found he had 300 worms over. Nottingham worms are well known in all angling localities. Last year he sent to London alone the large number of 400,000 worms. The ]price varies much. They average 3s. 6d. per 1,000. The worms are principally used for barbel-fishing. Not only does Mr. Wells collect worms, but he also breeds them in considerable quantities. In his garden is a special heap made of vegetable matter, expressly for the purpose of breeding worms. I shall not, of course, say what substance for worm-breeding is most favour- able : this is a professional secret. On turning the heap over where the worms are bred, it was very inte- resting to see the worms in various stages of growth. Mr. Wells knows from experience pretty well what the age of a worm is. I had the pleasure of pointing out to him the eggs of the worm. These are about three lines long, and somewhat oval. They have a sort of lid at each end, which opens when the young are liberated. I believe that two young are sometimes produced from the same egg. I think my readers will agree with me that Mr. Wells’s business in his worm farm is quite unique. I wish him every success, and the patronage of all anglers.
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