Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/788

 FIS

no

FIS

'■pons, ana tenches will feea as well 5 but Perch are not for a Stew in Feeding-time. ,

a°. As to the benefits ffor redound from the keeping of Fifh, befides furnifhing your Table for your Friends, and ralfing Money; your Land will be vaftly improv'd, fo as to be really worth, and yield more this way, than by any other Employment whatfoever : For fuppofe a Meaclowof 2 L per Acre: four Acres in Pond, will return every Tear a thou- sand fed Carps, from the leaft Size, to fourteen or fifteen Inches long; befides Pikes, Perch, Tench, and other Fry : The Carps are faleable, and will bring 6 d. yd. and per- haps \%d. a piece, amounting in all ro 25/. which is 6 1. 5 s. per Acre.

FISH-GARTH, according to Skinner, fignifies an En- gine, to take Fifh ; but it feems rather to fignify the Dam or Wear in a River, where thefe Engines are laid and ufed.

For Garth, in the North, is ftill ufed for a Back-fide, or Hornefted.

Visn-Glue, fee Ichthyocoela.

Fisn- i Ponds, Refervoirs of Water* for the Breeding, Feeding, and Prefe'rving of Fifh.

For thefe < Po?zds, 'tis agreed, thofe Grounds are beft, which are full of Springs, and apt to be moorifh : The one breeds them well, and the other preferves them from being flolen.

The Situation of the Pond is alfd to be cenfider'd, and the Nature of the Currents that fall into it ; likewife, that it be refrefh'd with a little Brook, or with the Rain-water that falls from the adjacent hilly Ground. Add, that thole Ponds, which receive the Stale and Dung of Horfes and other Cattle, breed the largeft and fatteft Fifh.

In making the Pond, obferve that the Head be at the loweft Part of the Ground; and that the Trench of the Flood-gate or Sluice have a good fwift Fall, that it may not be too long a emptying.

If the Pond carry fix Foot of Water, it is enough ; but it bufi be eight Foot deep, to receive the Frefh.es and Rains that mould fall into it.

It would aho be advantageous to have Shoals on the Sides, for the Fifh to fun themfelves in, and lay their Spawn on ; befides in other Places, certain Holes, hollow Banks, Shelves, Roots of Trees, Iflands, &c. to ferve as their Retiring Peaces. Confider farther, whether your Pond be a Breeder; if fo, never expecl any large Carps from thence; the Great- nels of the Number of Spawn overstocking the Pond.

For large Carps, a Store- Pond is ever accounted the bed; and to make a Breeding- Pond become a Store-Pond, fee what Quantity of Carps it will contain: Then put in all Milters, or all Spawners ; whereby in a little Time you may have Carps that are both large, and exceeding fat. Thus, by putting but one Sex, there is an Impoffibility of the In- creafe of them ; yet the Roach will notwithstanding multi- ply abundantly.

Referve fome great Waters for the Head-Quarters of the JFiJh, whence you may take, or wherein you may put any Quantity thereof. And be fure have Stews and other auxi- liary Waters, fb as you may convey any Part of the Stock from one to the other; la, to lofe no Time in the Growth of the Fijh, but employ the Water, as you do your Land, to the beft Advantage.

View the Grounds, and find but fome Fall between the Hills, as near a Flat as may be, fo as to leave a proper Current for the Water : If there be any Difficulty in judg- ing of fuch, take an Opportunity after fome fudden Rain, or the breaking up of a great Snow in Winter, and you'll plainly fee which way the Ground cafts ; for the Water will take the true Fall, and run accordingly.

The Condition of the Place muft determine the Quan- tity of Ground to be cover'd with Water. For Example, we may well propofe in all fifteen Acres, in three Ponds ; or eight Acres in two, and not lefs: And thefe Ponds mould be plac'd one above another, fo as the Point of the lower may aim oft reach the Head or Bank of the upper; which Contrivance is no lefs beautiful, than advantageous.

The Head, or Bank, which by flopping the -Current, is to raife the Water, and lb make a Pond, muft be built with the Clay and Earth taken out of the Pan, or Hollow, dugg in the loweft Ground above the Bank ; and that Pan mould be fhap'd as an half Oval, whereof the Flat comes to the Bank, and the longer Diameter runs fquare from it. See Banks for Fifh-ponds i and Vontf-Heads.

Royal Fishes, fee Royal Fijhesi

Fishes, in Aftronomy, fee Pisces;

Fishes, in Heraldry* are of themfelves of lafs Efteefn, in a Coat Armour, than Beads and Fowls, as being pofte- fior thereto in the Order of Creation : But they fome times become fo dignified by the Perlbns or Families, who bear them, as to be preferable to many Birds, and Beafts.

Fifhes are bom divers ways, Upright, Imbowcd, Extended) Endorfed, Surmounted of each other 5 Fretted^ Trian- gledj &fr

All Fijhes born Feeding, fhould be term'd ^Devouring.

Thofe born directly Upright, mould be term'd Ham l ant.

And thofe born Traverlc the Efcutcheon, Najant.

FISHERY, a commodious Place for Fiflnng ; or, a Place wherein great Quantities of Fifh are caught. See Fish, and Fishing.

The principal Fifheries of Europe, for Salmon, Herring, "Cod, and Mackarel, are along the Coafts of England ', Scot- land, and Ireland: For Whales, about Greenland: For <Pearls, in the Eaft and Weft Indies, &c.

The Fifhery makes a principal Branch of the Sritijh Commerce. A great Quantity of Veflcls and Seamen are employ'd therein ; and befide what is fpent st home, above 200000 Pounds Sterling is yearly recurn'd merely for Herring, and Cod, exported to Spain, Italy, feveral Parts of the Mediterranean, and Iflands of the Archipelago.

Yet are our Countrymen reproach'd, and with a good deal of Juftice, for their Remifsnefs in this Branch of Trade. The advantagious Situation of our Coalls might be of im- menfe Benefit to us, did not we let our Neighbours fhare with us therein. The Dutch, French, Hamburgers, &c. come yearly in huge Shoals, and not only take the Fifh from our own Doors ; but fell them us for our Money, when they have done.

Scotland fuffers incredibly on this Score: No Country in Europe can pretend to rival them in the Abundance ot the fineft Fifh, wherewith their numerous Harbours, Loughs, Rivers, &c. are incredibly ftored. In the River '2)ee, 'tis faid, an hundred and feventy Head of Salmon is not very extraordinary for a fingle Draught of Net : And the pickled Salmon fent hence, is allowed the beft in Europe. The Scottijb Iflands, efpecially thofe on the Weftern Side, do certainly lye moft commodioufly for carrying on the Fiftiing Trade to Perfection.

King Charles the Firft began the Experiment, in Con- junction with a Company of Merchants ; but the Civil Wars foon fet it afide. King Charles the Second made a like Attempt ■ but having preffing Occafion for Money, he was perfuaded. to withdraw, what he had employ'd in the Fi- fhery ; at which the Merchants* join'd with him, being dif- pleas'd, did the like.

Since the Union, feveral Efforts have been made, to re- trieve it; and there is now a Corporation fettled on that footing, called the Royal Britijh Fijhery, though now in a very languiihing Condition, and ready to fink.

Whale Fishery, or Greenland-FishiLRY,

This huge Fifh, we have elfewhere obferv'd, is chiefly caught in the North Sea. The largeft Sort are thofe about Spitzberg, fome of them amounting to two hundred Foot in length. Thole on the Coafts of America are about nine- ty, or hundred; and thofe on the Coafts of Guyenue, and the Mediterranean ^ the fmalleft of all. SeeWHALE.

The <Dutch have upwards of thefe hundred Years had the Whale Fifhery almoft to themfelves ; and it is now efteem'd one of the principal Branches of their flourifhing Trade: The chief Merchants of the feveral Provinces affociate them- felves into a Body, for the carrying it on; and fend every Year a great Fleet of Veffels to the North Seas for the pur- pofe. They attempted to make their firft Eftablifhments in Greenland ; but not fucceeding, they have fince fix'd their Fifhery about the Weftern Coaft of Spitzberg ; from the Latitude of 76 Deg. 40 Min. to 80 Deg.

This prefent Year 1725. the Englifh South-Sea Company have begun to fhare it with them ; and by the extraordi- nary Succefs they met withal in their firft Attempt, beyond any of their Neighbours, will no doubt be induced to per- fift in it.

To give fome Idea of the Manner and Importance of this Trade, we fhall here fubjoin the IDifcipline, of a long Time obferv'd in the Whale Fifhery ; the Method of Fifh- ing ; the Cargo and Equifage of a VefTel ; and the 'Fro- duce thereof.

The iDifcipline is adjufted by a (landing Regulation, con- fifting of twelve Articles ; the principal whereof, are :

That in cafe a Fifhing VefTel be fhipwrack'd, and the Captain and Crew faved, the next "VefTel they meet, fhall take them in ; and the fecond VefTel take half of them from the firft : But that no VefTel fhall be oblig'd to take . any of the Loading of a VefTel fliipwrack'd : That what Efrecls of a fhipwrack'd VefTel, which are abfolutely relin- quifh'd, an other Captain fhall find, and take up, upon his Arrival in Holland he fhall account for one Half of them to the Proprietors of the fhipwrack'd VefTel, clear of all Ex- pences : That if the Crew defert a fhipwrack'd VefTel, they fhall have no Claim to any of the Effects faved; but the whole fhall go to the Proprietor ; but if they be prefent, when the Efte&s are faved, and amft therein, they fhall have one Fourth thereof: That if a Perfon kill a Fifh ori r any
 * he lee, it fliall be reputed his own, fo long as he leaves