F I S
The deeped part of the pond fhould be about fix foot* but the fides fhould be fhallower, that the fijh may have a place to fun themfelves, and lay their fpawn.
Carp and tench will live and thrive very well together in the fame pond. Where pike are kept, there fhould be roach or fome other quick breeding fifh to fupply them with food. Some think pike and tench may be kept in the fame pond. They imagine that pike will not feed upon tench, but they are miftaken, for the pike is fonder of this, than of almoft any other fijh. Ponds with clear gravelly and fandy bottoms are ufually the beft for breeding of jijh, and foul water with muddy bottoms, are the beft for them to fatten in. Carp have been known to grow in one year from five to eighteen inches long, in ponds where the water of the common lewers of any town have run into it.
The ordinary growth of a carp is not above two or three in- ches in that time, fo that all the excels is to be attributed to the fatnefs of the water of the fewers.
All fijh ponds fbould be drawn once in three or four years, and the fijh forted > if it be a breeding pond, the fmallery5/7; fhould be taken out to ftore other ponds with; and in feeding ponds,all the fijh fhould be kept as nearly as may be of a fize, for the larger and fmallcr never all thrive well together. Flounders will both thrive and breed in any pond, efpecially in a clay pond, and will be much larger than in rivers. Bitterns, herons, otters, water-rats and fea-gulls are all great deftroyers of fijh, and the ponds fhould be kept as clear as pof- fible of them i but the greateft of all deftru£tion in fijh- ponds is occafioned by frofts.
To remedy this, fomepropofeto break the ice and lay in pipes, ftraw and other things, to give air to the fifo, but all thefe fail when the ponds are foul ; but when they are clean, the fijh feldom fuffer any harm, be the froft ever fo long, and that tho' no holes be broken in the ice. The flench of foul wa- ter feems to be the occafion of the death of the jijh, in this cafe of its being lock'd up by frofts, and not the want of air. The cleaning of ponds frequently is of great ufe as well on this as on many other occafions; and it is done at no expence, becaufe the mud ferving as manure to the lands, more than pays the expence of taking it out.
When the ground is boggy and carts cannot come up to take the mud, it is beft to cut the ponds long and narrow in form of moats, that it may be thrown out at one tofs by the labour- ers in the clearing them, for if it require two toffes, the dif- ference will be juft the double price of labour. In fifhing for carp and tench, the morning and evening hours are the only ones for fuccefs. From four to eight in the morn- ing is the beft time of all ; afterwards from four in the after- noon, till fun-fet. In the middle of fummer, carp will rife to the furface of the water among the reeds, and may be caught with baits of large acorns, which they will readily take on the furface.
In March, April and September, the warmeft days are the beft for fifhing, and the bait mult be deep; for the jijh in thefe cool months lie near the bottom. In fly-fifhing it is al- ways obferved, that thejifh wilt rife beft after a fmall fhower of rain, that has juft beat down the flies upon the water with- out muddying it. March, April, May and June are the beft months for fly- fifhing, and the beft hours are about nine in the morning, and three or four in the afternoon ; in a ftill warm evening, they will bite as long as the day-light lafts, at thofe feafons when the gnats are feen moil plentifully about in the air.
In the extremity of heat when the earth is parched with drought there is but little fport to be expected in fifhing, in whatfoever water. In cold weather when there is a white hoary frofi in the morning, the fi/h will not bite kindly all day except in the evening, if that fhould prove ferene and warm. Too much wind is never convenient for fifhing, tho* a little is rather advantageous than otherwife. It is bad fifhing about fheep-fh earing time, in waters where the fheep are wafhed, for the fijl) glut themfelves in fuch a manner, with what is wafh'd from thefe creatures, that they will not take any bait till that feafon is over.
North and eaft winds are enemies to fifhing, and it is not right to fifh foon after the time of the fi/hes fpawning, for they are then fick and have no great appetite, fo that they do not bite readily. All Jijh have a natural fore-knowledge of a fhower of rain, and when clouds are coming on, that will fall in rain, they will not bite: the expert angler who is ufed to this, often efcapes being wet to the skin by it.
The fubterranean or underground fifhing of the lake Ribeska- jamnia, has been much talked of by thofe who have written of the Zirchnitzer fea, of which it is a part ; but on the whole it amounts to no more than this. The waters of this lake emp- tying themfelves thro' fubterranean paflages into another lake below, the whole body of the water, with the fifii in it, is firft received into a large opening, which conveys it into a fort of fubterranean bafon, in the bottom of which there are many holes, and thro' thefe the water is let out, but the jijh left be- hind. The people of the place who know this, defcend thro' the large hole into this fubterranean bafon with torches in their
FLA
hahds, and as the waters run off they fieze upon the fijh when- ever they can catch them. This fort of fifhing is attended with one inconvenience, for the people being obliged to ftand up to the middle more or lefs in the water, the horfe-leeches, which are extremely plentiful there, fieze upon their legs and other parts, and are only to be got off by fome perfoms mak- ing water upon the part ; the heat and naufeous tafte of the urine always making them let go their hold. Phil Tranf N°. 9 i.
FISSURES, in the hiftory of the earth, certain interruptions, that horizontally or parallely divide the feveral ftrata, of which the body of our terreftrial globe is compofed.
FISTUCA, in antiquity, an inftrument of wood ufed in driving piles, and fitted with two handles. It was either raifed with pullies fixed at the head of large beams, and then let fall again dire&Iy on the piles, or was wrought by the hand only. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. in voe.
FISTULA lachrymalis (Cycl.)— Dr. Hunauld has communicated fome thoughts on the operation of the fiflula lachrymalis, and propofes, that no tent fhould be put into the perforation of the os unguis, becaufe the tears will of themfelves keep it open. Phil. Tranf. N°. 437. Sea. 5.
Mr. Lamorier propofes to abridge the operation of the fiflula lachrymalis, and to fecure a pafl'age for the tears into the nofe. The os unguis is to be laid bare at the firft incifion, and pier- ced with a pair of ftrong, fharp-pointed and crooked forceps, and then the perforation dilated by opening the forceps. After the inflammation is over, a piece of fmall wax-candle, fhaped like a tent, is to be introduced by the wound into the nofe, and le- cured by the other dreffings. He continues the ufe of this bougie, till the paffage is made callous, and out of hazard of reuniting. After which he allows the external wound to cure. Medic. Eff. Edinb.
Mr. Petit, confiders the canals for the tears from the punila lachrymalia as a fyphon,. the longer leg of which is the nafal dudt, and therefore thinks, that a lhorter paffage made thro" the os unguis, would not convey away the tears; for which reafon he would always have the natural pafl'age forced open in the fiftitla lachrymalis, and a fmall bougie kept in it till it heals. Mem. Acad. Sciences, 1734.
Fistu la pulmonis, in anatomy, a term ufed by fome writers for the afpera arteria.
Fistula facra, in anatomy, is that part of the back bone which is perforated. Blancard.
Fistula urinaria, in anatomy, the fame with the urethra.
FITCHES, a name given by our farmers to a fott of pulfe which they fow in their fields. Many fuppofe it the fame with the tare, but erroneoufly: it is the chich or chich pea of authors. There are two principal kinds of this in ufe among us, the winter and the fummer fitch. The one is fown before win- ter and abides the extremity of it; the other is fown in fpring. They are propagated in the fame manner as peafe, and they make a very good and nourifhing food for cattle, whether given in the ftraw, or threfh'd out. They are fometimes fown only to improve the land. In this cafe, they are to be plow'd in, juft as they are beginning to bloffom, and in this manner they finely enrich a tough ftiff clay. Mortimer's Husbandry.
FITCHET, a name ufed in fome places for the weafel ; called al- io the fitcbel, and the foumart. See Mustela,
FITS (Cycl.) — Dr. Cheyne is of opinion that fits of all kinds, whether epileptic, hyfteric, or apopledtic, may be cured folely by a milk diet, of about two quarts of cow-milk a day, with- out any other food. Cheyne, Nat. Meth. of curing, p. 265. See Convulsions.
FIXED line of defence, a line drawn along the face of the baftion, and terminating in the curtain. See Defence. Cycl.
FLAG [Cycl.) — The fiag or flate ftone common in Northum- berland, and fome of the neighbouring counties, is called by fome CzrMe Jlag. It is a white fiffil ftone, eafily fplitting in- to thin plates, and is full of fmall fpangles of a fine glittering talc. It is alio common in Yorkfhire and the neighbouring places ; it varies a little in colour, being fometimes grey, fome- times brownifh, and fometimes merely whitifh. Its ftrata are very thick, but they eafily feparate into lamina of about half an inch thick, and the workmen feldom attempt to fplit it any thinner ; the uppermoft ftrata however grow gradually thinner, and the bottom ones are fo thick as not to be ufed for Hates. Thefe they raife however, and ufe for tanners fats, the pave- ments of floors, and cifterns for water.
Flags, in the military art, are fmall banners of diftinition ftuck in the baggage waggons of the army, to diftinguifh the baggage of one brigade from another ; and of one battallion from another; that they may be marfhalled by the waggon majler general according to the rank of their brigades, to avoid the confufion that otherwife might arife. Guillet.
FLAG-fiower, in botany. See Iris.
FLAIR, aboard a (hip. The feamen fay that the work doth fair- ever, when a fhip being houfed in near the water, a little above that the work hangs over a little too much, and fo is let out broader aloft than the due proportion will allow.
FLAIRS, in ichthyology, a name given by fome to the skaite. SeeSKAiTI and Raja. The
