CULTURE OF THE CARP. 553 



are still well preserved, on account of the practical plan upon which 

 they were constructed. A heavy pine tree, more rarely an oak one, was 

 simply dug out in such a way that it was hollow four feet from the 

 butt, and for the rest of its length was hewn out trough-shaped, and 

 covered with heavy cross-boards. It was supplied with a round hole 

 near the butt from which a tap projected at right angles. This was laid 

 as a discharging-pipe beneath the dam, the latter beiug formed, on the 

 side toward the pond, of planks or hewn timber, over the middle of the 

 hollow portion of the log, which was four feet long, as before stated. In 

 order to prevent the loss of fish, when the water was drawn off, screens 

 were placed at the tap and tap-hole. The dam was then banked up high 

 enough to cause the water to overflow upon a piece of gently-sloping 

 meadow-land. Flood-gates could therefore be dispensed with, it being 

 only necessary to see that the water never passed over the dam. If 

 this was sodded at first, and the pond did not remain dry too long, it 

 never leaked, since moles and rats only penetrated dams when the ponds , 

 were dry. Strong streams should not be led into such dams unless the 

 escape for the water around them is well situated, otherwise it may be 

 washed out, and afford an outlet for the water. 



The abandonment of a large number of these works occurred, chiefly, 

 between the years 1830 and I860, because it seemed more profitable to 

 convert the land into meadows or farming-land. Afterward the dams 

 necessarily disappeared entirely, as the land was drained and leveled. 

 The price of fish consequently advanced so high, on account of their 

 scarcity, th at those who had retained their ponds fouud their business very 

 profitable. In the last few years the larger farmers have turned their 

 attention again, with more earnestness, to this branch of production, but 

 skill and knowledge in regard to it have been lost, and such losses have 

 been suffered that it is absolutely necessary to consider the matter 

 practically and resort to exchanges of experience, since theory alone 

 does not answer. 



Three annual courses of spawn, fry, and table-carp mainly require 

 attention. How, then, are good eggs to be obtained ? Theory suggests 

 that a shallow pond be constructed which can be kept free from preda- 

 cious fish, and that about five males and five females, of at least five 

 pounds in weight to the acre, be placed in it in the spring, and that ten 

 to twelve young carp be added for chasing ; old carp are said to be too 

 inactive about spawning-time, and the more the water is disturbed the 

 better the eggs will be fertilized. The writer, in spite of having followed 

 these directions closely, obtained no eggs during the past year, but pur- 

 chased 108,000 from a relative, who, in consequence of inability to finish 

 his spawning-pond in time, had placed his eighteen spawning-carp in a 

 pond of twelve and one : half acres, among the fry, and some table-carp 

 that had been left. The fry also grew finely. 



The cause of the failure to obtain any eggs became very apparent. 

 When the pond was drawn off in the spring, before setting out the 



