13 



in the ponds. No use of artificial food is made, though 

 to any one conversant with the pond culture of 

 fresh- water fishes it appears certain that such a practice 

 would very greatly increase the success of this industry : 

 it is obvious that a very large proportion ol the fry ad- 

 mitted to the ponds is devoured by the stronger among 

 the bass and eels, and were a sufficiency of suitable arti- 

 ficial food added to the dietary of the fish, cannibalism 

 would be reduced, fatter and larger fish grown and a 

 greater quantity reared to maturity. It happens how- 

 ever that existing methods give fairly remunerative re- 

 sults and the fish-farmers are therefore satisfied to leave 

 methods as they are. 



During their early days in the ponds and as long as 

 warm weather continues, the fry frequent the shallows 

 where they keep together in shoals, usually affecting the 

 sunny side. On the approach of winter the mullet and 

 the bass seek out retreats in the deeper parts of the 

 ponds, while the eels burrow into the mud. The mullet 

 espec'ally suffer severely from any considerable lowering 

 of the temperature and to protect these fishes in parti- 

 cular the deep wintering ponds already described are 

 constructed whenever the proprietor can afford them ; 

 in the case of very small farms where the stock of fish 

 held does not justify the expense ol such special provi- 

 sion, deep holes are dug here and there in the bottom of 

 the ponds and these are found to furnish a satisfactory 

 alternative when the protection of a limited number of 

 fish is in question. 



On the farms where wintering ponds are provided 

 special operations of great delicacy have to be undertaken 

 in order to herd the fishes into their cold-weather 

 quarters. This is effected with the aid of water gates 

 which are interposed between the various sections 

 of the series of ponds. The procedure is similar to that 

 employed in the attraction and capture of fry for stock, 

 but is much more difficult to conduct owing to the 

 smaller volume of water dealt with. First the level of 

 water in the shallow summer ponds is reduced to the 

 utmost by running out as much water as possible through 

 the sea-sluices at low tide, the doors between the summer 

 and winter ponds being closed the while. When no 

 more water can be got rid of, the sea-sluices are shut. 



