58 BULLET FN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



hatched, sets them outin the most suitable phices. This steamer also goes 

 out tosea and hatches millions and millions of the finest salt-water fish. 

 With all our piscicultural efforts we must confess that we felt very small 

 when viewing this grand American exhibit; and the magnificent results 

 obtained in America are a sufficient guarantee that this is no "Ameri- 

 can humbug." For the present we can certainly do no better than to 

 strain every nerve and imitate the example set us by the Americans. 



PEAT-BOOS AH FISH-PONDS.* 



[From " Oesterreichisch-Ungarische Fisclierei-Zeitimg," volume IV/ No. 1, Vienna, 



January 1, 1881. 



The proi)rietor of the establishment Ficlithof near Stettin has shown 

 how easily and with what little expense fish-ponds can be made, and 

 how well it pays to stock them with young fish; for his pond, with an 

 area of one-fourth acre, not only supplies his large family with food, but 

 also yields him a very fair revenue. ]^ine years ago he commenced to 

 dig peat from a very barren piece of ground. The peat was found to 

 rest on a layer of lime, which he likewise utilized. When the spring- 

 water began to overflow the ground, he got a i^eat-raising machine, with 

 which he took out all the lime and peat. The very first year, this 

 thoroughly exhausted peat-bog and lime-pit was stocked with one-year 

 old pike, i^erch {Perca flitviatilis), bleak, tench, and bastard carps 

 {Cyprinus carassius). During the first five years these fish were well 

 protected; and four years ago he commenced to catch fish which were 

 fully matured and particularly fat. Thus he has, among other fish, 

 caught with a spear a very fat pike weighing 9J pounds, which cer- 

 tainly must have been one of the fish with which the pond was stocked 

 in the beginning, which shows that it had increased about one pound 

 in weight per year. The pond in question has now an area of one-fourth 

 acre and an average depth of 12 feet. The banks are very steep down 

 to the bottom, and the water is spring- water, which, through subterra- 

 nean channels, comes from the neighboring pine forest of Leha. The 

 water flows off' through a draining ditch ; but fish cannot escape in that 

 way, as the outflowing water has not sufficient depth. The pond seems 

 to contain an abundance of fish-food. The water rests on the charac- 

 teristic lake-bottom ; the steep banks, going from bottom to top, show 

 first a layer of marshy peat about 6 inches thick and utterly worthless; 

 on this rests the marsh-line — a mass of sweet- water shells — 3 feet thick ; 

 next comes a layer of very valuable peat, 7 feet thick, and on the top 

 of this a layer of drift sand, 2 feet thick, overgrown with grass. The 

 sides of the pond therefore contain lime, peat, and sand. From these 

 sides, perhaps also from the supply of forest water entering the pond 

 through subterranean channels, the fish obtain their food ; for they are 



*Torfgruben als Fishteiche.— Translated by Herman Jacobson. 



