418 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Asa matter of usefulness a pond on each farm will pay interest on 

 cost of construction aside from fish culture. I filled my inclosure last 

 winter with about 14 tons of ice in less than a day, whereas it would 

 have taken more than two days to have taken it from any other waters 

 near me; also, by constructing a gate, flume, and sheep-box for wash- 

 ing sheep, two men and a boy washed well one hundred and one sheep 

 this spring in four and a half hours, thus saving three or four times the 

 expense of driving off of the farm for washing. In the near future 1 

 propose putting down a hydraulic ram to supply my buildings with water. 



In the month of August, 1863 or 18(54, I placed in my then new pond 

 240 trout caught in Roaring Brook and Kellam's Creek, differing in 

 color, of course, according to the color of the bottom of the streams 

 from which they were taken. There were in the pond an abundant 

 supply of placesof refuge for the smaller trout. The lot varied from 3 to 8 

 inches in length. I then commenced feeding them on liver, veal, beef, 

 mutton, and some angle-worms. In September and October they made 

 beds around gravelly shores, and I have reason to believe they hatched 

 more young fish than they devoured. The next summer, in June, the 

 indications of increase were quite apparent, notwithstanding an over- 

 flowing of the pond by which many escaped, caused by a sudden heavy 

 shower and too small a waste wier. The next season I began to catch 

 a moderate supply for the table, and they were flavorless brook trout. 

 The next season 1 drew the pond down to dry the banks for cultivation 

 on the 25th of June, and on the 5th of July shut the gate. The sun 

 was excessively hot, and when the water began to run over, about the, 

 8th, it looked milky, and in less than ten days I experienced a loss of 

 about .3,500 trout, without one living one being left. Many persons 

 thought they were poisoned by evil persons, which might have easily 

 been done, as when trout get accustomed to being fed they become ex- 

 ceedingly tame, and at meal time every fish puts in an appearance; but 

 it seems much more likely to me that the banks had, from the excessive 

 heat, become putrid and poisoned the water, which poisoned the fish, 

 and when once affected in that way all the pure water in the world will 

 not restore them. 



I then had learned that fish, especially trout, needed a different pond, 

 and determined in the near future to rebuild, but, to await a convenient 

 time for that work, stocked the water with a few catfish. In a couple 

 of years I had enough in numbers to supply a dozen family ponds, but 

 they never grew to any practical size; and the third year after putting in 

 the catfish I put in 84 white suckers, in the spring of the year. After 

 retaining them and the catfish together two winters, and having trouble 

 with the muskratsboth winters, I scuttled the dam, took out 40 suckers, 

 all told, about double the size that they were when put in, and let the 

 catfish go down stream, and gave them one whole year's time to be 

 sure they all escaped. They are nocturnal in their habits and will de- 

 stroy other fish that stop at nights. 





