MAKING FISH PONDS, &C. 85 



The condition of ilic place must cleteniiiiie the 

 quantit}' of the ground to be covered with water. 

 For exacnple, I may propose in all fifteen acres 

 in three ponJs, or eiglit acres in two, and not 

 less ; and these ponds should be placed one above 

 another, so as the point of the lower may 

 almost reach the head or bank of the upper, 

 which contrivance is no less beautiful tlian advan- 

 tageous. 



The head, or bank, which by stopping the cur- 

 rent, is to raise the water, and so make a pond, 

 must be built w^ith the clay or earth taken out 

 of the pan or hollow, dug in the lowest ground 

 above the bank : the shape of the pan to be a 

 half oval, whereof the flat to come to the bank, 

 and the longer diameter to run square from it. 



For two large ponds, of three or four acres 

 apiece, it is advisable to have four stews, each 

 two rods wide, and three long. The stews are 

 usually in gardens, or near the house, to be more 

 handy and better looked to. The method of 

 making them, is to carry the bottom in a conti- 

 nual decline from one end, v/ith a mouth to fa- 

 vour the drawing them with a net. 



It is proper to cast in bavins in some places not 

 for from the sides, in the most sandy spots, for 

 the fishes to spawn upon, aod to defend the young 

 fry, especially the spawn of carps and tench. 



