POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



717 



objects were formed by easting in molds. 

 Hammering was but little practiced, except- 

 ing apparently in the formation of sheet- 

 gold, which was probably an indigenous prod- 

 uct. Repousse work is not found, save as 

 represented in the crimping and indenting of 

 gold-leaf. Engraving and carving were not 

 practised. It may be deemed certain that 

 gilding, or at least plating, was understood. 



Fish-pondSi — The making and mainte- 

 nance of fish-ponds is one of the arts in 

 which man — at least until within a dozen 

 years past — has not advanced. It was bet- 

 ter and more extensively cultivated in an- 

 tiquity and the middle ages than now. And 

 there is still no better authority on the sub- 

 ject than Bi.-ihop Dubravius, of Olmutz, of 

 the sixteenth century. He advised a regu- 

 lar draining of ponds, and cropping them 

 with vegetables and grain in alternation with 

 the fish. He would have three ponds, with 

 a three years' rotation of vegetable crops, 

 grown and breeding fish, and fry, so that 

 the proprietor would always have a crop of 

 vegetables growing in one pond, yearling fry 

 in another pond, and breeders with the fish 

 fattening for the market in the third. Cap- 

 tain Milton P. Pierce, of the American Carp 

 Cultural Association, recommends draining 

 the ponds every spring as early as the 

 weather will permit, to promote the growth 

 of aquatic vegetation, and another draining 

 in October for the purpose of assorting the 

 carp. He uses three ponds, all at the same 

 time for fish, but does not advocate the rota- 

 tion and planting system of Dubravius. 

 Opinions differ as to the expediency of al- 

 lowing trees to grow along the margins of 

 fish-ponds. They harbor insects and so con- 

 tribute to the supply of food, but their fall- 

 ing leaves are litter and make the water un- 

 pleasant. Frank Buckland recommended 

 the hanging of a dead cat or rabbit over the 

 pond, to be a nursery for " gentles " — plain- 

 ly maggots — which would fall into the pond 

 and afford excellent food for the fish. The 

 presence of ducks is of great advantage, for 

 they dig up the mud in the bottom, exposing 

 the organic life it contains, and also increase 

 the insect-breeding capacity of the mud — all 

 helping to furnish the fishes' dinner-tables. 

 A similar effect follows allowing cattle to 

 come and stand in the ponds. The ponds 



should not be too deep, and large ponds 

 have several drawbacks which are absent 

 from small ones. There are advantages 

 and disadvantages about having a stream 

 run through the pond ; hence it may be well 

 to arrange so that the stream can be turned 

 on or carried around at will. A " collector " 

 — a wooden box, four feet deep by five 

 square, sunk flush with the pond, with a per- 

 forated inner box that can be drawn up — is a 

 convenient appendage. When the pond 

 sluice is opened, the fish will go into the 

 deepest water, which is in this collector, 

 whence they can be drawn out and sorted. 

 The collectors also may supply the place of 

 the deep retiring holes which fish are fond 

 of resorting to. Some breeders furnish a 

 hedge in the pond as a shelter. A fattening 

 tank affords a convenient means of securing 

 a constant supply of fish ready for the table 

 and easy to be caught. To supply food for 

 the fish, Herr Fruwirth, of Austria, has 

 pools and ditches with stagnant water and 

 aquatic plants, wherein all kinds of insects 

 etc., breed, which he turns into the ponds 

 from time to time. Dr. Kclsen, of Oxford, 

 has discovered that the animalcuke bred in 

 water containing decayed vegetable matter 

 are eagerly devoured by the young fry. 

 Captain Milton Pierce says that nursery 

 ponds in good condition and provision will 

 support from one thousand to fifteen hundred 

 yearling carp per acre area of water. Stock 

 ponds, in like condition, will support five 

 hundred two-year-old carp per acre. Larger 

 stocks should not be permitted. Only one 

 kind of fish should be allowed in the pond 

 at a time. Where there are many varieties, 

 they come to little good, and eat one an- 

 other up. 



Watering the Floors as a PreveutiYe 

 of Coal-Mine Explosions. — Mr. W. Galloway, 

 believing that coal-dust is a very active 

 cause of mine explosions, and usually even 

 a more important factor than gas, recom- 

 mends watering or simply dampening the 

 floors of mines as an efficient preventive of 

 them. In support of his theory he cites the 

 case of the explosion of the Pochin colliery, 

 in November, 1884, where the flame, which 

 had been very powerful, was found to have 

 been arrested by a slight dampness — such 

 only as was caused by the casual leakage 



