[63] POND CULTURE. ^29 



Which in the given time can in the stock ponds be developed to mar- 

 ketable fish, It would be impossible to derive the greatest possible in 

 come from the pond farm. Still more serious difBculties would arise if 

 the number and size of the winter ponds were not in due proportion to 

 the number of fish which are to be wintered ; and to avoid entire failure 

 a sufficient area of winter ponds would have to be obtained at any price' 

 or if this is impossible, the raising ponds should be so arranged that 

 fish can be wintered in them. This latter measure, however, would 

 always have to be considered as a mere make-shift, and the lack of 

 winter ponds would still make itself felt. A pond farm without winter 

 ponds does not deserve to be called well regulated, and will never yield 

 the profit which otherwise might justly have been expected from the 

 given pond area. 



An undue proportion of the spawning ponds to the other ponds will 

 prove of serious consequences to pond culture, as it might be impossible 

 to raise the required quantity of young fry ; while a surplus of young 

 fry will not occasion any difficulty, as in most cases they can be sold to 

 advantage or prove useful by supplying food for the fish of prey in the 

 stock ponds. It will, therefore, be better under all circumstances to 

 produce an excess of young fry than run the risk of having too small a 

 supply. In the latter case, it is true, the necessary supply of young 

 fry may be obtained by buying some from other pond farms, but these 

 bought fish may frequently not answer the purpose in every respect, and 

 possibly they cannot be obtained in the neighborhood, and would have 

 to be brought from a distance at a considerable expense; all of which 

 would again result in causing the pond farm to yield much less income 

 than might otherwise have been expected. If the spawning pond should 

 be too small to hold the quantity of young fry to be expected from the 

 spawners and milters placed in them, this difficulty may be obviated to 

 some extentby usingoueorthe other of the raisin^r ponds occasionally as 

 a spawning pond, but even at best this is a somewhat irregular proceed- 

 ing, and its consequences will be more or less injurious to pond culture 

 The usefulness of an excess of young fry, however, also has its limits,' 

 and It would not contribute to the success of a pond farm, if one 

 should be compelled to use a disproportionately large pond as a spawn- 

 mg pond; for, if it was to be stocked with spawners according to its area 

 a large portion of the young fry to be looked for could not be put to 

 any use. In order to derive tbe greatest possible benefit from such a 

 pond it will have to be used both as a spawning and as a raising pond, 

 which again would be more or less injurious to the spawn and young fry! 

 It will therefore be evident that wherever the relations as to size of 

 the different kinds of ponds are not as they should be, a greater or less 

 injury to the pond farm and a diminished income will be the conse- 

 quence. This injury will grow from year to year, and finally become 

 serious enough to ruin the entire pond farm. 



Although it is impossible to lay down strictly binding rules as to the 

 H. Mis. 68 34 



