[81] POND CULTURE. 547 



tlic water is still cold. Many jjoople hold a diilcreiit o])inioii, l)iit I 

 think thoy arc miistakeiij aud I shall state the icasoiis MJiy I think so: 

 TJie water of the Avinter pouds is warmer than that of the other ponds; 

 (1) ])ecause during the very coldest months many fish liavc been gath- 

 ered there; (-!) because most winter i»onds have so-called warm s])rings. 

 ]t is a remarkable fact that even during the most severe cold it will not 

 be safe to venture on the ice of such ponds ; (3) because, owing to their 

 location, they arc not so nuich exj)osed to the cold winds as the raising 

 ]»()nds, which are often entirely frozen, while the winter ponds ai'e still 

 free Ironi ice. 



"It must also be remembered that during winter the tish keep close 

 together, and ])r()bably communicate warmth to each other. If one oi" 

 the other oC the above causes exercises an intluence on the spawning of 

 the cari), which cannot be denied, it must be considered a great mistake 

 to transfer the spawning carp too early in the season from the winter 

 ]»onds to the spawning ponds. Even allowing that spawning is not en- 

 tirely prevented thereby, it maybe retarded. If the young fry are, as 

 th(^ saying is, as small as pluni-stones — an experience which every pond 

 culturist will have to make at some time or other — the cause of this will 

 ]»robably have to be sought in the circun)stauce that the spawning fish 

 were placed in the si)awning ponds too early in the season."* 



It is an undoul)ted fact that, owingto the causes given above, the wa- 

 ter of the winter ponds is warmer than that of the other ponds ; but I 

 am inclined to doubt that the fish communicate warmth to each other, 

 like warm-blooded animals, because they always have the temperature 

 of the element in which they live, and can therefore oidy communicate to 

 each other the tem])erature of the water which surrounds them. AVlien 

 the spawning carp are taken from the "winter ponds in order to be 

 jdaced in the spawning ponds, they should be once more carefully ex- 

 amined, and taken to the ponds and placed in them by thoroughly re- 

 liable persons. 



Ill trans])orting these fish great care should be exercised. The kegs 

 in whieh they are conveyed should be entirely tilled with water, so that 

 ! during the journey the fish cannot be knocked about and liurt. The 

 I fish should be placed in the kegs with the greatest possible care, one by 

 one, head foremost; and a keg having a capacity of five hectoliters 

 I should not hold more than 20 or 25 fish. The fish should be taken 

 'from the kegs with the same care, and one by one. The ])erson who 

 1 atteiMls to this should stay near the pond, until he has convinced him- 

 self that ail the fish have left the edges ; as it has often happened that, 

 as soon as he turns his l)ack to the ])ond, thieves come and easily cat(;h 

 (the spawning car]* which have remained near the edges. Even with 

 I the most favoral)le weather the spawning carp will not spawn immedi- 

 lately after they have been placed in the pond, but have first to become 



•TeicUoumo, Fiaol^erfi, 1831, 



