[139] POND CULTURE. CO') 



said not to pro] );i gate in fresh water, and eats only small ILsb, while the 

 large, worthless fish contained in the carp ponds can be destroyed only 

 by the pike. There is this disadvantage connected with the keeping 

 of eels : that they will deprive the carp of some of their food, as, 

 besides small fish and roe, they also eat worms and insects. This 

 applies, however, also to the perch-pike, the keeping of which, never- 

 theless, is profitable, when confined within certain limits. Eel i)onds 

 must have high banks, so that the eels cannot easilj^ escape, as on 

 moist grass they can move for the distance of several kilometers, and 

 thus be enabled to reach other ponds. The ditches by which the pond 

 is fed and through which the water flows out should, therefore, be 

 closed by narrow grates. All places on the sides or the bottom of the 

 pond where the eels could escape must be carefully stopped up. Eels 

 should never be placed in ponds Mith a i)eaty bottom, through which 

 they can work their way. Eel ponds should also have hiding-places 

 consisting of stones, roots, holes in the banks, &c. 



In good carp ponds the feeding of eel fry may, during the first year, 

 be left to nature. If artificial food is needed, the same should be used 

 as for brook trout. Food may also be supplied by placing in the ponds 

 crucians, tench, &c., whose fry will form an excellent food for the eels. 

 During the first year they generally reach a length of 8 to 10 centi- 

 meters and a circumference of 2 to 3 centimeters, and I have repeatedly 

 seen eels of that age and size which Mr. Kuffer, in Munich, had received 

 from the Huningen establishment. He keep« about twenty eels in a 

 tank, measuring hardly a square meter and hnl by spring water. In 

 this tank he has thrown pieces of coarse ticking, under which the eels 

 hide. For food he uses roe and the entrails of fish cut fine. The 

 Huningen establishment charges 9 marks [$2.25J for 1,000 montee, 2,000 

 of which go to a pound. Orders should be sent in February- or Man^h. 

 Mr. vonStemann, in Eendsburg (Holstein), and Mr, Briissow, inSchwerin 

 (Mecklenburg), also sell eel fry. It is to be hoped that this useful tish 

 will soon be caught in many of our North (lerman rivers. 



V. — The Ponp Ftsiiebies. 



Pond fisheries take place partly in spring and parlly in autumn. In 

 spring the first fisheries take place in the winter pomi^^; with a view to 

 supply fish for the spawning and raising ponds, and after a, while those 

 spawning ponds have their turn in which fry had been left during winter. 

 The fisheries should not commence until there is no longer any danger 

 of spring frosts; therefore some time between the end of March and the 

 end of April. First the winter ponds are fished and next the spawning- 

 ponds. It is of course necessary that those ponds which are to be 

 stocUed with fish from the winter ponds should receive their fall supi)!y 

 of water before the fisheries commence. The autumn fisheries are in- 

 icnded ])artly to supply the grown carp for the market, and ])artly to 

 transfer younger fish from the raising ponds to the winter ponds. They 



