610 UFPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FTSH AND PISHERIES. [144] 



baskets or in the ordinary baskets and tubs, one should proceed very 

 slowly, so that the fish do not strike the bottom of these receptacles or 

 each other violently and be injured. 



In fishing a stock pond containing several kinds of fish, the tender 

 kinds should be removed first, as much as possible at least ; perch-pike, 

 being the most tender, should be taken from the seine singly with the 

 hand, be placed iinmediately in tubs filled with pure water, and thence 

 as soon as possible be removed to the kegs, as they cannot live long out 

 of the water ; then follow the larger pike and perch, the carp and the 

 tench, and finally the smaller pike. Eels must be caught with special 

 purse-nets, and not with the hand; as eels will entwine themselves 

 around the arm, and sometimes break it. Special care should be taken 

 to clear the }»onds of tisli, as eels, tench, and pike will hide in the mud 

 and thus escape the attention of the fishermen. It is especially impor- 

 tant that no fish of prey should remain in the pond, as these, in case the 

 pond is filled with water soon after the fisheries, would in the following- 

 year make sad havoc among the carp. If not so dangerous, it is, nev- 

 ertheless, injurious to leave large carp in the pond, as they will spawn 

 during the following year, which will not prove an advantage from a 

 fish-cultural point of view. 



In order to remove fish which have remained in the pond, it will be 

 advisable, immediately after the fisheries, to go through the mud with 

 a long broad-pronged dung-fork. To be absolutely certain, it may be 

 recommended to secure the place where the water flows out, ii* there is 

 no outer-pit, for a few days with a basket, in which the remaining fish 

 will be caught. This may be particularly useful when there is reason 

 to suppose that some eels have remained in the i>ond, as these fish are 

 very apt to hide in the mud, and leave their hiding-places only during 

 the night or the following day. For transporting eels A'ery tight bask- 

 ets are needed. During the fisheries the water in the fish-pit should, 

 wherever the circumstances allow it, be renewed as often as possible, 

 so that the fish are not covered with mud and thereby become languid. 

 Before being placed in the kegs they must be washed clean. On some 

 pond farms a ditcli measuring 1 meter in depth and of corresponding 

 breadth and length, and located near the outflow of the water, is sub- 

 stituted for tubs. This ditch is filled with water from the j)ond. Here 

 the fish are sorted, and thence they are taken direct to the kegs. I am 

 not in favor of this arrangement, as it will be impossible to make sepa- 

 rate ditches of this kind for every species of fish, since it would make 

 too much work to dig and ag;iin fill a number of these ditches, but if they 

 remain uniilled from one fisiiery to another it cannot be avoided that, 

 especiall\ in rainy weather, Avhen the water of the jjonds overflow the 

 bnnks, these ditelies will be fiUed with water. In such ditches the fish 

 like to gather, and thus become an easy prey to fish thieves. I must 

 here state that I speak from experience, although among the 50 ponds 

 which at one time I had under my care, there was only one which had 



