[177] POND CULTURE. (J43 



Mr. Krahe, iu Prammern, near Aix-la-Chapelle, Prussia. This little 

 work gives Mr. Kralie's experiences with a willow plantation of an area 

 of 375 hectares in the valley of the river Pocr-Wium, gathered duriii"- 

 a period of ten years. The plantations of the village of Wiirm yielded 

 a net profit, per one-quarter hectare, iu 1870, of 79 ni;irks [$19,751- 

 1871, 82 marks [$20.50]; 1872, 100 marks [|25] ; 1873, 123 marks [$30.75] • 

 1874, 152 marks [$38]; 1875, 227 marks [$50.75]; and 1876, 246 marks 

 [$61.50].* The best way for the pond-cultivator will be to manage his 

 willow plantation himself and not rent it out to any one, as it is not 

 pleasant to have strange persons, e. g., the laborers of the renter, about 

 the pond at all times. Not only the dikes should be planted with wil- 

 lows, but also the banks and any waste places near the pond. The 

 disadvantage of such plantations is, of course, that they become hiding- 

 places for various animals which may injure the tisli. Local circum- 

 stances will have to determine whether such plantations should be 

 abandoned on that account. 



(2) Grass. — The grass along the edges of the pond will in dry years, 

 or when the pond is not filled with water to its utmost (capacity, yield 

 (juite a little income to the pond cultivator. To cut the grass along 

 the edges as long as these are covered with water is injurious to 

 fish-culture, as the edges, when overgrown w^th grass, furnish the best 

 pasture-grounds for the fish. After the fisheries are over the entire 

 quantity of grass growing on the edges'may be used for feeding cattle. 

 It is very injurious to drain a pond on account of the hay harvest, which 

 takes place at the very time when the edges yield the most food for Uw 

 fish; and if it is desired to harvest the grass, it will be better not to 

 have the pond very full of water and to make the number of fish pro- 

 portionate to this quantity. Winter ponds which have lain dry during 

 summer, or have been filled moderately with water for the purpose of 

 being used as raising ponds, often yield a very considerable quantity of 

 grass, which may be harvested without detriment to fish-culture. Any 

 intelligent pond cultivator will find some way of harmonizing the inter- 

 I sts of gTass culture and fish-culture. 



(3) Eeeds. — Reeds may yield some profit, being sold for building 

 material or for straw. 



(4) Mud. — The mud of a pond forms a valuable fertilizer, which, if 

 not used on the fields belonging to a pond farm, will always find a ready 

 sale among the intelligent farmers of the neighborhood, who know its 



ilue, and who will at any rate remove it without charge. The best 

 iiid for fertilizing purposes is furnished by those ponds into which 

 Hows the rain-water from the surrounding fields, as it carries with it a 

 L'leat deal of animal and vegetable matter. The same may be said of 

 ponds in which or along whose edges cattle are in the habit of grazing. 

 1 "he mud from ponds surrounded by forests or containing many rce<ls 

 i icqueutly contains too much acidity to use it as a fertilizer, and it shoiihl 



* Centralblatt fur den deutschen Uolzhandel, 1877, No. '32. 



fe 



