[9] POND-CULTIVATION ON THE KANIOW ESTATE. 541 
What wealth of excellent food for plants may eventually be secured 
by the pond-harvest, may be gathered from the observation that the 
water of the ponds is, even in its original condition, the bearer of dis- 
solved fertilizers, which become a portion of the mud at the bottom and 
increase its existing wealth of food for plants, to which are added the 
valuable refuse, &c., from the manifold animal life of the water. The 
correctness of this view is proved beyond doubt by the exceedingly lux- 
uriant vegetation of the ponds. 
As long as the ponds are not plowed and regularly planted, a greater 
or smaller quantity of plant-food lies almost idle in the mud of the ponds, 
as only a very small portion of it is utilized as pasture, hay, &c. Every 
farmer, therefore, who has the opportunity, should aim at the greatest pos- 
sible utilization of the mud in his ponds, by regulary plowing and planting 
their bottoms. For my part I do not hesitate in the least to derive the 
greatest possible profit from my ponds, by benefiting my other fields 
through them, and I feel convinced that even Justus von Liebig would 
have sanctioned this system, because during the very next period of 
flooding or filling the ponds, all those substances which were removed 
with the mud, would gradually be replaced by fresh accessions thereof. 
As to the manner in which the hidden treasures of the mud may best be 
secured in various localities, ¢. e., what kind of cultivation will best suit 
the different ponds, we must say that no doubt every intelligent far- 
mer will find this out for himself, and all that is necessary is to give a 
few hints. 
The following method has, after a number of timid experiments, proved 
eminently successful in the Kaniéw estate: in poor ponds I plant, the 
first year after the pond has been drained, oats, the second year again 
oats, or, applying a small quantity of manure, wheat mixed with clover, 
followed in the third and fourth year by clover which, mixed with grass, 
furnishes excellent pasture during the fifth year, unless I prefer to fill 
the pond after the fourth year. I do not hesitate to apply some manure 
to such ponds, especially in the higher places which have not been thor- 
oughly flooded by water, which I can easily do, as I have always some 
manure to spare. Whatever I have planted in such ponds has thriven 
better than, or at least as well, as on the best fields on my farm, and 
moreover, I thereby furnish a suitable breeding-place for the insects and 
infusoria which, when the pond is again full of water, will have their 
home there. : 
In better ponds, however, all other agricultural plants may be suc- 
cessfully cultivated, with the exception of barley, which in Kaniow 
(though reaching a relatively heavy weight per standard measure) only 
gives a medium harvest, and does not furnish a fine quality of malt. As 
regards wheat and clover, my ponds often produce richer harvests than 
my fields. In these better ponds I hardly ever use any manure. I find 
that the following method will yield the greatest profit, both in money 
and in additional fodder for my numerous cattle: the first year I plant 
