90 ^'EW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Several ponds and lakes situated on the country estates of New 

 York gentlemen who wished advice on stocking and caring for 

 ponds, were visited by special invitation. These were both natural 

 and artificial, large and small, deep and shallow, spring fed, and 

 supplied by streams, with fish and without. Some of the ponds 

 which contained fishes had never yielded much either in the way 

 of sport or food. Most pond owners confessed entire ignorance 

 of the subject and the writer's search for literature on pond 

 culture, to fit the varying conditions met with, did not reveal as 

 much as could be desired, especially that based on American con- 

 ditions. 



The professional fish-culturists of this country apparently owe 

 the private citizen something more in the way of advice in home 

 fish raising than he has yet received. 



It would seem that notwithstanding the abundant literature 

 relative to public fish-culture, which has been distributed freely in 

 this country, there has been left almost unconsidered, a field of 

 pond culture simpler and cheaper than that connected with our 

 admirable system of stocking public waters, and with possibilities 

 greater than have been realized. Wholesale methods in fish- 

 culture, requiring artificial fertilization of eggs, hatchery build- 

 ings, and series of rearing ponds, are seldom applicable to the 

 farm and the private estate. 



The writer devoted considerable time to the study of small, 

 natural and artificial lakes in the region about New York, with 

 a view to ascertaining their possibilities for producing the com- 

 moner kinds of fishes with a moderate amount of expense and 

 care. It is hoped that the present paper, relating merely to the 

 actual requirements for success in home fish raising, will be of 

 interest not only to members of the New York Zoological Society, 

 but to the out-of-town public in general. It is presented as a 

 primer on the subject, not as a general treatise, a brief list of 

 works of the latter class being appended. Its publication will 

 at least serve the original purpose of the writer — that of facilita- 

 ting the handling of a portion of the correspondence of the 

 Aquarium. As a good many years have passed since he served an 

 apprenticeship at a government fish-hatchery, recent publications 

 on fish culture have been used freely. Acknowledgments are 

 hereby made to the authors of the works mentioned in this paper. 

 The photographs of fishes published herewith, were made by 

 Messrs. Elwin R. Sanborn and L. B. Spencer, from specimens 

 living in the New York Aquarium. 



Pond Culture in General. — It should be made clear that the in- 



