56 How to obtain it. 



Care should be taken to note the highest flood level of the 

 water, ancj to have the stream banked at the points F and d and 

 along DD, so that no flood can possibly cause an overflow into 

 the pond. This is a matter of the utmost importance, and one 

 which I find is often overlooked, or for which sufficient provision 

 is not made. The highest point reached by the greatest flood 

 ever known should be ascertained, and the bank raised above that 

 level. I have been surprised to find how careless or thoughtless 

 many people are in guarding against floods, or in having ponds or 

 artificial hatching beds in such a position that they are in great 

 danger of being Washed away. They may work well for one year, 

 or two or three, when, owing to a combination of circumstances, 

 an unusually heavy flood occurs and disaster is the result. I 

 cannot remember a single instance that has come under my notice 

 in which the danger might not easily have been avoided from the 

 first. So there is no excuse for newly-constructed fish ponds 

 being flooded. 



In guarding the ponds against floods, it will be seen at a 

 = glance that another great point is gained, and that is, that the 

 : spawning ground is also protected. There is no longer any fear 

 of the eggs being washed away, nor yet buried hopelessly, as they 

 often are in our natural streams when the floods come down. 

 By placing the leaf screen high enough up-stream, that is, some 

 distance from the head of the pond, very good provision may be 

 made for the fish depositing their ova in artificial spawning beds, 

 where the eggs can be protected from at least some of their enemies. 

 When the early fish have spawned, a grating or screen may be 

 placed at the mouth of the stream to prevent any later fish 

 coming into the beds, and rooting up the earlier and more 

 valuable eggs which have already been deposited. This is a 

 matter which has been grievously neglected in our streams and 

 rivers, and which ought to have immediate attention bestowed 

 upon it. I have seen whole beds of valuable ova turned up and 

 the eggs devoured, and a lot left in their places which are not 

 only of far less value, but are calculated, as time goes on, 

 seriously to depreciate the stock in the stream. In the case of a 

 salmon river it is a serious matter. 



Where there is room at the head of a pond or a lake for the 



