60 How to obtain it. 



desirable, after filling the pond, to cultivate it properly, and to> 

 bring it into a suitable condition for receiving the stock of fish 

 that is to inhabit it. As a farmer must provide a supply of food 

 for his sheep before turning them into a field, so we must provide 

 for our fish. 



Trout are carnivorous, and if we examine the contents of 

 their stomachs we shall find that the creatures on which they have 

 been largely feeding are mainly dependent upon a crop of 

 vegetable food. If they are to exist in sufficient numbers to form 

 an adequate supply of food for the fish that prey upon them this 

 must be provided. Therefore, it follows that by judiciously 

 cultivating suitable plants a sufficient food supply can be main- 

 tained, other things of course being equal. Should this food 

 supply not be in existence naturally in the water it must be 

 introduced, and regarding its introduction, and the introduction 

 of aquatic vegetation, I shall have more to say later. 



Where the water supply is of a limited nature, it will do 

 better work and go further' in a deep pond than in a shallow one. 

 It is obvious that in a pond of considerable area, but only running 

 three feet or so in depth, the water will be more afiected by the 

 rays of the sun, and in summer will rise to a higher temperature 

 than in a pond of smaller area but which is eight or ten feet deep, 

 or perhaps more. The pond of smaller area but greater depth, 

 will support a larger quantity of trout during such a period than 

 the shallow one. 



It also often happens that in addition to the visible water 

 supply running into a pond there are springs in the pond itself, or 

 there is a considerable quantity of water percolating through the 

 soil, and this alone is a very valuable help to its trout producing 

 capacities. In the deeper pond there is a greater probability of 

 such an additional supply. I have known ponds which have thus 

 been fed by copious springs, but which have possessed no visible 

 water supply, that is to say, there was no stream running into 

 them, and yet they have proved capable of maintaining a nice 

 head of trout. Sometimes we find a pond from which there is a 

 considerable overflow, but no stream apparently feeding it. In 

 such a case there must be springs, and such a pond may do for 

 trout. Occasionally in ponds of this nature, however, the water 



