How to obtain it. 85 



hopeless the case becomes if weeds are allowed to go ahead and 

 smother everything else. We also know how some of the worst 

 weeds give little or no trouble if pulled out just at the right time. 

 So with the bottom of a pond. The usual course taken in the 

 case of a fish pond in the past has been to ignore the vegetation 

 altogether, until it has become an absolute pest. Then some 

 course has been taken which, owing to improper management, has 

 tended to increase instead of to reduce the evil. I have seen 

 weeds allowed to grow, flower, and ripen their seeds. Orders are 

 given for them to be cut, and this being done, they are left 

 floating till gradually they reach the shore on one side or the 

 other, and are raked out. The seeds are thus scattered in all 

 directions, and in a few years the pond contains such a mass of 

 vegetable growth that the case gets hopeless. Now it will be 

 apparent to my readers that such neglect can only be productive 

 of unsatisfactory results. 



My experience has been that in small ponds (say up to three 

 or four acres) which are quite under control, some of the most 

 free growing plants are highly beneficial. They require attention 

 from time to time, and where this is given they are valuable helps 

 to the welfare of a pond. Where this attention cannot be given, 

 care should be taken only to plant such as do not require any 

 cutting or thinning whatever. There are such plants, and they 

 may be introduced with safety into any fish pond, as the utmost 

 they can do is to cover the bottom with vegetation, thus 

 producing a state of things that is much to be desired. 



The plants chiefly to be avoided are those which put out 

 fronds or branches, which rapidly reach the surface. In a large 

 number of instances some one or other of these plants will sooner 

 or later appear, and when this happens they should be removed. 

 Fish ponds should, in fact, be weeded. In cases which have come 

 under my notice a patch of vegetation has been pointed out 

 which has grown of its own accord. More often than otherwise 

 this has been a growth of pond weed ( Potamogeton). The edge 

 of this weed bed has always been productive of a good fish or 

 two, I am told. I say " Yes ; but keep it in check and do not 

 allow it to ripen any seeds." Sometimes my advice has been 

 acted upon, and very good results have followed. In other cases 



