ON SMALLER PONDS. 159 



CHAPTEE IX. 



ON SMALLEK PONDS. 



I NOW come to ponds ; and here, perhaps, we display 

 our very worst management. The Dutch, by judicious 

 treatment of their resources in this respect, realize 

 large revenues, and produce fish which are really 

 said to be palatable, and even excellent. But what 

 is the English pond-fish worth ? In ninety cases out 

 of a hundred, the flavour of mud is so painfully 

 evident, that for any table purposes the fish is worth- 

 less. In fact, by putting fish into our ponds, we simply 

 spoil them. Take a carp, for example, from a river, 

 and he is, as I have said, perhaps, a fairly eatable 

 fish. Take him from one of our ponds, and few will 

 care to eat him. Why is this \ It is because we do 

 not study how best to keep our ponds in good order 

 clean, sweet, and wholesome. 



In the first place, we, for the sake of picturesque- 

 ness, and to add to the beauty of the landscape, 

 plant trees all round our ponds, or to a certain 

 extent round them. These trees yearly shed their 



