CRAIGEND PONDS. 239 



the mouth of the emptying pipe is always in sight, and can be 

 guarded with a perforated zinc screen if necessary. It can also be 

 arranged as an overflow-pipe, and is thus a guarantee against loss 

 from the pond overflowing, in case the outlet gets accidentally 

 choked, or too much water enters the pond in a spate. By remov- 

 ing the iron bar and pulling forward the elbow, the last drop of 

 water is run out of the pond, a very great convenience when it 

 has to be re-stocked with a smaller size of fish in a hurry ; and 

 lastly, while not very expensive in first cost, it lasts for ever. 



The bottom of the pond for several feet on each side of the 

 valve was laid with causeway, and several feet more of concrete 

 joined the causeway to the earth-slope of the bottom. This facili- 

 tated cleaning, and ensured no live fish remaining in the mud 

 when the pond was drawn down. It is only after counting- 

 fry from a pond in which half-a-dozen yearlings have been left 

 that any idea of the enormous loss can be formed. It is not in 

 numbers only, but in quality also ; the yearlings so bully the fry 

 if confined, that their growth is most unsatisfactory. Of course, 

 in large pieces of water, the loss is less in numbers and nothing 

 in size ; but in small ponds it is very marked, and there are few 

 large pieces of water where fry can be placed without much loss 

 from starvation. 



Before the causeway was laid the two 100-feet ponds were 

 cleaned and deepened ; the top parts of the slopes were turfed to 

 6 inches below the water-line. This prevents the wavelets wearing 

 the earth away. The turfs were hung on the sides by pegs until 

 the grass rooted through and united them to the banks. 



The water from the leaf-screen had formerly flowed through a 

 6-inch ordinary drain-tile. The drain was reopened, and a G-inch 

 spigot and faucet pipe substituted. This obviated any leakage in 

 dry weather, and, when the ground was very wet, the percolation 

 through the soil no longer perceptibly increased the flow. The 

 sanitary pipe ended in a wooden trough, in which a third leg was 

 inserted. Immediately beyond the insertion a groove was cut 

 in the sides of the trough, and 5 inches on a second pair of grooves 

 was cut. In each of these pairs of grooves pieces of board can be 



