HABITATIONS FOE TKOJJT. 395 



made the earth firm where the head of the pond must be, Le- 

 bault advises that you drive in two or three rows of oak or 

 elm piles, which should be scorched in the fire or half burned 

 before they be driven in the earth, for being thus used it pre- 

 serves them much longer from rotting ; and having done so, 

 lay fagots or bavins of smaller wood between them, and 

 then earth between and above them ; and then, having first 

 very well rammed them and the earth, use another pile in 

 like manner as the first were, and note that the second pile 

 is to be of or about the same height that you intend to make 

 your sluice or flood-gate, or the vent that you intend shall 

 convey the overflowings of your pond, or any flood that shall 

 threaten to break the pond dam. Then he advises the plant- 

 ing of willows and osiers about the dam, and cast in charred 

 logs not far from the side, as also upon the sandy places, in 

 order to protect spawning-beds and form hiding-places for 

 the small fry. All ponds should contain places of gravel bot- 

 tom, and places sandy and shallow, where trout may disport 

 themselves and burnish their sides. Fish should also have 

 retiring-places, such as hollow banks, or shelves, or roots of 

 trees, to keep them from danger, and to shade them at times 

 during the day in the extreme heat of summer, also from the 

 extremity of cold in winter. If too many trees grow about 

 your pond, the leaves, falling into the waten, will impreg- 

 nate it and injure the flavor of the fish. Although towering 

 trees form too dense a shade, and the foliage is bad for the 

 stream, while they yield cover to invite winged game and 

 the consequent gunner, yet shooting much about a fish-pre- 

 serve is injurious, and I would advise the planting of willow 

 and alder to partially shade the stream or pond, and render 

 firm the shores. 



Two trout-ponds are more profitable than one of the same 

 area as the two, because they may be cleaned alternately, 

 and the trout turned into one while the other is under clean- 

 ing process. 



In small ponds, or ponds where the small fry of common 



