370 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



pie process of caponizing- fowls ; yet ihcy are contented to sit down to a scraw- 

 iiev, stringy, skinny chicken, instead of a fat, tender, luscious capon. He wko 

 dwells far inland may serve upon his table as fine fish as he who lives upon tide- 

 water ; hut it would require some enterprise and a little trouble — so he sticks to 

 his hog and hominy to-day, hominy and hog to-morrow, Irom year's end to year's 

 end. 



Of fish and fish-ponds it is our intention here to treat. 



In Europe the fact is notorious that both the dove-cote and poultry-yard are 

 far behind the fish-pond, both in the quality and quantity of their products, though 

 far more expensive. 



The first mention of fish-ponds in history is among the Romans ; their inven- 

 tion is attributed to Murena. Those of Cato the ancient were immense, and the 

 fish were regularly fed and fattened for consumption. We have an account of 

 the ponds of Hortensius, of Lucullus and Csesar, but they were on a scale that 

 required to form them the wealth of the most powerful men in a nation that had 

 seized the riches of the world. Lucullus severed a mountain that he might con- 

 duct an arm of the sea to his reservoirs ; hence (as Pliny tells us) the great Pom- 

 pey called him the Roman Xerxes. 



A species of fish called the Lamprey was, it appears, held in the highest es- 

 teem for its delicacy. History has transmitted to us the name of Vedino Polho, 

 who had the hideous fantasy to feed his large lampreys on living slaves. 



Fish were tamed and came at the call of their feeders. The orator Hortensius 

 shed tears at the death of one of liis lampreys, and his heiress Antonia decked a 

 favorite fish of hers in gold rings, and it became an object of great curiosity in 

 the neighborhood. 



They had, too, their ponds for oysters, that were brought from immense dis- 

 tances. But enough of this that is merely curious, and let us turn to the prac- 

 tical. 



The pond should, if possible, be near a spring, and thence derive its supply of 

 water ; those upon larger streams are liable to be swept away by freshets. The 

 lot in which the pond is situated should be kept permanently in grass ; otherwise 

 the water at every rain is liable to become muddy, and the pond to fill up from 

 the washing of the soil. To construct the dam, commence by sinking a ditch 

 (until you reach the solid subsoil) four feet wide, and in the center of the place 

 to be occupied by the dam ; the earth thrown out to be laid on each side. This 

 ditch is to be gradually filled with clay, a little at a time, and that to be kept 

 moist and well pounded. This wall (as it were) of clay to be carried quite to 

 the top of the dam, and will form what is called the key. The dam should al- 

 ways be three times as wide at the base as it is high, and its width at top should 

 equal its hight. The more gentle the slope from the top of the dam each way, 

 the greater its strength. Trees and shrubs should never be planted upon it, as 

 the decay of their roots is liable to let the water through. The stream running 

 from the pond might in many locations be turned to good account, either as wa- 

 ter-power for the minor domestic purposes, such as forcing water, churning, &c., 

 or for irrigation. 



In Europe their fish-ponds are usually stocked with the carp, tench and pike, 

 but we have a fish that is worth them all, and that is the James River or North 

 Carolina chub. We find it hard to say how we like him best — fighting gamely 

 for his life (as he always does) at the end of a line, or smoking on the board with 

 *' sauce and fixins a la Guy.'" Your old Baltimore friend, unexcelled if not un- 

 equaled in his profession. How could he be otherwise, growing up under the 

 eye of your other old friend, Kinc; David ? 



Now that the land is webbed over with railroads, there can be but little diffi- 

 culty in getting this noble fish anywhere. Doctor Thornton, of Rappahannock, 

 Virginia, ranks it next to the salmon. He has succeeded perfectly in transport- 

 ing them alive over eighty miles of bad road, at the speed of ordinary road-wag- 

 ons. There is no fish tliat will thrive better ; even in small ponds they sometimes 

 attain 15 pounds in weight ; and though last, not least, young Wade Hampton, 

 (than whom there is no better authority) says it 's a crack sporting fish! k g. s. 



(754) 



