FOR PLEASURE AND PROFIT. 75 



CHAPTER VI. 

 NATURAL FOOD: AQUATIC PLANTS, ETC. 



Having made sure of the water supply, and having com- 

 pleted the construction of your ponds or fenced off portions of 

 river or stream, the next care is to> look to the larder, i.e., 

 attention must be piven to the food supply and the proper 

 establishment of aquatic plants, etc. ; indeed, the planting of 

 the latter should, in some cases, go hand in hand with the 

 work of construction. Perhaps Dame Nature has lavished 

 favours on you in this connection, and, if so, so much the 

 better. In the matter of some sporting waters, where a good 

 and, seemingly, plentiful supply of natural food exisits, it is as 

 well to make quite sure of this before introducing the maxi- 

 mum stock of fish that the water could and should carry. Very 

 often it will be found advisable to increase the quantity. And 

 that which is advisable in the case of sporting waters becomes 

 absolutely necessary in that of ponds and sections of river or 

 stream used for rearing large numbers of fish. In addition, 

 natural food has, in most cases, to be supplemented by arti- 

 ficial feeding, of which more in another place. 



Absolutely barren waters are by no means rare, and it is 

 simply absurd to stock these with fish. But they can in 

 many castes be made into useful waters ; and where this is pos- 

 sible it should be done. The marvellous thing to me is that 

 some owners of waters otherwise absolutely sane men will 

 plump a number of fish into an absolutely barren water and 

 expect them to live and thrive ! As well expect sheep to fatten 

 on the wooden roads of London streets ! Food, and plenty of 



