344 



Stocking Ponds. 



CHAP. XXIV. 



on the surface is liable to be very soon choked with the debris 

 that always floats down with a flood. Let A B be a section of 

 your bank, and A the point of overflow, A H the outfall. You 

 will, of course, be guided by circumstances in the amount of height 

 you allow at A C for overflow, and in diminish- 

 ing its height and force by lengthening it. 

 Run out a plank C D E F one foot or more, 

 continuing E F at least 2 feet and more if 

 possible below the surface of the water, at the 

 K lowest level of the outfall. At F G have a fine 

 wire grating. Then any debris floating down 

 towards the overflow must necessarily come 



against the plank at the surface of the water at E, and the grating 

 F G is left clear and unchoked for the flow of water, and F G being 

 well below the surface, the draught of water is not enough to over- 

 come the buoyancy of the debris, and draw it down so far. Similarly 

 the instinct of fish is to escape by the surface, never by the 

 unnatural course of the arrow, and if any stray curious one should 

 accidentally find the unusual outlet, which he will not if it is deep 

 enough, you have a fine wire grating F G. If the pond be a 

 small one, and the overflow slight, A G B, instead of representing the 

 bank, may be a pipe let through the bank as a syphon, and lead any- 

 where into the pond, and surrounded by a box, K I D F, as shown in 

 dotted line. If the overflow be considerable, the strength of it may 

 be minimized by extending its breadth, and C D E F may be formed 

 of masonry, and at any slope, and turfed over for appearance sake. 

 But the cheapest way is to make it of a plank nailed to posts. If in 

 floods the highest flood over A is a foot deep, it follows that the space 

 A C must be fully that with a good safe margin to spare, and the space 

 between F and the bottom must be not less. 



This much of my last edition I will allow to stand here, because it 

 is not repeated in " Tank Angling," and for the rest I would refer my 

 reader to that volume, to which the subject more properly belongs, 

 and in which I daresay it may some day be still further elaborated. 



