FIRST YEAR. Ill 



purpose is common mosquito netting. Of this we 

 use the odds and ends which have done duty 

 during the previous season in covering our paint- 

 ings, mirrors, and chandeliers. These are sewn 

 together, forming a net about two and a half 

 feet deep and three feet wider than our pond ; a 

 well- weighted lead-line is attached to the bottom, 

 and a few wooden floats sewn to the top ; at each 

 end a stick or brail is tacked, and the net is ready 

 for use. The net is dropped into the water at the 

 lower end of the pond, and, holding the brails per- 

 pendicularly, is slowly moved by two men, one on 

 each side, toward the inlet. The object of mowing 

 the ponds is now apparent ; were the weeds not 

 removed, the lead-line would be held up by them, 

 and the fishes allowed to escape beneath. When 

 the inlet of the pond is reached, the net is suddenly 

 raised from a perpendicular to a horizontal posi- 

 tion,* and in this manner carried to the second 

 pond and its contents emptied. This process is re- 

 peated again and again until every fish is removed. 

 The trout is a sad cannibal, as a writer truly re- 

 marks (Harpers" Weekly, June 13, 1868). Dog, it 

 is said, will not eat dog ; but, when other food was 

 wanting, we have seen in our hatching-troughs a 

 trout of one and a half inches in length seize and 

 devour his brother of one inch ; what, therefore, 

 would be the result if a (comparative) monster of 



