OBSERVATIONS OF FISH-PONDS 



with a little rill, or with rain water running or falling into it ; by 

 which fish are more inclined both to breed, and are also refreshed 

 and fed the better, and do prove to be of a much sweeter and 

 more pleasant taste. 



To which end it is observed, that such pools as be large, 

 and have most gravel, and shallows where fish may sport them- 

 selves, do afford fish of the purest taste. And note, that in all 

 pools it is best for fish to have some retiring place, as namely, 

 hollow banks, or shelves, or roots of trees, to keep them from 

 danger ; and, when they think fit, from the extreme heat of 

 Summer; as also from the extremity of cold in Winter. And 

 note, that if many trees be growing about your pond, the leaves 

 thereof falling into the water, make it nauseous to the fish, and 

 the fish to be so to the eater of it. 



'Tis noted that the Tench and Eel love mud, and the Carp 

 loves gravelly ground, and in the hot months to feed on grass : 

 you are to cleanse your pond, if you intend either profit or 

 pleasure, once every three or four years, especially some ponds, 

 and then let it lie dry six or twelve months, both to kill the 

 water-weeds, as water-lilies, candocks, reate, and bull-rushes, 

 that breed there ; and also, that as these die for want of water, 

 so grass may grow in the pond's bottom, which Carps will eat 

 greedily in all the hot months if the pond be clean. The letting 

 your pond dry and sowing oats in the bottom is also good, for 

 the fish feed the faster: and being sometime let dry, you may 

 observe what kind of fish either increases or thrives best in 

 that water ; for they differ much both in their breeding and 

 feeding. 



Lebault also advises, that if your ponds be not very large 

 and roomy, that you often feed your fish by throwing into them 

 chippings of bread, curds, grains, or the entrails of chickens, or 

 of any fowl or beast that you kill to feed yourselves ; for these 

 afford fish a great relief. He says that frogs and ducks do 

 much harm, and devour both the spawn and the young fry of 

 all fish, especially of the Carp. And I have, besides experience, 

 many testimonies of it ; but Lebault allows Water-frogs to be 

 good meat, especially in some months, if they be fat : but you 

 are to note, that he is a Frenchman, and we English will hardly 

 believe him, though we know frogs are usually eaten in his 

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