12 HOME FISHING AND HOME WATERS. 



within a radius of five miles, which is capable of sup- 

 porting some kind of fish and furnishing fish food for 

 all the inhabitants in the neighborhood, provided 

 they are not allowed to be taken in any other way 

 than angling with hook and line, and are protected 

 during their spawning season. In one sense, these 

 bodies of water are natural fish farms, capable of 

 producing more food, acre for acre, than the land, 

 besides not requiring the attention and labor neces- 

 sary to prepare the soil for a future crop. 



After the seed is planted, nothing further is re- 

 quired than to reap what you have sown. Wind, 

 rain, hail storms, or cyclones do not damage them, 

 nor are the buds blighted by early frosts or the 

 fruit withered by late ones. 



Farmers having a large spring or other water supply, 

 can have a fish pond of their own without great out- 

 lay, which in many cases can be utilized in winter by 

 cutting a supply of ice, which most farmers now con- 

 sider a necessity. 



After a pond has been built a year or two, it will 

 breed enough food to support a number of fish, and 

 it will not be necessary to feed them. The older 

 the pond the better, and the more fish it is capable 

 of supporting. If fish are put in a new pond, they 

 should be fed, as fish cannot live and thrive without 

 plenty of food, any more than the stock on your 

 farms. 



In regard to the size to build your pond, the 

 quantity of water which is to supply it, should be 

 taken into consideration, and also the kind offish to 

 be kept in it. For trout, it should not be built so large 

 but that it will get a complete change of water 



