18 PRACTICAL CARP CULTURE. 



whether used for fish culture or not, have realized what a blessing an 

 extra supply of water is and how well even unfarmed water pays for the 

 space it occupies. The attention of agriculturalists and agricultural jour- 

 nals in this country has been so long directed to the cutting of water 

 courses, the underdraining of land, and the precipitating of the rainfall 

 into the streams and rivers that they have finally succeeded in overdoing 

 what they set out to accomplish, until, as our friend, Hugo Mulertt, in 

 accounting for the great floods in the Ohio river that did so much damage 

 at Cincinnati and other points within the past three years, describes the 

 rainfall as being received in tile drains, rushed into the valleys or depres- 

 sions of the earth, then off through larger sewers or open water courses to 

 the creeks and streams and thus to the river almost within the hour that 

 it fell, robbing the soil, flooding the river lands, carrying destruction on 

 its breast, and leaving a drouth and its dread consequence to follow in its 

 wake. We do not underestimate the value and advantage of a proper 

 systein of underdrainage. But we would place our agricultural friends 

 upon their guard against rushing the rainfalls beyond their reach in time 

 of need. Husband the waterfalls in ponds, making them as deep as the 

 character of the land will permit. One-third of the area covered by the 

 water should be from two to eight feet deep, the remainder of the nren 

 spreading out to a few inches at the margin. Then with a good well ami 

 a windmill supply your cattle though and with an overflow conduct the 

 waste water to your pond. Your well will by the better for the drain upon 

 it and your pond will just about maintain its level during- ordinary sen- 

 sous, and its full body of water will be preserved as a resource against 

 time of drouth. Farm this body of water by cultivating fish in it and you 

 will have the regular harvest of fish besides the harvest of water in the 

 time of drouth. If you have ponds that have dried out make them deeper 

 and turn the water of your well into them. If you have no ponds build 

 them at once and your labors and expenditures will be a continual source 

 of joy and profit to you." 



In the waters planted with carp, the fish harvest comes twice a year. 

 When the birds begin their sougs and all nature arouses from the leth- 

 argy of winter; when the barns and cellars are well nigh empty, and the 

 exchequer running low, the two and three-year-old caip become a source 

 of revenue. Again in the fall when the freshets of spring, the drouths of 

 summer, the north winds, and the sun's scorching rays have made their 

 impression felt on the resources of the farm, and the farmer is depressed 

 with care, and weighed down with anxieties; the carp, unaffected by 

 these extremes, will come to the rescue and balance the accounts. Then, 

 whilst the farmer, with a vast amount of care and tireless effort, pro- 

 vides six, and even seven months food for the warm-blood animals, and 

 doles it out to them day by day ; the carp, very accommodatingly, fasts, and 

 yet comes out in spring ready for the market. We feel justified then, 

 in claiming for the carp a very high position among the best of domestic 

 animals. 



We believe that with general water farming, in this country, the 

 utilizatiou of springs and husbanding of rainfalls in ponds and reservoirs, 



