PRACTICAL CARP CULTURE. 37 



to live, with the great number of spawners in the pond, they will be very 

 numerous and will consume largely the food intended for the larger fish, 

 greatly retarding their growth. To overcome this it will be found advan- 

 tageous to adopt the European rule of introducing male pike into the 

 pond ; a bout 6 pike for every 100 carp. The pike should be much smaller 

 than the carp as it grows very much faster than the carp; about 300 per 

 cent, a year. The pike will serve a threefold purpose : 1. The carp fear 

 the pike and will keep a safe distance from them; this will cause the carp 

 to move about the pond and prevent them feeding at one place. 2. It will 

 in a measure prevent the carp from spawning, and when spawning does 

 occur the pike will devour the young fry; besides the pike become gener- 

 all scavingers of the pond and will destroy other fish and their* spawn 

 that by some means, and despite the care of the culturist, are constantly 

 getting into ponds. They will also devour watersnakes, tritons, etc. 

 For all these reasons they are very worthy a place in the ponds, and are a 

 necessity in market ponds that are fully stocked. In ponds not adapted 

 to pike, bass or other game fish of small size may be introduced in their 

 stead. In this system of ponds, where artificial feeding is not resorted 

 too, the stock pond should be four times as large as the hatching pond, 

 and the market pond twice as large as the stock pond. 



SALE POND. ^ 



Those three ponds will be found all that is iieccessary in a system 

 where artificial feeding is not resorted too. Where such feeding is prac- 

 ticed, two other ponds may be found of advantage, as the purpose of 

 feeding is to keep great numbers of carp where the natural food would 

 supply but comparatively a few. These great numbers, on a small area? 

 keep the bottom constantly plowed up with their snouts, in search of 

 food, so that the entire body of water in the pond is continually clouded 

 with muddy discolorations, and this bottom character of the water will 

 neccessarily affect unpleasantly the flesh of the fish ; this is of conse- 

 quence only in the market pond. To overcome this a small pond, with bot- 

 tom and sides paved with brick or stone, the waste stones carted from the 

 fields of the farm will do, making the slope of the sides and the surface of 

 the sides and bottom as uniform and smooth as practical, that a seine will 

 operate to the very best advantage. This pond should be oblong in shape, 

 and the width so that in dragging the seine, parties can walk on either 

 side of the pond, and the seine should reach from bank to bank. Its size 

 must be governed by the number of fish to be kept in it and the flow of 

 fresh water that reaches it. Water from the other ponds should not 

 be used in this pond, though the water passing from this pond may be 

 ust'd in the others. Its depth may be from 6 to 10 feet. The depth will 

 riot interfere with successful seining, as the pond is small, only large fish 

 in it, and the character of sides and bottom permits the water to be 

 lowered very rapidly to facilitate seining. While in this pond the fish 

 should be regularly fed. A few weeks here will put them in excellent 

 1 rhi i for the table. 



WINTER POND. 



Where the hatching pond is small, used for the purpose of hatching 



