COUNTRY MANSIONS. 367 



be unavailable for the transport of fish. Nevertheless, fishponds, wherever 

 tliey can be made, are not only sources of beauty in the landscape, but of 

 interest and use with reference to the fish that may be reared and fed 

 in them. In every garden, however small, and even in every green-house 

 or conservatory, there may be a vase or small basin for gold and silver 

 fish. These require very little care, whether in the house or in the open 

 air, except, in the latter case, breaking the ice in winter, to admit air when 

 the water is frozen over. Should the fish, however, be intended to breed, the 

 pond must be in a warm situation, fully exposed to the sun, so as to raise the 

 temperature of the water early in the season; and the margin must be shallow 

 and sandy, as it is only in shallow water on a sandy bottom, or on roots or 

 bundles of sticks, that fish will deposit their spawn. The carp, the tench, 

 and the perch are the most convenient fishes for managing in artificial ponds ; 

 and, throughout Europe, they are more used for this purpose, than any other 

 kinds. Of these, the carp is incomparably the best, on account of its aston- 

 ishing fecundity, its large size, and the rapidity with which it grows when 

 well fed, notwithstanding the great age which it has been known to attain. 

 To manage carp properly, three ponds are requisite ; one for breeding, 

 another for rearing, and a third for feeding. In the spawning or breeding 

 pond, full-grown fish should be put early in Spring ; the season for spawning 

 being from the latter end of May till the beginning of July, the time varying 

 according to the warmth of the season. After spawning, the old fish are put 

 back into the feeding pond, and the young fry left to themselves till the 

 spawning season approaches in the following year. They are then removed 

 to the nursing-pond, where they remain about two years, the time varying 

 according to their growth. Every season the nursing-pond is drawn, and all 

 the fish which are above 5 in. in length, put into the feeding-pond ; whence 

 the largest are taken out as wanted for use. When wanted of extraordinary 

 size, they may be kept in stews, and fed with garbage, boiled potatoes, bread, 

 boiled rice, or any soft substance which does not require mastication. Their 

 natural food consists of the larv« of insects, worms, and soft aquatic plants. 

 The pond in which the feeding fish are kept, should be rather deep, and have 

 a soft marly or muddy bottom, and a warm exposure ; the water should be 

 soft, and this it generally is on marly soils : when carp are fed in stews, they 

 should be kept in rain water. A carp will usually attain the weight of 3 lbs. 

 in six years, and 6 lbs. in ten yeai's. The largest ever caught was not quite 

 20 lbs. weight. They are in season from October to April. The whole busi- 

 ness of stocking ponds, and raising and fattening carp, is reduced to a regular 

 system, which is practised extensively in the interior of France and Germany, 

 and more particularly of Prussia. But in villa pleasure-grounds, it may be tried 

 with a single pond ; taking care to reduce the number of fish by using some 

 of the largest every year in the proper season. From 300 to 400 carp to an 

 acre, is the number allowed in the feeding-ponds in Prussia ; but in these 

 ponds very little food is given, and hence the range required is the greater. 

 The tench is generally kept in the same pond as the carp, and requires the 

 same treatment. It will, however, thrive, and even attain an extraordinary 

 size, in situations, and in stagnant fetid water, where no other fish would 

 live. The tench is veiy tenacious of life, and requires less oxygen than any 

 other fish, Mr. Yarrell, in his excellent work on the British Fishes, says 

 that the tench can breathe when the quantity of oxygen is reduced to the 



