46 A BOOK OF THE RUNNING BROOK: 



Of the profit to be derived from this form of 

 pisciculture, some idea may be gathered from 

 the fact that half a franc a pound is the price 

 given for the fish when weighed on the bank of 

 the pond in which they have been caught. 

 There is no expense in seeking a market, with 

 possible loss on the fish by the way in fact, no 

 expense of any kind except the pay of men and 

 boys employed in the triennial take, which is but 

 a small item in comparison to the enormous 

 profit on the hundreds of heavy fish which have 

 cost absolutely nothing up to the time of the 

 sale. It is no wonder, therefore, that the 

 landed proprietors in the department of Correze 

 consider that the acres under water are infinitely 

 more profitable and far safer investments in 

 every way than those under agriculture. We 

 islanders are too apt to think scornfully of any 

 freshwater fish except trout, but the French can 

 teach us as much in this part of the great 

 question of food supply as in the others. It has 

 often been said that a Frenchman will live 

 succulently where an Englishman will nearly 

 starve ; and when we see all our ponds and 



