AND OF STILL WATERS. 121 



ing or stew-pond) is at the sluice, where it is emptied into 

 No. 2, near which is a strong, square, wooden box, say- 

 four feet deep by five square, and this is sunk flush with 

 the bottom of the pond, having two posts let in on each 

 side at the middle of each end of the box. To these posts 

 are fixed the ordinary gear of a draw-well, the chain being, 

 I think, divided to hook upon rings on the sides of an 

 inner box, which has holes at the bottom. When the fish 

 are required the sluice is opened, and the fish of course 

 retire into the deepest water, which is the inner box. The 

 box is then wound up, fish and all ; this is easily done, 

 since the water runs out through the holes in the bottom." 



This plan of collectors is found to be almost 

 a necessity in fish-ponds ; but we incline to think 

 it is best to make the outer collector of masonry 

 or concrete, instead of wood like the inner box, 

 in which the fish are " wound up." In the 

 Limousin, where the carp-breeding, which is 

 most extensive, is carried on in very large natural 

 lakes or ponds, without any collector, one of the 

 chief outlays of money is for the numbers of 

 men required to catch the fish in the mud, an 

 expense which is minimized by the presence of a 

 collector. Besides their usefulness at the drain- 

 ing-time, the collectors are much liked by the 

 fish as " hides." All ponds, as we have already 



