128 A BOOK OF THE RUNNING BROOK; 



ten to eighteen inches, fit for your table, present, 

 or sale. . . ." Captain Milton Peirce says that 

 v nursery-ponds, if in proper condition and con- 

 taining a good growth of aquatic plants, will 

 support one thousand to fifteen hundred year- 

 ling carp per acre area of water. Stock-ponds, 

 in like condition, will support five hundred two- 

 year-old carp per acre. Under no ordinary 

 circumstances should larger stock be permitted. 

 Over-stocking carp-ponds would produce the 

 same result as over-stocking pastures with 

 cattle." It is far better to under-stock a pond 

 than to over-stock it, as in the latter case, the 

 fish dwindle in size, and in process of time the 

 breed utterly degenerates. 



Under good conditions the increase of fish is 

 something enormous, for the experience of Herr 

 Max von dem Borne, who in 1885 got more 

 than eighty thousand fine young fry from five 

 hundred carp (spawners and milters), is by no 

 means uncommon. But in all fish-ponds, large 

 or small, only one kind of fish should be allowed 

 at a time ; if many varieties of fish are mixed 

 in the narrow limits of a pond, they not only 



