Book VII. 



FISH. 



1101 



^i^wmf 



different ones may often be made on the same line, the head of one constituting the bottom of that above 

 it. The extent of them must be regulated by the nature of the situation, and the supplies of water that 

 can be procured. In situations of this nature, the principal expense consists in constructing the banks or 

 heads across the valleys, for keeping up the waters, and providing them with suitable sluices, which, where 

 the land is of the loarny or clay kind, may be cheaply effected in the manner that earth works are usually 

 performed. The foundations b. ing laid sufficiently deep, and the earthy materials well applied by proper 



Euddlintr and ramming, in the way of making embankments. The heights and strength of the dams or 

 eads being regulated by the nature of the situations, and the quantity of water that is to be dammed 

 up. The slopes should be the greatest which are next the waters. There must also be diverting channels 

 for taking off the superabundant waters in the time of floods, which may be formed along the sides ; the 

 sluices being placed in the lowest parts, and being well made of seasoned oak, and tightly rammed in with 

 the earthy materials. Detailed instructions on this subject will be found in the Quarterly Journal of 

 Asricultiire, vol. i. p. 297. 



7571. Sen water fish-ponds are unknown on the Continent, and not common in England. In Scotland, 

 however, there are several, which are stocked chiefly with turbot, cod, haddock, whiting, thornback, 

 coal-fish, and salmon. One of the largest and best of these fish ponds is that of Macdonnel of I.aggan, 

 in Wigtonshire, which has been in existence for upwards of thirty years. {Macdiarmid's Sketches from 

 Nature, and Highland Soc. Trans, vol. vii. p. 297.) 



7572. The kinds ofjtsh adapted for ponds are chiefly the carp, tench, perchj gudgeon, 

 eel, and pike. 



7573. TJte carp (C^prinus C&rpio L. fig. 956. a) is by far the best fish for artificial management, and 



J, especially that variety known in England 



" as the Prussian carp. Caq) inhabits the 



slow and stagnant waters of Europe and 

 Persia, and was introduced into Britain 

 in the year 1514; about four feet long; 

 grows fast and is very long-lived ; feeds 

 on herbs, fat eartli worms, and aquatic 

 insects, and any soft substance ; is ex- 

 tremely fertile, and the prey of larger 

 fish, aquatic birds, and frogs ; body above 

 blue-green, the upper part of the sides 

 greenish-yellow and blackish, beneath 

 whitish ; tail yellow ; scales large, longi. 

 tudinally striate ; of the gall is made a 

 green paint, and of the sounds or air- 

 bladder a fish-glue. 



7574. In raising carp, it is often the practice to have three ponds : One for the purpose of spawning the 

 fish in, and in which they should be left during the rest of the summer and the following winter, as they 

 mostly spawn from the beginning of May to the latter end of July ; another for the convenience of nurs- 

 ing up the young fry, into which they should be put about the latter end of March or the beginning of 

 April, choosing a calm but not sunny day (or the business; after which they should be carefully pre- 

 vented from coming to the sides and being destroyed : in this pond they may remain two years, and be- 

 come four, five, or six inches in length, and good for usa The third or main pond is destined for the 

 reception of the grown fish, as those that measure a foot or more, including the heads and tails. The 

 proportions in which these diflferent ponds are advised to be stocked are these : For each acre of the first 

 sort, " three or four male carps, and six or eight female ones ;" the most suitable sort for this use being 

 " those of five, six, or seven years old, in good health, with full scale, fine full eyes, and a long body, 

 without any blemish or wound." The ponds should be previously cleared of all sorts of voracious fishes 

 and other animals, as " perch, pike, eel, and trout ; the water-beetle, and also the newts or lizards." 

 Such ponds as are warm and have an open exposure, with soft water, are the most proper for this use; all 

 kinds of water fowl being kept from them. For the nursing ponds, a thousand or twelve hundred may 

 not be more than sufKcient for an acre; and for the main ponds, one to every square of fifteen feet is the 

 proportion advised, as their growth depends greatly on the room and quantity of food that is allowed. 

 The best seasons for performing the business in this case are those of the spring and autumn. Some ad- 

 vise, in these cases, the sto( king with carp or tench in the proportion of three to a square perch. In first 

 stocking large ponds or waters, as where they are to the extent of three or (bur acres, carp, in the pro- 

 portion of three hundred to the acre, are recommended ; and where they do not extend to such sizes, not 

 so great a portion. And in stocking, after two or three years, four hundred to the acre. 



7575. The tench (Cyprinus Tinea L., b) inhabits almost every where in stagnant waters ; grows quickly, 

 and reaches from four to eight pounds weight ; is very fertile and tenacious of life, and will live all the 

 winter under the ice ; feeds on worms and water plants ; is very ibolish, and may be easily caught ; body 

 covered with a thick mucus, and small scales which adhere firmly to the skin; above dark-green, the sides 

 above the line green, beneath yellow, belly white ; varies in its colours by age, sex, or the waters it in- 

 habits ; flesh white, soft, and well tasted. 



7576. In stocking with tench the number per acre may be more than of carp. In Berkshire, where there 

 are many ponds for the preserving of fish, they usually stock with tench or carp in the proportion of one 

 hundred to the acre, the fish remaining four years in them : but in the management of Sir Harry Fea- 

 therstone, in Sussex, in a pond of twenty acres reduced to sixteen by the deposition of mud, the stock is 

 generally in the proportion of twelve hundred carp and an equal number of tench ; or at the rate qf seventy, 

 five brace to the acre. And in this proportion they are said to succeed well. 



7577. The gudgeon (Cyprinus Glhio L., c) is a very inferior fish to the carp or tench ; but being of easy 

 culture and rapid increase, is kept in many places as food for pike and perch. It inhabits gentle streams 

 and lakes of Northern Europe; is tenacious of life, and very fertile; about eight inches long; feeds on 

 herbs, worms, insects, the fry of other fish, and parts of carcasses : body narrow, spotted, above livid, the 

 sides above the line blue, beneath whitish yellow, but it varies its colours by age, the different waters it 

 inhabits, and its food ; flesh white, and very grateful. 



7578. The perch (Perca fluviatilis L., d) is an excellent fish, and though naturally found in streams in 

 Europe and Siberia, yet will live in large ponds or lakes, provided the water be clear. It grows to two 

 feet long ; back and part of the sides deep green, with five broad black bars, which are sometimes dark 

 green or blue, and very rarely wanting ; belly white, tinged with red ; swims with great swiftness and at,a 

 certain height in the water; is tenacious of life, but eagerly takes a bait; feeds on aquatic insects and 

 smaller fish ; spawns in May and June, and is very prolific ; it has no real air-bladder ; and from its intei. 

 guments may be obtained a kind of glue; flesh very delicate. . ifl 



7579. In stocking with perch, as they are great breeders, six hundred to the acre may be sufficient. 

 7.'i80. The pike {E\ox /.ucius L., e) inhabits most lakes of Europe, Lapland, Northern Persia, atitt 



North America, and is found even in the Caspian Sea ; swims, and grows very rapidly, one to eight feet 

 long ; is extremely voracious and long-lived ; feeds on almost any thing which comes in its way, even its 

 own tribe; spawns from February to April ; body above black, the sides cineraceous spotted with yellow, 

 beneath white dotted with black ; rarely orange spotted with black or green ; scales small, oblong, 

 bard. The pike is best reared in deep ponds by itself in which some gudgeons may be put to bred 



