MAKING FISH PONDS, &C. 85 



The condition of the place must determine th c 

 quantity of the ground to be covered with water- 

 For example, I may propose in all fifteen acres in 

 three ponds, or eight acres in two, and riot less ; 

 and these ponds should be placed one above an- 

 other, so as the point of the lower may almost 

 reach the head or bank of the upper, which con- 

 trivance is no less beautiful than advantageous. 



The head, or bank, which by stopping the cur- 

 rent, is to raise the water, and so make a pond, 

 must be built with the clay or earth taken out of 

 the pan or hollow, dug in the lowest ground above 

 the bank : the shape of the pan to be a half oval, 

 whereof the flat to come to the bank, and the 

 longer d< ~ ~^eter to run square from it. 



For two ' i~ge pondsj of three or four acres a- 

 piece, it is advisable to have four stews, each two 

 rods wide, and r.aree long. The stews are usually 

 in gardens, or near the house, to be more handy 

 and better looked to. The method of making 

 them, j to carry the bottom in a continual de- 

 cline from one end, with a mouth to favour the 

 drawing them with a net. 



It is proper to n in bavins in some places not 

 far from the side he most sandy spots, for the 

 fishes to spawu upon, and to defend the young try 9 

 especially the spawn of carps and tench. 



