ARTIFICIAL FISH PONDS. 113 



oval shape, but indented with small bays. Cast a long 

 trench through the middle, from head to foot ; noticing 

 that you can readily divert along it the stream just 

 mentioned, which stream is intended as a spawning 

 place, seeing that trout never shed their roe in dead 

 water. Let this trench deepen gradually as the ground 

 descends ; so that, at the intended foot of the pond, 

 it should sink nearly three yards, while the upper part 

 thereof is kept shallow. Dig from either side of your 

 trench, keeping it slope and level, until within four fa- 

 thoms of the intended margin of the fish pond. When 

 this is done, turn your attention to what is called the 

 dam-head, at the outlet or lowest part of the pond. 

 From it, continue your trench for a short distance in 

 the form of a paved sluice. Build stones, grass-sods, 

 and clay, along the bank on each side, if needful, and 

 drive in a few piles to strengthen it. Then set a flood- 

 gate at the outlet, and another to serve as a check in 

 case of accident, three yards farther down, where your 

 paved sluice terminates. A few cart-loads of coarse 

 channel, not from the sea, ought to be emptied over 

 the earthy parts of your pond, which, otherwise, are 

 apt to get covered with weeds, or else to encourage 

 eels, the marked enemies of trout in all stages. After 

 this is done, let loose your stream, and form your pre- 

 serve, introducing trout of about six inches in length, 

 eight or ten to every acre. Raise also at the head a 

 small nursery of minnows, connecting it by distinct 

 sluices both with the pond and its feeder. These are 

 a favourite food of trout, and fatten them at a quick 

 rate. 



Some throw a sunken mound across the pond, rising 

 to within a yard or so of the water-surface. By the 

 assistance of this embankment, the fish are preserved 

 from injury, at those times when you require to repair 



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