220 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



possible this should be so situated that it may receive the drainings of a 

 village, or at any rate proximity to a farm is desirable, as all the refuse 

 washings from such places supply food to a large extent. 



" The object in having the first pond higher than the others, is that a 

 supply of water may pass from it to the lower ones in succession : the ponds 

 being connected by a water-course and protected by flood-gates, must have 

 sufficient depth and descent to allow the whole of the water to pass oft* 

 readily to the next in succession. 



" The ponds ought not to be nearer to each other than one hundred 

 yards : the greater the distance between them the better, as each can then 

 have the benefit of the refuse washings of the neighbourhood and adjoin- 

 ing fields, which will of course contribute largely to the support of the 

 stock. Moreover, by having a long water-course between the ponds, 

 when either of them is sluiced off, or as the term is ' fished/ that part of 

 the store, which invariably escapes with the fall of water, can be recovered 

 in a much cleaner and consequently more healthy state than those which 

 are left behind in the slam or mud. 



" Clay soils are not genial to fish ; therefore light loamy or gravelly 

 bottoms ought to be chosen for the ponds ; if, however, the clay is not 

 too deep, and by excavating it yellow sand can be reached, then it 

 will leave an equally soft and pure bottom, the sides being of less im- 

 portance. 



" In clay bottoms the fish do not thrive, from want of food, in conse- 

 quence of the water partaking of the racy* quality of the earth, which 

 from its cold and sterile nature does not afford the nutriment requisite 

 for the maintenance of the larva} of insects, worms, and other minute 

 living creatures, in sufficient number, and so keeps the stock lean and 

 unfit for food. 



" In forming ponds, particular care ought to be taken to make the sides 

 shelve gradually for about six yards ; and they are on no account to be 

 deep at the sides, firstly, on account of the sward nourishing large quan- 

 tities of insects, etc., the legitimate food of the fish ; secondly, the ponds 

 arc not so easily poached, the shallows being protected by stakes ; and 

 thirdly, protection is afforded to the brood. 



" The only deep that ought to exist at either side should be near the 

 sluice or floodgate, where it should be twelve or eighteen inches deeper 

 than the rest of the pond, in order that when the water is drawn off, the 

 fish may be collected into a close space, and when the sluice is again 

 closed, an accumulation of water may immediately take place, sufficient 

 for the protection of the brood or succeeding store. 



" In the rainy season it is always advisable to let the ponds fill to the 

 full extent of their prescribed boundaries, as this not only brings a large 

 proportion of food from the adjacent grounds, but when the water is 

 again let off or recedes, the borders produce luxuriant and tender herb- 

 age, peculiarly adapted for the food of carp, and upon which that fish 

 feeds greedily in rainy weather, arid may frequently be observed flounder- 



* Racy is the term for a species of iron-stone sand found in clay strata. 



