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VOL. LXI.1 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 155 



the sea-fish: and Mr. F. knew instances of its being caught in the harbour of 

 Dantzig, between that city and a little town called Hela; which is situated at 

 the extremity of a long, narrow, sandy promontory, projecting eastwards into 

 the sea, and forming the gulf before Dantzig, of about 30 English miles dia- 

 meter. These carp were forced probably by a storm, from the mouth of the 

 Vistula, which here enters the Baltic, into the sea: and as the other two branches 

 of the Vistula or Weixel disembogue into a large fresh water lake, called the 

 Trish-HafF, which has a communication with the sea at Pillau; it is equally pro- 

 bable, that these fish came round from Pillau, to the harbour of Dantzig; espe- 

 cially as they are frequently found in the Trish-Haff. 



The sale of carp makes a part of the revenue of the nobility and gentry in 

 Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, Bohemia, Mecklenburgh, and Hol- 

 stein ; and the way of managing this useful fish is therefore reduced in these 

 countries into a kind of system, built on a great number of experiments, made 

 during several generatiops, in the families of gentlemen well skilled in every 

 branch of husbandry.;! iytf i utfuodi lit/.' !>!; . J<iJn 



The first thing which must be attended to, in case a gentleman chooses to 

 have carp-ponds, is to select the ground where they are to be made: for on the 

 soil, water, and situation of a pond, the success in the management greatly de- 

 pends. The best kind of ponds ought to be situated in a well manured, fertile 



■vje rill J 3 



which he rented not far from Beaton, and which had not the least commttnication with the sea", 

 several of these fish, originally introduced from the salt water, had lived many years, and were to 

 all appearance very healthy. 



I have also the following well attested fact with regard to the conamon grey mullet, which it it 

 believed was never before taken in fresh water. Mr. Kymer has made, near Kidwelly in Carmar- 

 thenshire, a communication between his collieries and an arm of the sea, by means of a canal. 

 Before this canal was completed, the salt water filled it at every tide, and several mullets were by 

 this means introduced. For these 3 or 4 years, the sea has been entirely excluded; and the canal, 

 from the constant influx of fresh water, has ceased to be brackish for more than 2 years. The 

 mullets however continue to live in this canal ; though Mr. Kymer informs me, they do not look in 

 so good condition, as when fresh from the sea. 



We are so much in the dark about the natural history of fish, particularly those of the salt water, 

 that it is to be wished sea stews were made on some of our coasts, as I am told is very commonly 

 practised in North America, and at a very trifling expence. Nothing more is requisite, than either 

 to find or dig a proper cavity, perhaps a yard below the low water mark, at spring tides, from 

 which the sea should be excluded, except at a narrow entrance, where large stones should be piled 

 from the beach to above the high water mark. Through such an inlet, the slew would be, every 

 12 hours, supplied with fresh salt water, at the same time that the fish would not be able to make 

 their escape. By this very easily contrived reservoir, sea-fish, when caught in too great numbers, 

 might be kept for the supply of the table or market, when perhaps the weather will not permit them 

 to be taken: and many ingenious experiments might be tried. It is not impossible, for example, 

 that the fish of the fresh water might be improved, by continuing in such a stew for 2 or 3 weeks, 

 as horses are said to thrive by feeding on the salt marshes. Dain es Barrinoton.— Orig. ' ■^ 



X 2 



