462 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



ing not more than an eighth of an acre, near Philadelphia. It 

 was in a little dell shaded by oaks, maples, and wild poplars. 

 Several springs bubbled out at the head of the ravine, and a 

 small breastwork of stone and sod, thirty yards below, dammed 

 the water, which flowed over the sluice, in a stream which could 

 have been discharged through a two-inch auger-hole. The 

 Trout, thirty in number, and varying in size from six to ten 

 inches, were brought from Chester County and placed in the 

 pond in the month of February. The following autumn they 

 spawned, and in the month of April they were caught in a 

 fine net, in the little pool beneath the overflow of the dam, 

 and in the rill in the meadow below, two inches long. The 

 next season they were also found in the brook into which the 

 rill flowed, and in a mill-pond below, where they had grown 

 to seven inches. At the time of stocking his pond the owner 

 did not ascertain how many of each sex he put in. It is a 

 matter of conjecture how many of them spawned, or how 

 much of the spawn was consumed by the fish ; how much of 

 it came to maturity, or how many of the young fish were 

 devoured after being hatched out. It is highly probable that 

 but few of those which remained in the pond escaped the 

 voracity of the adults; and those that went over the dam 

 through the sluice (which was not more than nine inches 

 wide, and three-fourths of an inch in depth), must have made 

 their escape from instinctive fear of the larger fish. Some of 

 the fish which were very small when placed in the pond, in two 

 or three summers grew to the length of fourteen inches, and 

 were very stout, weighing perhaps a pound and a quarter ; 

 they were fed occasionally with chopped raw meat, worms, 

 and grasshoppers. In a few years the place fell into other 

 hands, and the fish were caught out of the pond by poachers, 

 or persons of less appreciation than the proprietor who 

 stocked it. 



