FISH POND AND TRANSPORTATION OF FISH. 267 



oiscences," " has in his lake, of about ten acres, chiefly supplied 

 with fresh water, many sea-fish ; all have improved in quality 

 and propagated. The lake, which before was worthless, pro- 

 ducing a few eels, now yields a large rent. The bottom of the 

 lake is various muddy, rocky, and gravelly, and since the 

 introduction of sea-fish, the eels have multiplied a thousand- 

 fold." A mode of culture of carp, spoken of by Daniel, in his 

 " Rural Sports," may be found useful to those wishing to breed 

 that description of fish. 



" It is supposed that ninety brace of full-sized carp, and forty 

 of tench, are a good stock for an acre of water. In some 

 parts of Germany, where the domestication of fish is practised, 

 a suite of ponds are so constructed, that they can empty the 

 water and fish of one pond into another. The empty one is 

 then ploughed, and sown with barley. When the*grain is in 

 the ear, the water and its inhabitants are again admitted ; and 

 by feeding on the corn are more expeditiously fatted than by 

 any other management." 



All ponds should have a brook or rivulet running through 

 them, or fresh springs. It increases the feed and comfort of the 

 fish during the heat of summer, and counteracts the effects of 

 frost during the winter. All kinds of refuse grain, as beans, 

 peas, &c., thrown into carp ponds, or sown in the mud along 

 the edges when the water is low, will serve to fatten and improve 

 the fish very much. 



The following method of making artificial fish-ponds, from 

 Best's " Art of Angling," will be found useful. 



" It is agreed that those grounds are best that are full of 

 springs, and apt to be moorish : the one breeds them well, and 

 the other preserves them from being stolen. 



" The situation of the pond is also to be considered, and the 

 nature of the currents that fall into it; likewise that it be 

 refreshed with a little brook, or with rain-water that falls irom 



