PONDS. 37 



INLETS AND OUTLETS. 



12. The inlets and outlets of your ponds should be 

 ample, and securely "jointed," if I may use the word, 

 to the ponds ; that is, so joined to the side of the pond 

 that no water will ever work its way under or around 

 them. This is so simple and safe a process with the 

 plank system, that the advantages derived from this 

 alone would decide me in favor of the use of plank 

 ponds. 



The outlet is usually a plank trough, or bulkhead, 

 with a screen to confine the fish, and the inlet is the 

 same, except that one half the floor of the bulkhead 

 is made to project over the pond, and is formed of 

 hard-wood slats, laid longitudinally with the length of 

 the bulkhead, and a quarter or half an inch apart. 

 This is much better than a screen, because, while it 

 answers the same purpose in confining the fish, it lets 

 through all the food from above, and does not get 

 so easily clogged up. 



When a bulkhead inlet or outlet is made to a com- 

 mon earth pond, great care should be taken to have 

 piling driven down to the hard pan below, and on both 

 sides, for several feet ; and even then in some soils 

 the water will work through it in the course of years. 



Be sure to make the outlets broad enough to admit 

 a screen of sufficient size to carry off all the water at 

 its highest possible flood height, making large allow- 

 ance, also, for the clogging up of screen. Always have 

 a gate at the inlet which will wholly shut off the water 

 in case of danger. 



