REARING 229 



necessary for the present purpose. It should be 

 made of ample length so as to be very ' baggy ' when 

 in use ; leads should be fixed along the bottom, and 

 corks along the top. For the yearling ponds, which 

 are narrower than those containing the older fish, a 

 drag-net of special design called a pole-net is found 

 very convenient. Instead of being drawn by ropes 

 this net is stretched on two side-poles of considerable 

 length. By this means the bottom corners of the 

 net are kept down, as it follows the poles which are 

 pushed along the sides of the pond. If the water is 

 frozen the net must be drawn under the ice, a 

 passage being cut for the side poles or ropes along 

 both sides of the pond. 



In removing the fish from the net, great, care is 

 required to prevent them from being injured. They 

 should on no account be touched with the hand, but 

 should be emptied out into baths, and carried at 

 once to a preparing tank or box through which a 

 good supply of water is kept running. Here they 

 remain in durance vile, without any food for two or 

 three days in the case of yearlings, and for a longer 

 term in the case of two-year-olds. In either case 

 the length of the preparation required depends, to 

 some extent, on the distance to be travelled, and the 

 temperature of the water. 



