•XCIV 



their appearance in from three or four to fourteen days, 

 according to the temperature of the water. 



COl^STRUCTION OF THE PONDS. 



While it is certain that the cultivation of the Carp is 

 of sufficient importance to the farmers to fully warrant 

 the construction of ponds for the express purposes of 

 snch cultivation, it is also true that there already exist 

 in many places — and more particularly in the southern 

 and south-eastern portions of the State — numbers of 

 ponds such as are now used for the collection of ice, or 

 for supplying water to live stock during the summer 

 could be readily converted into productive Carp 

 ponds at a comparatively small cost. There are also 

 many depressions of surface in the lands bordering upon 

 some of our larger rivers, especially in the tidal region, 

 which could be reclaimed and filled with water with but 

 little labor, and made to answer admirably for the same 

 purpose. 



It is very desirable, on several accounts, that the ponds 

 which are to be devoted to the cultivation of this fish 

 should be so constructed as to permit all the water in 

 them to be drawn off at certain intervals. By this means 

 the fish can be readily captured and assorted without 

 injury ; when those intended for breeding purposes 

 should be restored to the pond, and the remainder placed 

 in tanks from which to be subsequently taken, by the 

 aid of dip-nets or small seines, as required for market 

 or for home consumption. The advantages of this facil- 

 ity of drawing off the water will be further experienced 

 whenever the necessity arises for destroying such ene- 

 mies of the fish as may succeed in effecting a lodgment 

 in their midst. 



In the case of such ponds as are supplied by the inflow 

 of tide-water, for instance, the eggs of native fishes are 

 often wafted in, and the fish thus produced soon com- 

 mence to consume the food, and even the eggs and the 

 young, of the Carp. By draining off the ponds once or 



