66 FISH CULTURE 



sist on purchasing alive the fish they want for 

 their table, and living fish bring a much higher 

 price than those which are sent to the market 

 dead. 



Preparation of Cat-fish Ponds. — Construct 

 one pond which will occupy about half the land 

 available, and three others which will occupy 

 the other half. The large one will be used for 

 breeding, and for the maintenance of fish more 

 than one year old; while the smaller ponds are 

 for the rearing of young fish up to the age of 

 one year. The sorting may all be done into 

 these three ponds. Two or three ponds about 

 300 feet long and 100 feet wide each, and ten 

 or twelve smaller ponds, would yield many hun- 

 dred thousand healthy fingerlings and yearlings 

 to be sold for stocking purposes. If, however, 

 it is designed to raise cat-fish for food and for 

 market there must be a decided increase in the 

 size and number of the larger ponds. It would 

 not be advisable to increase the size of the ponds 

 designed for keeping those less than a year old, 

 because they could not be easily and quickly 

 worked ; but it might be desirable to increase the 

 number in order to permit sorting into three 



