PART III. 
THE PONDS AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION, 
CuaPTER XII. 
“Withholding facts is robbery.” 
OrviLLE Dewey. 
ABOUT FISH-PONDS IN GENERAL. 
A basin of water in the open air, so arranged or constructed that 
the water may be drawn off at any desired time, is called a pond. A 
body of water not under control, in the full sense of the word, is 
usually known asa pool oralake. The dimension of such body of 
water does not necessarily regulate the name applied to it, as for 
instance, a pond may either be but a few feet in length and breadth, 
or it may cover an estate of hundreds of acres in extent, just as the 
requirements of the case may be. 
In countries far removed from the sea-shore, or any other natural 
source from which fish may be obtained in large quantities, the 
necessity arises for supplying the want by some means or other. 
This can only be done by cultivating them on a large scale, and in 
quantities sufficient to meet the demands of a steady market. The 
cultivation of fish for the purpose of food has been carried on for 
many generations, and so far back as the Middle Ages considerable 
attention was given by the monks to pond culture, in order that they 
might havea reliable source from which to procure fish during lent. 
From those days virtually dates the systematic culture of fish in 
waters that are thoroughly under control. 
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