GROWING THE LARGE TROUT. 245 



Beginners are here cautioned against drawing down 

 the pond, when it gets foul, in order to remove the 

 fish, for this is the very surest thing to make matters 

 worse. The water becomes thick with the offending 

 matter, when the pond is drawn off, and it will cer- 

 tainly sicken the fish and check their growth, if it does 

 not kill them outright. It is not so dangerous with 

 large trout as with young fry, thousands of which have 

 been killed by this practice ; but it is bad enough with 

 fish of any size, and never ought to be resorted to. 



It is a good plan to keep a few moderate-sized 

 suckers or mullets (Catostomi) — mullets are the hand- 

 somer fish — in your ponds for scavengers. They do 

 good service at this work, they are perfectly harmless, 

 and will clean the bottom of the pond of whatever food 

 escapes the mouths of the trout. Every trout pond, 

 I think, should contain one or more of them. 



7. Protect from natural enemies. The natural ene- 

 mies of large trout in New England are herons, fish 

 hawks, and minks. Kingfishers are also very destruc- 

 tive to yearlings, and will kill two-year-olds, if they 

 do not eat them. Snakes also prey on yearlings, and 

 will sometimes swallow a two-year-old ; but these two 

 latter enemies are chiefly formidable to yearlings. 

 The best protection against the birds is to cover the 

 pond. A plain rack, made of inch-strips of pine, laid 

 about two inches apart, answers very well for this pur- 

 pose. The birds will not go through the slats for the 

 fish. The rafts which are put on the pond to shade it 

 are some protection against birds, especially king- 

 fishers ; but herons will stand on the rafts themselves, 



