188 FISH CULTURE. 



CHAPTEE XI. 



ON SMALLEB PONDS. 



I NOW come to ponds ; and here, perhaps, we display 

 our very worst management. The Dutch, by judicious 

 treatment of their resources in this respect, realize 

 large revenues, and produce fish which are really 

 said to be palatable, and even excellent. But what 

 is the English pond-fish worth ? In ninety cases out 

 of a hundred, the flavour of mud is so painfully 

 evident, that for any table-purposes the fish is worth- 

 less. In fact, by putting fish into our ponds, we 

 spoil them. Take a carp, for example, from a river, 

 and he is, as I have said, perhaps, an eatable fish. 

 Take him from one of our ponds, and few will en- 

 counter him. Why is this ? It is because we do not 

 study how best to keep our ponds in good order — 

 clean, sweet, and wholesome. 



In the first place, for the sake of picturesqueness, 

 and to add to the beauty of the landscape, we 

 plant trees all round our ponds, or to a certain 



