How to obtain tt. 85 
hopeless the case becomes if weeds are allowed to go ahead and 
smother everything else. We also know how some of the worst 
weeds give little or no trouble if pulled out just at the right time. 
So with the bottom of a pond. The usual course taken in the 
case of a fish pond in the past has been to ignore the vegetation 
altogether, until it has become an absolute pest. Then some 
course has been taken which, owing to improper management, has 
tended to increase instead of to reduce the evil. I have seen 
weeds allowed to grow, flower, and ripen their seeds. Orders are 
given for them to be cut, and this being done, they are left 
floating till gradually they reach the shore on one side or the 
other, and are raked out. The seeds are thus scattered in all 
directions, and in a few years the pond contains such a mass of 
vegetable growth that the case gets hopeless. Now it will be 
apparent to my readers that such neglect can only be productive 
of unsatisfactory results. 
My experience has-been that in small ponds (say up to three 
or four acres) which are quite under control, some of the most 
free growing plants are highly beneficial. They require attention 
from time to time, and where this is given they are valuable helps 
to the welfare of a pond. Where this attention cannot be given, 
care should be taken only to plant such as do not require any 
cutting or thinning whatever. There are such plants, and they 
may be introduced with safety into any fish pond, as the utmost 
they can do is to cover the bottom with vegetation, thus 
producing a state of things that is much to be desired. 
The plants chiefly to be avoided are those which put out 
fronds or branches, which rapidly reach the surface. In a large 
number of instances some one or other of these plants will sooner 
or later appear, and when this happens they should be removed. 
Fish ponds should in fact be weeded. In cases which have come 
under my notice a patch of vegetation has been pointed out 
which has grown of its own accord. More often than otherwise 
this has been a growth of pond weed (Potamogeton). The edge 
of this weed bed has always been productive of a good fish or 
two, Iam told. I say “Yes; but keep it in check and do not 
allow it to ripen any seeds.” Sometimes my advice has been 
acted upon and very good results have followed. In other cases 
