102 How to obtain it. 
In the cultivation of fish ponds eels must not be overlooked. 
They will manage to get into some ponds, and often do grievous 
damage. I once turned 1,760 yearling trout into a pond in May, 
and in August they were taken out again and only 1,220 were 
forthcoming. A couple of eels, which weighed 3 1b. had 
accounted for over 500 of them. This is but an example of the 
enormous amount of damage these fish will do if left to them- 
selves. A correspondent wrote me quite recently that he had lost 
eighty per cent. of his yearlings, owing to some eels having found 
their way into the pond. Ponds should, therefore, be made 
secure against these fish, and where this cannot be done, or where 
their presence is even only suspected, eel traps should be set. 
Those I have successfully used consist of wicker baskets, sunk in 
the water in suitable places, and buoyed to assist in finding them 
again. Where a number are fixed, half-a-dozen or a dozen may 
be strung on a line a few yards apart. These require baiting, and 
this may be done by placing in them some pieces of boiled horse- 
beef or fresh rabbit’s paunches. If herrings are procurable, half a 
herring or a whole one in each trap is a killing bait. It is not really 
necessary to sacrifice the herring; the refuse after they are cleaned 
for cooking answers equally well, if not better. It is a good plan 
to place the bait inside a tin canister punched full of holes, but 
the trap, and especially about the entrance, should be smeared 
with herring also. In some places worms make an excellent bait, 
and the way to use them is as follows :—Get a lot of worms and 
some small sods, and place them sandwich fashion in a box for an 
hour ar more. The worms will enter the sods, which then make 
excellent baits. I have had traps worked in this way, and they 
have caught enormous quantities of eels, sometimes getting the 
traps packed full. I have also heard of strings of worms being 
tied into bunches, but never tried the plan. The warm months 
from April to October are those in which the traps work well. 
During the cold or winter months they do not act at all in some 
localities. 
