Apr*, 28, 188T.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



SOS 



stir and animation around the dwelling may aid in causing 

 herons, kingfishers, serpents and muskrats to avoid it. It 

 should be so placed as to receive all that rain water, which 

 runs in the gutters of your driveway and your footpaths; 

 this rain water affords the goldfish their richest and most 

 acceptable food. 



Never locate the pond so that a brook or stream of any 

 size, no matter how small, flows into it. If you do, then 

 the sudden cloud bursts of June and July will cause inunda- 

 tions, and again the water co irses alwavs lead an endless 

 string of natnral enemies into the ponds. Goldfish thrive 

 better in still water; they prefer the rain water to spring 

 water. 



How to Make The Pond.— The site of your pond being 

 located, then mark out on the surface of the earth its exact 

 superficial proportions; make it in some agreeable outline of 

 curves and points and not a common square or oval hole 

 (which has a most painful artificial look). The pattern of 

 the writer's pond is herewith given to illustrate his mean- 

 ing, the constriction in the center is not accidental, but it is 

 purposely made, since it creates a current or constant circu- 

 lation of the water; for when the sun shines it alternately 

 heats the water in the two extremities of the pond as it 

 passes over during the dav, owing to the shading of the trees 

 planted on its banks for that object. At this narrow center 

 of the pond a current is alwavs setting up or down, as the 

 water is heated by the sun at either end. In this current 

 young goldfish love to exercise, swimming against it and 

 feeding as they do so. 



If vou have room, make the ground covered by your pond 

 at least 100ft. in its greatest length, but even a short one of 

 50 will be large enough to afford very great satisfaction. 

 It is not advisable to make it over 150ft. even where you 

 have the requisite space beyond that limit. 



Two able-bodied men with spades and a horse hitched to 

 a light single wagon arranged with "dump" boards, repre- 

 sent all the machinery required for excavating the pond; the 

 first or upper 6in. of soil should be taken off at the start and 

 laid back over the surface of the banks surrounding, evenly 

 distributed, except at four or five intervals where it can be 

 heaped so as to be available for that rock-work planting, 

 which is to be undertaken after the digging is completed. 



The men should dig gently sloping in from the edges to 

 that point of greatest depth in the middle of the pond, which 

 in the best ponds should never exceed 4ft., while 8ft. 6in. is 

 quite sufficieut, as iu diagram A. 



Be sure and keep the deepest point in the center of the ex- 

 cavation; it thus enables the fish to retire wholly from the 

 jar and danger from the close proximity of the banks to a 

 safe and quiet retreat at any time in the day, and at night 

 they will alwavs settle there' and be thus beyond the reach 

 of wading night herons. 



Tne best soil in which such a pond can be made is blue or 

 yellow clay, for it holds the water as though a coat of water 

 lime were " placed on the bottom; but any soil can be suc- 

 cessfully employed as a good reservoir that is not eravelly. 

 A bed of gravel will not do, and it is idle to concrete. Even 

 if water liming were practicable, a covering of five or six 

 inches of gravel soil would be required for the bottom thus 

 treated, in order that the many small forms of life which 

 supply fish food might generate therein. 



When your excavation is completed, put your level on the 

 banks and see that they nowhere are over a foot or eighteen 

 inches above the low water level of the pond for a distance 

 of at least fiftee* or twenty feet back from the edges. This 

 is necessary to discourage the burrowing of muskrats. 



In order that the rainwater that runs in from your drive- 

 way and footpaths may enter the pond neatly, get a few 

 joints of common 6in. tiling pipe and lay them in connec- 

 tion with the road gutters, and let the outlet pipe, also of 6 

 or Sin. tiling, be laid so that it keeps the water at just that 

 level on the banks which you desire. This tiling can be 

 procured for a mere song, only three or four cents a foot. 

 Both the inlet and outlet pipes should be so laid as to be 

 empty when the water is at the right or established level. 

 This prevents bursting, caused by freezing in the winter. 



Over the mouth of the outlet pipe a wire netting must be 

 placed with a mesh not larger than l-6in., or much smaller. 

 This prevents the wholesale departure of the young fish when 

 a shower or rainstorm causes a full overflow to boom through 

 the pipes. Great attention must be paid to the screen, and 

 care taken to observe often that it is not misplaced or rusted 

 out. A piece of wire cloth will last several consecutive 

 years if it is well painted, and if not, must be renewed every 

 summer. A whole yard of the wire netting, enough to last 

 twenty years' renewal, costs only seven or eight cents. 



If your pond is so located as to be easily drained from the 

 bottom, then a deep tiling should be laid with its "head in 

 the lowest depression of the excavation and graded so that 

 the ''fall" will be good and uninterrupted. This head of the 

 drain should have a shoulder and be in the shape as shown 

 in Diagram B. 



Into the shoulder, a, a small wooden cap, 7j, is to be fitted 

 snugly, with a spike driven into its center. This cap pre- 

 vents the overflow of the water, and it can be easily fouud 

 when the pond is full, and lifted by the spike handle when- 

 ever it may be necessary to draw the water off. Then stop 

 up the other end of the drain pipe— it will only be filled with 

 silt or else frozen aud bursted. 



If your pond is located so low in comparison with the sur- 

 rounding country that this drainage is not practicable, or in 

 other words, involves the digging of a long and costly tile 

 drain ditch, then it is best not to do anything of the kind, 

 for it will not be difficult to empty your pond with a good 

 force pump wherever the rare intervals arise in which it is 

 necessary; the writer's pond has been drained only once in 

 sixteen years, and that because he had to take carp and sun- 

 fish out and clean the pond for goldfish exclusively. 



How to Plant the Banks.— The digging thus 'completed 

 and the inlet and outlet tiling laid, the next and the most 

 important step to be taken in order is that of properly set- 

 ting trees and shrubbery around the borders of your pond; 

 these trees are to grow so as to shade the waters of the pond 

 in sections, as the sun passes over it. and that shading rests 

 and animates the fish as well as creates th at circulation al- 

 ready spoken of; the leaves, as they fall from the trees every 

 autumn, settle to the bottom of the pond and create warmth 

 there during the winter, and in settling from hundreds of 

 extemporaneous grottoes in which the fish love to play and 

 secrete themselves when disturbed ; these leaves also play 

 another very important part; they, in settling upon the bot- 

 tom, form a miat which smothers all water weeds and 

 grasses, and thus keeps the pond clear absolutely from these 

 nuisances which choke up the water and offend 'the eye, un- 

 less they are frequently removed from those ponds where no 

 such tree planting has been made. 



The roots of the. willow and spruce grow out from the 

 banks into the water as a mat of thousands upon thousands 

 of fine delicate tendrils interlocked and spreading in the 

 water for several feet; in this growth the happiest shelter 



for the spawn and young fish is afforded, and thus all neces- 

 sity for having those disagreeable water weeds in the pond 

 as a means of enabling the fish to successfully spawn, is 

 done away with, and the water kept clean and sightly. 



The general location of these trees suitable for planting 

 around the ponds is defined in the accompanying plan of 

 excavation; the evergreens make an exceedingly agreeable 

 contrast in winter, and are not less so in summer. The 

 several points where rock work and shrubbery are indicated 

 require but little heaping of soil, rather use broken stones 

 and boulders freely since the temptation for the muskrat to 

 burrow will be greatly lessened. The "Balm of Gilead" 

 poplar trees grow to a great height aud do not cast a dense 

 dark shade, while their long roots coil and bind around the 

 banks to the very best advantage. In ten years these trees 

 will have grown so as to present a most pleasing picture, 

 setting the pond off as with a handsome frame. The shade 

 is grateful both to those who stroll around the pond or sit 

 for hours watching the sporting fish, and also to this life 

 under the water. 



These trees can be found iii any nursery with the possible 

 exception of the Balm of Gilead— that can be procured at 

 any of the large nurseries. All the planting should be done 

 in the spring time, just as soon as the frost comes out of the 

 ground. It is wisest to get small trees rather than large 

 ones— those of two and three years growth make the most 

 successful transplanting. In five years time they will have 

 made handsome growths, and by the lapse of ten years be 

 perfect in shading and beauty. 



How to Stock the Pond.— After the pond has been com- 

 pleted, as above indicated, the next step in order is to care- 

 fully rake over the soil surrounding it, and seed it down 

 with blue grass and a little white clover mixed together, 

 then after the water has become fairly settled to put a dozen 

 or two adult goldfish into it, not later than the 15th or 20th 

 of May; out of this number of goldfish at least two or three 

 will be of the opposite sex. It then becomes necessary to af- 

 ford these fish suitable spawning facilities, since the new 

 pond is entirely bare of vegetable growths. In any low or 

 swampy spot you cau take up bunches of rushes and sedge 



•Q e i ' 



PLAN OF TREE PLANTING. 



A. Cherry. B. Willow, b. Willow, American. C. Maple. 

 D. Norway fir. d. Balsam. E. Arbor vita. F. Hemlock. G. Balm 

 of Gil°ad. H. Quince. I. Rockwork with honeysuckle. K. Nor- 

 way spruce. L. English privet. M. Rockwork grotto, mountain 

 ash, hemlock and tree honeysuckle. 



grasses by the roots, earth and all; set these down in 

 the water 'of the pond at the edges so that they can be 

 reached at any time without difficulty; these transplanted 

 grasses and rushes will grow well, and the fish will freely 

 spawn among them, the eggs adhering. 



Time of Spawning.— Several days before the female gold- 

 fish is ready or ripe for the extrusion of her eggs, she will 

 be observed to swim in restless rapid rotation around and 

 through the water plants; one or two or more males will be 

 closely following her; they are apparently insensible to all 

 danger, and must be carefully guarded from kingfishers and 

 herons at this period, which lasts several days, perhaps a 

 week. As soon as the eggs are deposited, the fish become 

 very quiet and retire to the depth of the pond, where, they 

 apparently go to rest. 



In two days time, if the sun shines brightly on the water, 

 after the eggs are dropped, they hatch; if it is a cloudy spell 

 then a week or even ten days will elapse before hatching; 

 the eggs of the goldfish are no larger than the heads to a 

 paper of medium-sized pins, white and translucent; they 

 fall and adhere firmly to whatever they touch. When first 

 hatched, the voung fish as soon as it absorbs the tiny yolk 

 Tsag which belongs to it, begins to bodly swim out into the 

 pond and greedily feeds upon the microscopic aniinalcula? 

 that warm rainwater ponds afford in abundance. 



The growth of these little fish is exceedingly rapid, so that 

 by the lapse of three weeks they make a very prominent 

 feature all by themselves in the pond as they dart actively 

 hither and thither in feeding. Goldfish hatched in a rain- 

 water pond like that of the writer, reach the length of 4 to 

 6in. in a single season; they do not, as a rule, show much 

 color until the beginning of the second year of their lives; 

 then the variation observed in a fleet of several thousand 

 makes a most beautiful picture of graceful extremes in color 

 between the olive green of immaturity and the rich, "old 

 golden" carmine of adolescence. 



From this time on the goldfish will require no further at- 

 tention; they will grow, midtiply and increase to countless 

 numbers, and if the rainwater supply is enough to keep the 

 poud well filled they seem to always have enough to eat; at 

 least they refuse all artificial food which is thrown into them 

 — the same which they so greedily eat when in aquaria. 



The Enemies of the Goldfish Pond.— The habit of the 

 goldfish which makes it so attractive in the water is also 

 that habit which makes it. so liable to destruction from nat- 

 ural enemies, that habit is the one which orders its graceful 

 and prominent swimming at the surface of the water, where 

 its luminous back is almost raised into the air; this expos- 

 ure of its person attracts the kingfisher and all the herons. 

 These birds once drawn to your well-stocked pond will never 

 leave it alive as long as a fish remains in it. They must be 

 watched and shot. Every morning early for a few weeks in 

 Max and June, the pond should be cautiously surveyed and 

 every one of these birds, which will be apprehended in 

 greater or less number, should be shot. Again, in Septem- 

 ber, as these waterfowl go South, they are likely to drop 

 down upon the pond; they are the very worst and most de- 

 structive agencies that the goldfish are exposed to. 



If the banks of the pond are properly kept, the grass will 

 always be cut short and the edges of the same neatly trimmed 

 right down to the water; this renders all danger of lurking 

 water snakes out of the question, since such serpents will 

 never remain around or in a pond where they cannot crawl 

 into concealment. 



Carefully avoid the introduction of any other small fishes, 

 minnows and the like— they will most likely develop into 

 something carnivorous, and render the troublesome task of 

 drawing off the pond necessary in order to get rid of them. 

 Any turtle, soft shell or snapping, must be removed, as they 

 are expert fishermen. A turtle will lay at the surface of the 

 water, and as the young fish swim around they come in 

 reach of the long neck and wide jaws of the reptile, which 

 are darted out with inconceivable rapidity from the shell at 

 them, seldom failing to catch the particular fish aimed at. 



The nuisance of muskrats is one which the owner of a gold 

 fish pond must encounter sooner or later. The use of a com- 

 mon steel trap will run them out. The traps are best set in 

 the water, directly at the submarine entrance of the rats' 

 burrow. These water rodents soon leam that they are being 

 followed up and suddenly decamp. They forget, however, 

 and will return in a few weeks or months if not again 

 trapped. They do not attempt to catch fish when they are 

 able to roam around and thus secure vegetable food; but 

 when the depth of winter deprives them of that opportunity 

 to a very great extent, if not entirely, then the fish will 

 surely suffer, inasmuch as the chill water renders them 

 stupid and sluggish. 



A great deal has beeu said about tadpoles, about frogs and 

 the larva? of certain water bugs aud the lmgs themselves as 

 all being very active and destructive enemies of the gold- 

 fish. They are not; they certainly destroy eggs and the 

 young fry "to a small extent, but at the same time they afford 

 food that the goldfish thrives upon, which more than offsets 

 their capacity for evil. Watersnails, physa. linnea and 

 jialudina, are always abundant in a good pond; they may 

 also destroy a few eggs ; but they are the scavengers of the 

 pond, eating all decaying vegetable matter as well as ani- 

 mal, iu which service they are assisted by the tadpoles; they 

 keep the water pure, especially during warm weather. 



Such, in brief, is the simple plan and methods required for 

 the establishment of a successful goldfish pond, which is of 

 all the surroundings of the author's country home the most 

 enjoyable single feature on the place. After the trees have 

 become nicely grown and the sod well established, the banks 

 of such a pond are not only attractive as a landscaping study, 

 but are the most agreeable benches on which to loll during 

 the heated summer solstice. Henry C. Elliott. 



Rockport Cottage, Cleveland, O. 



NEW YORK LEGISLATION. 



ALBANY, April 26.— Assemblyman Fitch deserves great 

 credit tor his efforts to advance the bill to provide for 

 the erection of a fish hatchery at Cold Spring Harbor and 

 making an appropriation therefor. He has had his resolu- 

 tion in his hand almost every clay for the past three weeks 

 waiting for a chance to order the bill to a third reading. In 

 its present shape, in the committee of the whole er "gen- 

 eral orders," as ft is called, he does not stand the slightest 

 chance of having it passed unless the session of the Legisla- 

 ture should be unduly prolonged. Mr. Fitch has not been able 

 to advance the bill because the moment he proposed to do 

 this somebody else wanted his own bill to be advanced too; 

 and so it was impossible to carry out his wishes. 



The Legislature has done very little during the past week 

 in the way of advancing bills. The Assembly Game Com- 

 mittee has ordered to a third reading Giese's bill exempting 

 the Niagara River from the law of 1879; and also Sheehan's 

 bill in regard to salmon in the Great Lakes. 



The first bill to become a law was the one (to protect the 

 planting of oysters on Long Island) introduced by Senator 

 Fagan and submitted for one already introduced in the 

 Assembly. 



Tne Assembly has finally passed the bill introduced by its 

 game committee to promote and protect the cultivation of 

 shellfish within the State waters of the State of New York 

 and to raise revenues. The bill was originally introduced 

 by Assemblyman Reeves. Then it was taken in charge by 

 the game committee, who gave several hearings upon the 

 same. Finally the committee drew an amended bill, creating 

 a commission consisting of Commissioner Blackford and 

 two commissioners to be appointed by the Government (cne 

 of whom shall be an engineer), who are to have charge and 

 control of lands under water belonging to the State, suitable 

 for oyster planting, and shall be empowered to lease the 

 same at nominal price per acre, not more than 350 acres to 

 be so leased to any one person. The bill was strongly an- 

 tagonized, and efforts made to exempt all the counties which 

 would be affected. The only amendment adopted was that 

 offered by Mr. Haggerty, exempting Kings county from the 

 operation of the act, there being very few oyster lands in 

 that county. 



Mr. Hadley said that the act was not experimental. Rhode 

 Island and Connecticut had had such a law in operation for 

 six years, and oyster production had been quadrupled. 

 Other oyster producing States are about to enact a similar 

 law. 



Mr. Fitch said that the House had already set its face 

 against any new commissions. The bill would not cnly 

 take away the public lands from the little oystermen, but 

 would place in the control of a commission not elected by 

 the people, responsible to nobody, and under no bonds, 

 thousands of acres of land under water now controlled by 

 the State, and from which any citizen can now gather 

 oysters. This bill will create and foster an immense mono- 

 poly. 



Mr. Erwin declared that its effect would be exactly the 

 reverse of a monopoly. The bill provided against that. Its 

 effect would be to bring into the State treasury half a million 

 dollars. Mr. Erwin's opinion of the oystermen was not very 

 high. "Why, they would steal the whole State of New 

 York, New Jersey'aud Connecticut if you let them," said 

 Mr. Erwin. "They came very near getting away with the 

 whole ways and means committee, body, soul and clothing." 



The bill was passed; ayes 80, noes 17. Pending further 

 amendments that are likely to be made in the Senate, the 

 correspondent of the Forest" and Stream will hold the bill 

 until there is no chance of its being changed from its present, 

 condition. 



AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY. 



THE executive committee have made a change in the date 

 of the next annual meeting of the Society, to be held at 

 Washington. At the last meeting the dates fixed, on motion 

 of Mr W. L. May, vice-president of the Society, were the 

 13th, 13th and 11th days of May, 1887. It was the intention 

 of that gentleman, and others, to have the meeting held on 

 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of some week in May, 

 and a member produced a calender showing that these days 

 fell on the dates named, but it must have been a calendar 

 for some other year. On discovering this Mr. May wrote to 

 the recording secretary, and as the date of meeting was close 

 at hand, and no preparation had been made tor notification 

 of members or a request for papers sent out, correspondence 

 was immediately opened with the officers, of whom there 

 are twelve, and at present writing eight have favored Tues- 

 day, Wednesday and Thursday, May 31, June 1 and 2, one 

 has voted for the original dates, and three have not been 

 heard from. Therefore the executive committee have de- 

 cided that the meeting will be held in Washington on these 

 davs last named, and a notice to this effect will soon be sent 

 out. 



