1874] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
373 
How to Stock Ponds witli Black Bass. 
Great progress has been made in the last five 
years in the distribution of the Black Bass, 
especially in New York and in the New Eng- 
land States. Two hundred or more ponds and 
lakes have been stocked, and yet we are con- 
tinually receiving letters of inquiry, which 
show that people have very imperfect informa- 
tion in regard to the habits of the fish, and the 
best method of introducing them. Some in- 
quire for the spawn, sup- 
posing that they are pro- 
pagated like the Salmoni- 
dse. But all attempts to 
take spawn from this fish 
have been failures, so far 
as we arc informed. Some 
ponds have been stocked 
with the fry, but it re- 
mains to be seen whether 
this will prove successful. 
The fry are very small, 
and remain but a few 
days over the beds where 
they are hatched, so that 
it requires very close 
watching to capture them. 
They are removed just at 
the time when they are 
said to have the protec- 
tion of the parent fish, and 
they are all liable to perish 
in new water among other 
species of fish. The com- 
mon and the most reliable 
method of introducing the 
bass, is to transport adult 
fish from well - stocked 
ponds to new localities. 
This, when properly done, 
has never been known to 
fail. In most of the States 
there is legal protection 
to the fish for three years, 
generally granted by spe- 
cial act of the legislature. 
But this is not long 
enough to secure the ob- 
ject. It should be in all 
cases five years. The fish 
do not bite freely until 
after the spawning is over 
in May and June, and 
they do not usually reach 
their new home until July 
or later, so that there is 
no fry from them until 
the second year. The 
fish generally selected 
for transfer are from one to three years 
old, measuring from 3 to 13 inches in length"! 
Fish of this size are not only more numer- 
ous, but they bear transportation better, 
and are more readily acclimated, than when 
larger. They are moved with a good deal of 
difficulty in hot weather, especially when the 
journey requires more than twelve or fifteen 
hours. With the most skillful management, 
there will be a considerable loss. In the fall 
months there is much less loss. 
There is a great want of information in 
regard to the character of the water suitable 
to this fish. We have many letters from the 
owners of horse-ponds, a half acre or less in 
extent, having neither springs nor water run- 
ning through them for a portion of the year. 
The bass wants clear lively water with rocky 
or gravelly bottom, and the more of it the bet- 
ter. It wants room for itself and for the poor- 
er kinds of fish upon which it feeds voracious- 
ly. It does well in the mill-ponds upon manu- 
facturing streams, and if the head waters and 
reservoirs are stocked, they will in a few years 
be found in all the waters below. They flour- 
ish also in natural ponds of twenty acres or 
m ire. Some decline to stock these ponds or 
la'.es because they are generally free to the 
public. But this is short sighted policy. A 
large pond or lake stocked at a cost of one or 
such progress in the Eastern States, that an or- 
der for trout, or bass, is about as readily filled 
as an order for Jerseys or Cotswolds. 
The Beisa Antelope. 
the beisa antelope. — (Oryx Beisa.) 
two hundred dollars, and protected by law for 
five years, will furnish better sport to the gen- 
tlemen or company who undertake the enter- 
prise than they could find in any small pond of 
their own. In suitable water black bass mul- 
tiply veiy fast, and after they once gain pos- 
session, their numbers can never be very seri- 
ously reduced by hook fishing. The annual 
spawning will more than keep up the supply. 
There are thousands of ponds and lakes in the 
Northern and Middle States of from one hun- 
dred to a thousand acres, producing only the 
poorer kinds of fish, that might easily be 
stocked with bass, and add largely to the food 
supply of the people. It only needs the effort 
of a few individuals in any neighborhood or 
township to accomplish this good work. When 
the funds are raised, there is little difficulty in 
procuring the fish. Fish culture has made 
The Antelopes are a numerous family. Their 
principal characteristic is the cylindrical and 
annulated form of their horns, which in the 
antelopes are never angular or ridged longitu- 
dinally. The various spe- 
cies comprise animals 
which greatly differ in 
size ; one species, which 
is the smallest of all horn- 
ed creatures, being no 
larger than a hare ; others 
stand from 3i to 4 feet in 
hight at the shoulders, and 
weigh some 800 to 900 
pounds. One species in- 
habits our Western plains, 
the Prong-horn Antelope, 
which is perhaps the most 
elegant and graceful of all 
our wild animals. Our 
illustration represents one 
of the many species which 
are peculiar to Africa, 
and is known to natural- 
ists as the Oryx Beisa. It 
is only since the English 
invasion of Abyssinia, 
that tiie animal has been 
observed by naturalists, 
and until recently no liv- 
ing individual had been 
captured. A specimen 
has within a short time 
been added to the magnif- 
icent collection of the 
Zoological Gardens of 
Regents Park, Loudon, of 
which our illustration — 
for which we are indebt- 
ed to the London Field 
— is a portrait from life. 
The Beisa Antelope dif- 
fers from a well known, 
closely allied species, the 
Leucoryx of Northern 
Africa, in having straight 
horns, and by its peculiar 
markings. It is of a cream 
color, with black bands 
upon the face and legs. Its 
length of face is 17 inches, 
from its ears to the root of 
the tail it measures 4 feet 
7 inches, the tail is 26 inches in length, including 
the brush, which measures 11 inches. The 
hight at the shoulders is 3 feet 7 inches, and the 
length of the horns is 2 feet 6 inches. The 
courage and strength of this graceful beast is 
such, that it readily attacks, and frequently 
vanquishes and kills the lion, and, when 
wounded, it charges the hunter with great fierce- 
ness. These animals feed upon coarse grasses, 
apd occasionally browse upon the shoots 
of acacias and other trees. They feed in the 
morning and evening only, and drink at mid- 
day. They run in herds of ten and less in num- 
ber, although single animals are occasionally met 
with. They are exceedingly cautious and wary, 
and can only be approached with difficulty. 
By the capture of this rare animal the natural 
lpstory of Africa, of which we have so much yet 
to learn, has been enriched in a notable degree. 
