SOUTHS EN CULTIYATOE. 
11 
experiment in rearing the different species, and desirous of 
ridding ourselves of several that had multiplied too 
rapidly and now kept the water so muddy that we were 
no longer able to watch the movements of the fish, we 
concluded to drain the pond. After having prepared three 
or four artificial pools for the preservation of those species 
we were desirous of retaining, the dam was gradually cut 
loose from the top downwards. By the use of our gate- 
way which, being closely wired, prevented the escape of 
any but the smallest specimens, we now had them all 
crowded together in a narrow pool, from which they were 
readily taken by hundreds. 
The following species had multiplied, more or less, 
abundantly : 
1. The common Eel {Artgwilla tenidrostrU), this species 
breeds in fresh water, notwitlistanding the contrary opin- 
ions of most Naturalists ; 2. The Cat-Fish, called, at the 
North, Bull-Head {Pbnclodiis catus); 3. Yellow Perch 
(Perea fiavesems) ; 4. The Sun-Fish or common Perch 
(Pomotis vulgaris) ; 5. The Black Sucker, Creek Sucker 
or Mud Sucker ( Catostouvus nigricoMs) ; 6 . The Corporal, 
beautiful Leuciscus (Lcuciscus jnUcheUus); 7. The New 
York Shiner Gold Shiner Silver Fish (Lcuciscus 
americanus) ; 8. The Red Fin — Rough Head — (Leuciscus 
e(tTnutis); 9. The Horned Chub (Leuciscus capkalus). 
There may have been a few others of the smaller species 
which we had introduced as food for the larger fishes, but 
of which, at this late date, we have no recollection. 10. 
The Northern Pickerel (Esox reticulatus). 
The Cat-Fish we resolved to banish from the pond. 
Having ascertained that something was in the nightly 
habit of disturbing the Perch beds, we went at night with 
a lantern to detect the offender and found both Eels and 
Cat-Fish industriously engaged in rooting up the beds in 
search of the spawn or the helpless young fry. The 
Cat-Fish, from appearances, would soon have overstocked 
the pond. The young were seen following the mother as 
chickens follow a hen, and keeping in her wake, resem- 
bling young Tadpoles. The young of our large Carolina 
Mud- Fish (Amia calva) have the same habit. There are 
about 16 species of Cat-Fish described as existing in 
North America, and several others with which we are ac- 
quainted remain undescribed. A few only of the species 
are desirable, and as we have much better fish that suc- 
ceed equally well in a pond, we do not advise the rearing 
any of the species of the Cat-Fish. The Yellow Perch 
succeeded admirably. It appeared to grow more rapidly 
and became much larger in the pond than in the river. 
The usual length is from six to twelve inches. We have, 
however, found them 17 inches in length at three years 
old. They, also, came up more readily to be fed than the 
Sun-Fish or common Perch. The latter species multi- 
plied, but too rapidly, and we found that the waters of the 
pond were either not adapted to their growth or that they 
were too numerous to find the proper kinds of food. In 
comparing them with similar species of the same age in 
-the neighboring ponds, ours were much smaller. This 
continued to be the case ever afterwards— they multiplied 
too fast and grew too slowly. It was almost the only 
benefit we afterwards derived from the voracious Pickerel 
that they served to lessen the swarms of our stunted sun- 
fish. The Horned Chub, which was the only additional 
pan fish brought to the table, grew rapidly and attained 
to the size of from 8 to 10 inches. We observed that this 
species, as well ae the Creek Suckers and some other 
small species, in spring ascended the stream that led into 
the pond for the purpose of spawning. We rejected the 
Mud Sucker as an inferior fish. 
The following species did not multiply in our Fish 
Pond : 
1. The large river Sucker (Catostemns bosioniensis), 
measuring from 12 to 16 inches in length. We cannot 
find a good description of this species, and authors seem 
not to have studied its habits. Y7e placed upwards of a 
hundred in the pond, but, although it was in early 
spring, and they were filled with eggs, yet they were not 
deposited, since we found these ova later in the seasoa 
much diminished in size and nearly absorbed. We, sub- 
sequently, on several occasions in th.e month of May dis- 
covered, as we supposed, the cause of this peculiarity. 
Immediately under the falls of the Tomhanick, whose 
rushing waters had worn out a basin among the slaty 
rocks, this species was in the act of spawning. They had 
four or five spawning places in a square of about 150 feet. 
The fishes in each shoal, amounting from 60 to 100, 
were for hours pursuing and passing over each other, 
swimming in the form of an irregular chain, each group 
circling round their separate spawning bed. Thousands 
of eggs were swept down the current where the Shiners, 
Chubs and other fishes were waiting to devour them. Wo 
concluded that as the stream that fed our fish ponds pos- 
sessed no such foaming torrent to excite the fish, the im- 
petus requisite to induce them to spawn was wanting. 
Thus, it appears that whilst the Perch, and other specie* 
require still water and a regular circular bed to enable 
them to go through the process of spawning, others like 
this large river Sucker, the Shad and some species of the 
Salmon and Trout will only deposit their spawn in rapid 
streams and amidst the agitations of the foaming waters. 
The American White Perch (Labrax omericanus) re- 
fused to breed in our fish pond, although, as we have been 
informed by Prof. Holbrook, (a perfectly reliable author- 
ity) it thrives very well in some of the ponds and 
lakes of fresh water in the Northern States. 
The Brook Trout (Salvw fontinalis) the water 
of too warm a temperature for its peculiarly cold nature. 
After each successive rain, producing a rise in the water^ 
they crowded to the mouth of our waste way and struggled 
at the wires to escape from waters unsuited to their con- 
stitutions. Before mid-summer one by one had died and 
were found floating on the surface, until notan individual 
was left alive. This being a favorite fish, we resolved to 
try another experiment. A cold spring, used for drink- 
ing purposes, poured its stream from the sides of an adja- 
cent hill at the distance of about an hundred yards. Thia 
we conducted to the pond in zig zag lines, by which tho 
distance was incre.a6ed. By dint of digging, we formed 
shelving banks, and damming up the stream in som« 
twenty places with rocks we were provided with so many 
ponds of from 6 inches to 2 or 3 feet deep. The wat«: 
was very clear, and, after filling the pools, it ran with a 
gentle murmur from one little pool to the other, until it 
finally entered into the pond. It was late in summer be- 
fore the work was completed. A single day was only 
left us in our school vacation, the following day being the 
first of September, we had to leave for an Academy in a 
neighboring State. We determined, if possible, to stock 
our stream with Trout on that day. Our servant had to 
pass through the woods to the Trout brook and carried 
no other vessels but two tin kettles. He was very suc- 
cessful in taking, with a hook, about twenty large Trout ; 
but he had teen too greedy lor numbers The day wa* 
warm, and, notwithstanding his having changed the water 
several times, the Trout were all dead. The femaltjy were 
full of eggs ready to be deposited, all the true Trout fami- 
ly spawning in autumn instead of the spring. We again 
resorted to the spawti, and, at this time, with more than a 
faint hope of success. We separated the eggs and placed 
them together with the milt in all the cliftereni holes of the 
newly formed Trout brottk, giving strict, orders that the 
eggs and the younij-, during our nine months absence, 
should remain undisturbed We expected the eggs to 
hatch in a month, as had been ilie case u iih our Corpor- 
als, We heard weekly from liorne, hut were alway in- 
