CARP. 
207 
affords, the quicker will be the growth of the fish. 
Spring and autumn are the best seasons for stocking 
the main-ponds. During the winter, when the 
ponds are covered with ice, holes must be carefully 
made every day for the admission of fresh air ; if 
this caution is neglected, the carp will frequently 
perish. In the summer season the ponds must be 
kept clear of weeds ; but they must never be dragged 
in the spawning season, as that would be the de- 
struction of thousands of fish. The best season for 
catching such carp as are intended for market is 
autumn. After the pond has been five or six years 
in constant use, the water should be let entirely off, 
to clear it of mud, which often increases too much 
and becomes a nuisance. When the pond is dry, it 
should be ploughed up before the frost sets in : this 
should be repeated in the spring, and oats or barley 
sown in it, which will repay the owner with a rich 
and plentiful crop. Some people sow a pond which 
has been dry for some months with oats ; and when 
they are growing, fill it up with water, and intro- 
duce carp for spawning. This practice seems, how- 
ever, to be more noxious than beneficial ; for the 
growing oats, instead of affording nourishment, will 
decay, and communicate putridity to the water, 
which can by no means be salutary to the fish. 
In some of the ponds Dr. Forster recollects to 
have seen carp above a yard long, and of twenty-five 
pounds weight, but he had no opportunity of ascer- 
taining their real age. In the pond at Charlotten- 
