DOMESTIC FISH-PONDS.-NO. 
281 
pounds ; in six years, from eight to ten pounds, and 
afterthat, the increase is from one and a quarter to 
a pound and a half every year, until they arrive at 
a weirht of thirty pounds, when it may be calcu¬ 
lated mat the fish is twenty years old. A spiegel 
carp, however, at sixteen years of age, has been 
known to weigh thirty-one and a half pounds. 
Boccim states that he has seen a pair of 
carps taken out of a pond, the male of 
which -weighed forty-three pounds Sax¬ 
on (46 lls. Avoirdupois), and the female 
forty-eight pounds. Some years after¬ 
wards thg same fishes were taken again, 
when tie male weighed fifty-two 
pounds ^axon, and the female, fifty- 
five pounds. In warmer countries they 
attain a mjich larger size, and grow, as 
stated by Cuvier, to the length of four 
feet. Under favorable circumstances, the 
fecundity oi this fish is very great, no 
fewer than 700,000 ova having been found in a 
single carp ; and this property is thought to in¬ 
crease with age. The ova are deposited upon 
weeds, among which the female is followed by 
two or three males, in the months of May and 
June, in the British Isles; and they are in best con¬ 
dition from October till April. The carp is very 
tenacious of life, and may be preserved out of the 
water lor a considerable time, especially when 
covered with some moist substance, in cool wea¬ 
ther. In Holland, it is sometimes suspended in 
nets full of moss, in a damp cellar, where, being 
moistened with water or milk, it is said, it 
will not only live, but actually improve, under the 
process. 
A ten-pound well-fed carp is considered a great 
delicacy ; but the flesh of a thirty-pound fish is 
tough ; indeed, when they much exceed ten pounds, 
they are fit only for breeding. The flesh-like mem¬ 
brane in the roof of the mouth of the carp has been 
falsely called a tongue. Walton, who believes 
this, says, quaintly enough, “ The tongues of carps 
are noted to be choice and costly meat, especially 
to those that buy them.” The tongue of a carp is 
very small and slender. 
The tench ( Tinea 
vulgaris ) is a thick 
fish, rather short in 
proportion to its 
length, with the co¬ 
lor of its back, its 
dorsal and ventral 
fins of a dusky hue, 
and its head, sides, 
and belly, of a green¬ 
ish cast, most beau¬ 
tifully mixed with 
gold. It sometimes 
attains a considerable 
size, often weighing 
10 or 12 pounds. 
It is extremely partial to deep ponds, with muddy 
bottoms, where, in company with the carp, it 
buries itself in the mud at the same period. In this 
state it remains torpid during the winter months; 
and, as spring advances, it quits its slimy bed ; 
spawns, in Europe, from June to September. The 
female, as stated bv Yarrell ic nQiioH.v o ff/}»-»/! s>.A 1— -c— 
two males, that follow her from one bunch of weeds 
to another, upon which the ova are deposited. The 
ova are very numerous, there being, according to 
Bloch, nearly 300,000 in a fish of four pounds 
weight. 
The tench, in England, is reckoned as a whole¬ 
some and delicious food; but the Germans are of a 
Carp—Fig. 68. 
different opinion. By way of contempt, they call 
it the shoe-maker. Gesner even goes so far as to 
say that its flesh is insipid and unwholesome ; but 
this diversity of opinion is to be ascribed more to 
the difference in feeding them, than to other exter¬ 
nal circumstances. Both the carp and tench thrive 
well on boiled potatoes, or Indian meal. 
It is remarkable that no fish of prey will ever 
attack a tench, which, it has even been supposed, 
acts medicinally on other fish. In Germany, it is 
called the doctor-fish , and Walton calls it the 
“ physician of fishes,” especially to the pike; for, 
“ the pike,” says he, “ being either sick or hurt, is 
cured by the touch of the tench. And it is observed 
that the tyrant pike will not be a wolf to his phy¬ 
sician, but forbears to devour him though he be 
never so hungry.” If there be any truth in this 
supposition, it may arise from the glutinous, slimy 
quality of the skin of the tench ; for it is certainly 
affirmed by many naturalists of repute, that when 
fish have been wounded by the fangs of an enemy, 
or struck by a hook, they have frequently been ob¬ 
served, and taken in company with the tench. For 
this reason it has been recommended that in stocking 
a pond with fish, a proportion of them be of tench. 
Tench.—Fig. 69. 
Brooding .—The proper time for brooding a pond 
is about the end of October, in Europe, but earlier 
in the northern parts of the United States Boccius 
recommends for every acre of water in extent, 200 
brood carp; 20 brood tench ; and 20 brood jack or 
pike, all of one season’s spawn. Each of the suc- 
-a Kn <a+r»/»lr£irt in 1 i Ita nrnnortion j 
