134 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
shop, nicely fettered, with his shoes clicking 
at every step ; while, perhaps, the man of 
inquiry would desire a full explanation. My 
way is, to make the toe corks very low, and 
standing a little under, and the shoes set as 
far back as convenient on the forward feet, 
with high heel corks, so as to let them roll 
over as soon as possible. On the hind feet, 
I have the heel-cork low, and the toe-cork 
high, projecting forward, thus keeping back 
the hind foot, while coming up over a high 
toe-cork, giving time to the forward foot to 
get out of the way. If thus shod, the horse 
will travel clean, without a click, and his 
speed will be increased on a trot fifteen or 
twenty seconds in a mile.—New-England 
Farmer. 
FISH PONDS FOE COUNTRY - PLACES. 
While thousands of our fellow-citizens in 
town and country are planning and improv¬ 
ing their several residences and grounds 
with the appliances to make them desirable, 
we can not, perhaps, do them a better serv¬ 
ice than to bring to their notice the con¬ 
struction of fish-ponds. The winter is a 
good time to construct these useful as well 
as ornamental appendages. We observe 
with great pleasure that the New-York 
State Agricultural Society have offered a 
prize of one hundred dollars for the best 
essay on the production and preservation of 
domesticated fish, for ponds, and we trust 
some one of experience and abiiity will 
compete for the prize, that those desirous of 
having these agreeable accompaniments to 
their country places may profit by the les¬ 
sons which they may thus receive. 
The propagation and domestication of fish 
is perfectly within the control of any one 
having the opportunity, as has been demon¬ 
strated by recent practice abroad. For the 
construction of ponds, we can not do a bet¬ 
ter service than to give an extract from 
“Allen’s Rural Architecture,” edition of 1854, 
published by C. M. Saxton, of this City : 
FISH-PONDS. 
Wherever water in sufficient quantity can 
be introduced by a side-cut from a stream,by 
damming the stream itself or by drawing it 
from a large spring, and the face of the 
ground in the vicinity of the house can af¬ 
ford a suitable place, either by inclosing a 
natural hollow or ravine by a dam, or by 
excavation, a fish-pond is well worthy the 
attention of a country resident, even if he be 
but a small farmer. As an ornamental fea¬ 
ture of the place, it is of the most agreeable 
character; its utility will be unquestioned. 
The size of the pond is immaterial, beyond 
half an acre in area—less it should not be— 
and if it embrace even twenty, thirty, or fifty 
acres, provided the propietor can afford to 
devote so much land to that object, it will 
be all the better for the fish, both in numbers 
and in quality. 
The depth of water may vary—no matter 
how deep—but the deepest part should not 
be less than ten feet, that there may be a 
cool retreat for the fish in summer, and a 
warm resting-place in winter; and if a depth 
to that extent can be made close to the mar¬ 
gin on a part of the boundary, it will be al l 
the better, as the fish may then enjoy the 
overhanging shade of the bank. The shore 
should be undulating if possible ; irregular in 
its outline, and a part of it shaded by trees 
and shrubbery, as fish love shade as well as 
sunshine. A part of the shore should be 
shallow, and shelve off gradually into the 
deep water, and if partially grown up with 
rushes, or lying on a smooth, clean sand or 
gravel, it will accommodate the different va¬ 
rieties of fish to bed and spawn upon ; some 
preferring the shady and muddy bottom of 
the rush beds, and others the pebbly, clear 
and sunny floor of the pond for that object. 
The temperature of the water will vary, ac¬ 
cording to its depth and proximity to the 
shore, from ten to twenty degrees at any 
given time, thus affording accommodation to 
different varieties of the fish which may in¬ 
habit it in the various conditions of breeding, 
growth, and feeding, as they are enabled to 
treat themselves in their natural haunts in 
wild waters. 
According to the clearness, temperature, 
and purity of the water, will depend the se¬ 
lection of the kinds of fish which are to in 
habit it. If the soil forming the bed of the 
pond be light, and clean, and stony, and the 
water be let in from a spring, or a spring 
brook of a low temperature, the Speckled 
Trout, and the cold-water fishes which are 
found in the same natural waters with them, 
may be introduced. Yet for trout, the vva 
ter should have some current. They are a 
playful and active fish, and nothing delights 
them more than the bubbling water of a 
spring, or the rapid shooting of a stream 
over a rugged bed. Still in cool and clear 
water, a pond will satisfy them if the circu¬ 
lation be such as to avoid stagnation. The 
trout, too, love a (jeep hole, under a shaded 
bank, by the side of a projecting rock, or be¬ 
neath the roots of a huge tree. There the 
larger ones love to gather, and from such 
haunts are the finest specimens to be drawn 
with the hook. They love to spawn in clear 
eddies, in sunny spots, over a stony or sandy 
bed, where their young fry can feed upon the 
animalcula and insects which play about the 
margin. 
The Yellow Perch, a beautiful and de¬ 
licious fish, may also be introduced into 
clear and cool water. It is quick and active 
in its movements, bites readily at the hook, 
and is exceedingly prolific. In the spring 
and summer season it loves to lie among 
rusheq on the margin of a gently-flowing 
stream or a still pond, when it spawns and 
breeds. The perch will thrive in water too 
warm and sluggish for the trout, but like the 
trout, it loves to retreat and hide itselfunder 
a bank in the deep shadow during the day. 
If the pond be sufficiently extensive, the 
Bass, in its varieties may be introduced; but 
as they are a much larger fish than the trout 
or the perch, they require a greater depth of 
water and a wider range for their food. 
The bass is an excellent table fish, and pro¬ 
lific in the propagation of its kind. 
The Pike might also be added, in clear and 
cool waters. But it is a voracious, heartless 
wretch preying upon every other fish of les¬ 
ser size within its reach, and by its rapid 
movements enabled to dart and seize upon 
everything inhabiting the same waters from 
which it can not escape. A single pike or 
two, introduced into a close pond,dias been 
known within a few months to entirely de¬ 
populate it of all other sizeable fish. Al¬ 
though, in its natural haunts, a fish of excel¬ 
lent quality of flesh, they should hardly be 
introduced into the domestic pond. 
The Yellow Carp (the gold fish) is a beau¬ 
tiful creature to throw into the pond. They 
are not a fish of prey upon its fellows, but 
live chiefly on insects and worms. They 
may be domesticated like the perch, and fed 
from the hand, and called by a bell to their 
accustomed feeding places in the pond. 
When turned out at large, their progeny will 
change into silver and brown varieties of 
color, while some of them will retain the 
deep orange of the originals. On the whole 
they are a beautiful and interesting fish, and 
should always be introduced into the pond. 
In dark waters, resting on an oozy or 
muddy bottom, the European Carp is a capi¬ 
tal and appropriate fish for propagation. It 
feeds like the yellow carp, chiefly on water- 
worms, and has a “sucker” mouth, and 
grows to the weight of five, ten or twelve 
pounds. 
The Mullet is also a good fish and of equal 
size to the carp, and when the waters are 
cold, of the finest flavor for the table. In 
w r arm weather, its flesh is apt to become soft 
and flavorless. The mullet also takes its 
food by suction. It is a fish of exceeding 
beauty, having large scales of most brilliant 
varying shades of silver, purple and yellow, 
which give it an uncommon richness in ap¬ 
pearance. These “ sucker-mouthed ” fish 
do not take the hook like the trout, the perch, 
or the bass, but may be caught by the net, or 
spear, as they lie in the shallow water near 
the shore, either in the day-time, or by torch¬ 
light at night. 
The Sdver Eel may also be put into the 
muddy bottom pond, but when confined, they 
make sad havoc with the other fish, as well 
as with young ducks or goslings, if they are 
permitted to swim in it. Although a migra¬ 
tory fish, they will remain in confined waters, 
but they have too many disagreeable qual. ; = 
ties in their social relations to be the com¬ 
panions of the better fish that we have named. 
In all waters where edible fish are kept, 
smaller varieties should be introduced, as the 
Chub, the Sun Fish or Roach, the Dace, the 
Shiner, the Smelt, and the Minnow ; they are 
prolific in breeding, and furnish abundant 
food for the Bass, the Trout, and the Perch, 
which fatten upon them. The larger of these 
yield the finest of sport to the children, with 
their pin hooks and thread lines if they have 
no better. They are a nice pan fish also, 
bating the multitude of their little bones; but 
fried to a crisp, they are seldom in the way. 
In stocking a new pond, a sufficient variety 
of both the smaller and the larger kinds 
should be introduced, so that a fair trial may 
be had with each, and such as the waters 
best suit will ultimately become the chief 
tenants of the domain ; but if Pike and Eels 
be introduced, let them by all means be put 
in together, and alone, to feed upon the frogs 
