The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-09-28 00:00:00

MR. FRANK WICKLAND ON 'POND
FISH" AND "EELS."

The following letter, sent to The Times for publics.
tion, contains suggestions so practical and usetul that
we have pleasure in reprinting it :

Considering the present high price of animal food of all
kinds, I consider it my duty, both Ai :Jelly and privately, to
call the attention of the public to two sources of food which
deserve recognition—l allude to "pond fish' and " eels."
There are ponds and lakes innumerable In gentlemen's parks
and other private properties which are not cultivated at all;
the fish are simply left to take their chance, and once or
twice a year a great demonstration is made to • let off the
water and net the ponds." On these occasions cart loads
of fish, mostly small things, are taken, and given away "to
get rid of them. '
This is all wrong, it Is not piscicultural science at all: pond
fish breed very fast, and there is in a lake or pond but a
limited space of water. Fish, like everything else, require
food, and in an overstocked pond their food is reduced to a
MilLill4l.l. The consequence of this over crowding is that
the 11,11 are all small, wretched, half-starved things What I
advise is that ponds and lakes be drawn regularly three or
more times a year.

I will not specify dates. All that is required is that
the fish should have absolutely three months as •' close U me"
to breed quite undisturbed—viz., May and July. A net of
one inch and a half from knot to knot should he used. The
fry will escape through this mesh, and all the small thib
should be returned to the water, only those of an edible
size should be sent to market. If this were done, I feel con-
vinced that such fish an Jack, perch, roach, carp, tench,
bream, Ac., would increase much in size, value, and num-
bers ; and mind you these fish, if properly cooked, are
splendid eating. The Norfolk Broltfii want looking up badly; we
have here a magnificent nursery for fish now terribly poached.

Pond tish should be fed regularly. This is easily affected
by Mingiug up on boughs overhanging the water a bunch of
rats, a rabbit or two, or even a horse's leg. These would
breed thousands of gentles from flies, which would drop into
the water and fatten the fish. Lob worms, again, are at
present not utilized. Why should they not be turned to
account, as they are' turtle soup" to the fish? They should,
therefore, be collected when they come out of their holes in
the early morning, and given to the fish—always in the same
place, as the fish will soon find out where their tdinner is
served.

If pond fish are well fed and well netted, depend upon it
tons of good food would be sent into our markets, especially
during the autumn and winter months, when it is "close
time" for salmon.

The owners of ponds and lakes ought to know that the
plan of so-called "cleaning ponds" is both wasteful and ex-
pensive. Contractors charge heavily for the lob, and about
80 per cent, of water is carted away lu the form of liquid
mud at so much per ton. The proper thing to do Is to let
the pond run dry—transport the fish elsewhere, and there in
the soft mud sow potatoes, rye, grass, or oats. These vege-
tables will feed greedily upon the nnul, and ill mistake not
the proprietor will get splendid crops When the crop is
reaped take out the soil—not mud now but almost solid
earth useful for manure—and turn on the water and re-
stock with fish which will thrive amazingly on the new
ground. Thus there will be alternately a crop of fish and
of vegetables 'this is not a new idea It was drat started
by an Austrian Bishop who wrote on this satject long long
ago a work, of which I know only two copies In black letter
—Dttbraeme to Pocinc. Let us profit by the wisdom of
our ancestors,

I now take up the question of eels. There are thousands
of tons of eels, and therefore thousands of sovereigns lost
to the country, because people do not catch their eels
From about the middle of September—just at this time—to
the end of October, the eels migrate from the rivers and lakes
to the sea, and yet for the most part nooody attempt. to
catch thorn. When appointed Commissioner to inquire into
"the Effect of recent Legislation on the Salmon Fisheries of
Scotland,' I was amazed to find that my friends, the Scotch
Salmon fishers, allow the eels to pass them in September and
October. I know that they would themselves as soon wit a
boa constrictOr Or sniper as they would an eel, yet I suppose
they will not object to catch and soli the eels. The poor
people In London are very fond of stewed eels. I have been
the round of the stewed-gel shops to see for myself. The ver-
diet is that stewed eels are most nutritious and capital food
In one shop I counted thirty-two people, besides myself,
eating their quiet pew.) worth of stewed eels. I measured
(on the quiet) my pennywoi th. I had jest four Inches of
eel, each bit about the size of the little finger, plus no end
of melted butter and savoury herbs. As I saw these poor
people sucking up gad and nutritious foci in the term of
stewed eels. I vowed a vow that I would write to The Time 4
to see if I could wake.lip my fishing friends In England,
Wales, and especially in Scotland. and ask them to be good
enough to catch their eels, put money In their own pockets,
and help to feed my friends, the public—both poor and Tic's
Eel nets set at this time of year at bridges and fishing weirs
will not interfere in the least with the salmon, for the
salmon are going up, the eels are going down. Eels will run
to sea during the neat six weeks, provided there is uo moon.
FRANK RUCKLANO, itlllpeCtOT NariAoll Fisheries.
4, Old Palace-yard, Westminster.

In connection with the foregoing, the Daily Na v has the
following leader :

The Economics of Food is the great topic of the
hour, anl already the contributions to the contem-
porary literature of the subject are becoming not only
numerous but picturesque. We have had our discus-
sions upon the value of meat from Australia, and specu-
lations on the facility with which every one could be
accommodated with turtle soup and green fat at the
price of a bun and a saveloy. No doubt some good
must arise out of these suggestions in the end. They
have already attracted attention to our ignorance of
supplies which lie close to us, and to our extravagance
in using the staple articles of consumption in our house-
holds. Mr. Frank Buckland has now come forward in
order, as he puts it, " officially and privately to
call the attention of the public to two sources of food
"which deserve recognition." Mr. Buckland can cer.
tainly speak with authority. Officially he is connected
with salmon, but ex•officiallyhe is the very good friend
of the porpoise, the familiar associate of the snake, a
kindly accoucheur of the rhinoceros, the patron and
biographer of ouch animals as the cassowary, described
in "Vivian Grey," whcse breakfast consisted of half
a dozen pounds of rumpsteak, a couple of bars of hard
iron, some pig-lead, and brown stout. Mr. Buckland
has himself brou ;ht up fish by hand. He has filled a
museum with portraits of celebrities captured in the
Tay, the Tweed, or the Shannon. Now, as he knows
so much about animals and fish, it is not curious that
he should claim a right to recommend some of them
to us for eating. He directs our notice to the fact
that we might enormously multiply our food resources
by cultivating pond fish and eels. Our ponds, he tells
us, are wastefully managed. The aquarium is, to a
great extent, left to take care of itself. The inhabi-
tants are not properly seen to. They should be fed re-
gularly, for instance. Mr. Buckland, who is eminently
a practical naturalist, here gives a bill of fare for pond
fish. A bunch of rats, a rabbit or two, or a horse's leg
hung over the water until sufficiently " high " for
gentles to drop from—these dainties would he received
with gratitude by jack, perch, roach, and carp.
This art of pisciculture is not a new one. The
Chinese have long employed it in their submerged
paddy fields while in the classic times the fishponds
of Lucullus were reported to have fetched enormous
sums when auctioned. In England, when Fasting
Days on fish diet were in fashion, the monks fed fat
carp and mullet; but we seem to have lest the very
tradition of the practice. Mr. Buckland is quite right
in pointing out the possibility of rearing our own fish
for edible purposes again, as we might our own
mutton or our own vegetables. The only thing is
whether the play would be worth the foot-lights.
He tells us that the pond fish, "if " properly
cook.l, are splendid eating. There is much virtue in
this "if." A roach or a perch under simple culinary
conditions may be compared to a boiled hair-brush.
A great deal, of course, might depend on the feeding.
Mr. Buckland may be acquainted with an oilcake for
pike that would afterwards render the flavour of that
inland shark not only succulent, but delicate. As yet,
however, this fact remains one of the secrets of pisci-
culture ; while unon our dinner tables the appearance
of a pike on a gala occasion would be now as singular
as that of a peacock. In the eel, however, Mr. Buck
land justly observes an enormous supply of neglected
food. People are prejudiced in some places against these
cc, attires. In fact, in Scotland or Ireland the pea-
santry will rarely touch them. No doubt they are al-
together wrong. But eels are not the only neg-
lected source of food. Mr. Buckland, who knows
something of sea fish as well as of river flab, must be
aware that our people altogether neglect to avail them-
selves in an adequate manner of the wealth of the ocean
taken by the nets. And although they may be wrong
to prefer poor and indifferent meat to wholesome
mackerel or herring, they are only obeying a physical
crave and desire for the more satisfying form of fool
in purchasing even offal from the butcher. We doubt
whether if Mr. Bucklani's Scotch and Welsh fishing
fiiends were to follow his kindly and well-meant hint
89 to catching the eels that will be migrating from the
rivers to the sea during the next six weeks they would
find any commercial advantage in the transaction. The
eel never fetches a notable price in the market. To
judge by the invitations in the windows of the
restaurants specially
.thvoted to the fish it can be
obtained at prs sent at a tariff which places it literally
within the reach of every one with any money what-
ever. _ _ _

We are afraid that we cannot regard Mr. Buckland
as having solved, or materially helped to solve, one of
the difficulties of the tight season which we are antici-
pating. But surely he has not exhausted his resources
of suggestions for food at the fish ponds and the eels?
Was not Mr. Buckland one of the original hippo-
phogists of the Longhorn Hotel? Has he not en-
deavoured to introduce bear stakes into a banquet? Is
he not aware of the value of the hedgehog when baked,
as he is baked, in the offies by the gipsies ? Seriously,
there is not much real use or advantage in urging upon our
people the consumption of fish instead of butcher's meat.
Except in absolute ne iessity, they will always prefer
the flesh food. From the nature of sea fishing the
supply must be irregular; at one time perhaps ex-
cessive, at another a temporary scarcity may be felt.
But if so many tone of fish were offered for nothing in
many instances our people would choose to lay out the
expense of cooking in meat sooner than accept the
mackerel, the herring, or the sole as a present. And
as fir cultivating the fish in ponds the experiment
would only be a luxury or a t ,37 for the rich, as it was
when a slave was said to be sometimes thrown to the
mullet for food. When salmon or turbot can be pro-
cured, however, even though they have to besmartly paid
for, few will care to put on their tables Mr. Buckland's
pond fish fattened after the method which be describes.
If there were any call whatever for these pond
fish they are to be had at the present moment. Anglers
do not know what to do with them after catching them,
aunt not large enough to put in a caae the captured

jack is more frequently presented to the cat than
honoured by any consideration from the cook. The
carp has almost died out with the swan sea recognised
dish. Mr. Buckland's effort to raise the character of
these fish and to revive the custom or practice of pisci-
culture is decidedly praiseworthy; but we are inclined
to think that even after his communication the ponds
will yet remain merely more or less ornamental pieces
of water, while the present number of eel-pie shops in
London will not be increased by a sudden effort on the
part of the men of Wales and of Scotland to intercept
and capture the eels on their autumnal voyage to the
sea during the moonless night.