Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-08-07
FISH PONDS FOR FARMERS.

The production Of fsh for food, If not for
sale, might easily be made accessory. to the
profits Of the farm. On numerous farms
spring brooks and small streams or rivers
may be utilized for this purpose. On many
others springs of pure cold water rise and
flow over the surface, losing themselves in
disagreeable If not injurious swamp or quag.
miro, which is trodden up by stock or wal
lowed in by hogs to their injury aud their
owners loss. In many other farms again,
at certain seasons of the year, temporary
water courses are filled and pass large guam
titles of water to rivers or lakes into which
it disappears. BY simple or cheaply con.
structed dams these temporary streams Of
water might be restrained and made to yield
permanent supply Of stock water and af-
ford f4ciities for the production Of an ample
supply of fish. Trout, bass, perch, aud pike,
all of which are excellent aud valuable fish,
might be raised in ponds thus prepared
while the homely but not unsavory catfish,
the carp, and other second d.rate fish will live
and thrive in such pond as might not un-
worthily be termed mud-hole. Thousands
of swamps which have no outlet, aud which
are at present quagmires, useless and
dangerous, might be dug out to depth Of
two or three feet and the muck proftably
used for fertilizing fields, and these swamps
thus be changed into ponds, every acre Of
which would furnish numerous and accepta-
bic food, at least three times week. for
family Of ten persons. A case is known to
us in which farmer in Pennsylvania thus
utilized three-quarters Of an acre of bog,
taking therefrom over ] 900 loads of vaua-
BILE manure for his farm, and stocking the
pond thus made with young catfish purchas.
ed for 81 l25 per 100 in Philadelphia. In
three years the pond was swarming with fish,
which fed themselves from the abundant
vegetable and insect food present n it, and it
was at least some recreation for his boys to
fish twice or thrice week for the general
benefit. How many cases in which the same
plan might be adopted present themselves to
the remembrance Of our readers it would be
difficult to estimate doubtless there are
none but know of somo.
The difficulty in fish-raisiHg is the mis-
taken idea that there needs some intricate
plan aud scientific knowledge for success.
On the contrary, we have yet to learn OF the
which has sent pound of fish to market
But We know several persons entirely igno-
rant of the science of fish culture, aud who
never dreamed Of the complicated system Of
fish ways, spawning boxes, Matching boxes,
feeding boxes, and all the various parapher-
MALTA Of the fish culturist who writes books
aud sells spawn, but yet who have eaten Of
the product of their own ponds, aud who
have fed young trout in q simple watering
trough until they have reached the weight of
ono pound each. And this success is cer-
tain to those who possess the requisite facili-
tics, and will take the needful cares aud pre-.
cautions.
For trout the necessary requirements are
pure water, with a temperature Of not over
6U in the simmer time, gravelly bottom
in places where the fish can make their
spawning beds, and few deep holes in
which they can hide during the hot days.
All these conditions are met in swamp
with subsOil Ofsand or gravel, through which
ccasional springs break or such swamp
through which the water Of spring brook
can be turned by means of dam and gate.
The muck may be dug out in places to ex-
pose the bottom, and the borders OF the pond
should be sown with grass and aquatic
plants, aud planted with willows. The pOr.
tion Of vegetable matter left in the pond
aud the grass aud neighboring trees over
hanging, will encourage the presence of nu'
merOus insects, upon which the trout will
feed 1t is necessary to provide against
overflow by freshets by permitting only q
certain quantity Of water TO flow through thu
pOud, aud making room for any unusua
quan tity to escape through the original boC
Of the stream. If there is no danger o
freshet, the stream itself may be damned