The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-12-28

FROM a puDllSneO III Kill
adelphia in 1928, 1 gather the follow
ing information which ought to be of
interest to thousands of people who
own farms in North Carolina.
The Chinese are celebrated for
their commercial acumen, indefati-
gable industry, and natural adroitness,
in making the most Of every gift Of
nature bestowed upon their fertile
country. Useful as we'll as ornamental
vegetables engrOss their every care:
and animals which are the most prof
itably reared, n which yield the
greatest quantity of rich and SavOry
food, are preferred by them for sup
plying their larder and stews. In the
articles of pork, geese, n ducks, they
Surpass in the use fish they equal US;
and in their dOmestication and man
agement OF them, they excel all other
nations. For twenty or thirty miles
around Canton, and as far as the eye
can reach on each side Of the river,
on which the city stands, the general
face of the country appears nearly a
level plain. The level is, however.
richly studded with beautiful hills.
and they form the most picturesque
landscape.
The soil consist of ~alluvial earth.
OF great fertility and depth and very
retentive of water. Hence the facility
Of making canals. which are their high
4oddS, III II k1C Cast Will II
a pond (stew) may be made in any
otherwise useless corner.
Such tanks or ponds are usually met
with in market-garden grounds, where
they serve the double purpose Of a
reservoir, and a stew for rearing and
fattening fish. When a pond is made
for this purpose, and filled with water,
the owner goes to market, and buys as
manv young as his pond
can conveniently hold; this he can
easily do, as almost all their fish are
brought to market alive. laced in
the stew, they are regularly fed, morn
ing and evening": and their food is
chiefly boiled rice, to which is added
the blood of any animals they may
Kill, wash from the dishes, etc. In
deed, any animal Offal or vegetable
matter which fish will eat. Fish so
fed and treated, advance in size rap
idly; and from the Length of three
or four inches, when first put in. they
low to eight or n lie in a few months,
and are then marketable. Drafts from
the pond are then made; the largest
are first taken off, and conveyed in
large shallow tubs of water to mar
ket; if sold, well: if not, they are re-
disposed of. This business of feed
ing is so arranged, that the stock are
all fattened off about the time the
water is most wanted for the gar
den crops. The pond is then cleane
out, the mud carefully saved, or spread
as manure-again filled with water,
stocked with young fry, and fed as
before. 1t is claimed that a spot of
ground, twenty or thirty square yards
in area, will yield a greater annual
profit as a fish pond, than it would in
any other wav to which it could posi-
bly, be applied.
That fish may be tanned, suffer
themselves to be caressed, and even
raised out of their natural element
by the hand, has long been known to
naturalists. witness the famous old
carp formerly in the pond CT a re-
ligious house at Chantilly, in France,
with many other instances on record
There is a vast territory In North
Carolina where such an industry
might be cheaply and p%roftably car
ried on. For instance in Robson,
Pladen, and Columbus counties, where
the ten foot wells have thirteen feet
of water in them.
If properly protected and c
AIRED, the State of North Carolina
could in n decade raise enough fish
to feed the people of the United
States.
Rattle-snake story next.