The turning out of his fish in November will also allow the amateur plenty of time to prepare his ponds and apparatus for next year's operations. If the ponds are made on a stream, probably the very best place that can be chosen is where there is a fairly sharp bend in the stream just below a fall. An artificial fall can often be made where the banks are high by damming up the stream several feet. Care must be taken, however, to avoid any risk of the ponds being flooded. CHAPTER V TROUT. REARING PONDS, BOXES, AND HATCHING TRAYS Having decided upon a suitable spot, the amateur must now proceed to make his ponds. Whether he derive his water supply from a spring or from a stream, the amateur had better bring it into his ponds through a pipe. A three-inch pipe will be large enough for a pond thirty feet long, three feet wide, and two feet deep at the deepest part. It is a good thing for the water to fall, some inches at any rate, through the air before it reaches the pond, and in a series of ponds with only one supply, the water should flow through an open trough with stones and other impediments in it, between the ponds. The ponds may be lined entirely with brickwork faced with cement, and in this case the sides should be made perpendicular. The cement should, however, be exposed freely to the action of the running water for a couple of months at least before any ova or fry are introduced. Another plan, and a simpler and less expensive one, is to face only the ends of the ponds with brick and cement work, carrying the brickwork into the earth on each side, as shown in Fig. 1. In this case the sides of the ponds should be slightly sloped as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. It is advisable if possible to make the outlet at the level of the bottom of the pond, if the pond is lined with cement, but if the pond is only cemented at the ends, it is better to have one in mid-water or even near the surface. As I have said before however, an outlet should be made at the level lowest part of the bottom, so as to facilitate the emptying of the pond. The pond should however be made shallower at the lower end. Fig. 2 shows a section of the upper end, and Fig. 3 of the lower end of such a pond. [Illustration: Fig. 1.] [Illustration: Fig. 2.] [Illustration: Fig. 3.] The open trough between ponds in a series should be at least three yards in length, but it is better if not straight. Stones and gravel should be put in these troughs in order to make the water as rough as possible, and if some fresh-water shrimps can be introduced so much the better.