He adviseth, that when you have drained the ground, and made the earth
firm where the head of the pond must be, that you must then, in that
place, drive in two or three rows of oak or elm piles, which should be
scorched in the fire, or half-burnt, before they be driven into the
earth; for being thus used, it preserves them much longer from rotting.
And having done so, lay faggots or bavins of smaller wood betwixt them:
and then, earth betwixt and above them: and then, having first very well
rammed them and the earth, use another pile in like manner as the first
were: and note, that the second pile is to be of or about the height
that you intend to make your sluice or floodgate, or the vent that you
intend shall convey the overflowings of your pond in any flood that
shall endanger the breaking of your pond-dam.
Then he advises, that you plant willows or owlers, about it, or both:
and then cast in bavins, in some places not far from the side, and in
the most sandy places, for fish both to spawn upon, and to defend them
and the young fry from the many fish, and also from vermin, that lie at
watch to destroy them, especially the spawn of the Carp and Tench, when
'tis left to the mercy of ducks or vermin.
He, and Dubravius, and all others advise, that you make choice of such a
place for your pond, that it may be refreshed with a little rill, or
with rain water, running or falling into it; by which fish are more
inclined both to breed, and are also refreshed and fed the better, and
do prove to be of a much sweeter and more pleasant taste.
To which end it is observed, that such pools as be large and have most
gravel, and shallows where fish may sport themselves, do afford fish of
the purest taste. And note, that in all pools it is best for fish to
have some retiring place; as namely, hollow banks, or shelves, or roots
of trees, to keep them from danger, and, when they think fit, from the
extreme heat of summer; as also from the extremity of cold in winter.
And note, that if many trees be growing about your pond, the leaves
thereof falling into the water, make it nauseous to the fish, and the
fish to be so to the eater of it.
'Tis noted, that the Tench and Eel love mud; and the Carp loves gravelly
ground, and in the hot months to feed on grass. You are to cleanse your
pond, if you intend either profit or pleasure, once every three or four
years, especially some ponds, and then let it dry six or twelve months,
both to kill the water-weeds, as water-lilies, candocks, reate, and
bulrushes, that breed there; and also that as these die for want of
water, so grass may grow in the pond's bottom, which Carps will eat
greedily in all the hot months, if the pond be clean. The letting your
pond dry and sowing oats in the bottom is also good, for the fish feed
the faster; and being sometimes let dry, you may observe what kind of
fish either increases or thrives best in that water; for they differ
much, both in their breeding and feeding.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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