The second kind of ponds are the nurseries; the young fish should be moved, in a fine calm day, into this pond, in the months of March or April: a thousand or twelve hundred of this fry may be well accommodated in a pond of an acre. When they are first put in, they should be well watched, and driven from the sides of the pond, lest they become the prey of rapacious birds. In two summers, they will grow as much as to weigh four, five, or even six pounds, and be fleshy and well tasted. The main ponds are to put those into that measure a foot, head and tail inclusive; every square of fifteen feet is sufficient for one Carp: their growth depends on their room, and the quantity of food allowed them. The best seasons for stocking the main ponds are spring and autumn. Carp grow for many years, and become of considerable size and weight. Mr. Foster mentions seeing in Prussia two or three hundred Carps of two and three feet in length, and one five feet long, and twenty-five pounds weight; it was supposed to be about sixty years old: Gesner mentions one that was an hundred years old. These were tame, and would come to the side of the pond to be fed, and swallowed with ease a piece of bread half the size of a halfpenny loaf. Ponds should be well supplied with water during the winter; and when they are covered with ice, holes should be opened every day for the admission of fresh air, through want of which, Carps frequently perish. Carp are sometimes fed, during the colder season, in a cellar: the fish is wrapped up in a quantity of wet moss laid on a piece of a net, and then laid in to a purse; but in such a manner, however, to admit of the fish breathing: the net is then plunged into water, and hung up to the ceiling of the cellar: the dipping must at first be repeated every three or four hours, but, afterwards, it need be plunged into the water only once in six or seven hours: bread soaked in milk is sometimes given him in small quantities; in a short time, the fish will bear more, and grow fat by this treatment. Many have been kept alive, breathing nothing but air in this way, several successive days. [Illustration] [Illustration: _Cephalus. The Chub._ _Fortin. Albin delin. 1740._] _The CHUB_