in it should be given to drink. The hay should be changed twice a day, and warmed before it is given. The washing and feeding should be repeated several times a day, and in about a week a little more calomel should be given, and afterwards flowers of sulphur. This treatment will soon effect a cure.

LETTER XVI.

THE INHABITANTS OF THE PONDS: FISH; AND AQUATIC FOWLS, INCLUDING SWANS, EXOTIC GEESE AND DUCKS.— INHABITANTS OF THE WOODS INCLUDING PHEASANTS AND PARTRIDGES, HERONS AND BITTERNS. — AVIARY.— APIARY, AND THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. SILK-WORMS.

WHEN a fish-pond is to be made, a situation should be chosen where there is a natural hollow, so that the ground which is to form the bottom of the pond may be as little disturbed as possible. If this situation be near a river so that a feeder may be led into it, nothing else is wanted to form a fish-pond but an embankment and a sluice, and these you must have made by persons used to such employments. It is necessary, however, to take care that the pond is fed from a river, as spring water is not only too cold for the fish, but is seldom quite free from mineral substances. The pond should be made at least six feet deep, and if twelve feet or more it will be better for the fish as in frosty weather they will remain near the bottom, and will find enough air in the great body of water above them to enable them to live a long time after the surface is frozen over; while, on the contrary, if the pond be shal

low, the fish will soon exhaust all the air it contains, and will perish unless the ice be frequently broken, to admit air from the atmosphere. In shallow ponds, also, the rushes and other weeds grow so fast as to occasion considerable expense and trouble in having them cleared away.

The extent of a pond must depend upon circumstances, but it should never be less than five or six acres, and as much more as is convenient; in shape it should be rather long, as regards the front of the mansion, than broad, and its outline should either be varied, or broken by planting trees and shrubs in small groups on its banks. Where ponds are intended solely for fish, without regard to their appearance in the landscape, their banks should be quite straight, and their shape square or oblong. The pond, whether ornamental or not, may be divided into two parts by an embankment in the centre, which is kept about two feet below the general surface of the water when the pond is full. The use of this is, that, when the pond is to be run dry, either for clearing it of its mud or catching the larger fish, only one half need be emptied at a time; and the other half may serve as a place to put the store fish in while the first division is being cleared out; and, when that is quite clean and the water let into it again, the fish may be transferred to it while the second half is being cleared. Of course, ac

cording to this arrangement, there must be a wooden sluice for letting off the water in each division. The beauty of a pond depends principally upon its being well supplied with water, and this constant supply can only be insured during the summer months, by having a brook or rivulet running through the pond. Where the pond is of sufficient size, there should be an island or two for the swans and other aquatic birds to make their nests on.

Where several kinds of fish are desired, different soils may be laid at the bottom of the pond, to suit the fish which breed in it. Thus, trout will never thrive unless the pond in which they are kept has a gravelly bottom. Carp (of which there are two kinds, the common, and the Prussian which is much smaller than the other,) and tench require loam, with abundance of aquatic weeds; and eels will only thrive in mud. It is very seldom practicable to keep all kinds of fish in the same pond, as some kinds destroy other kinds; but providing them with different bottoms is the most effectual way of keeping them, as they will remain in separate communities in the part of the pond that suits them best.

Of the kinds of fishes with which a pond should be stocked, carp are, perhaps, generally speaking, the best. They breed rapidly, are very hardy, and grow very fast. Tench resemble carp in all

these qualities, and both are quiet fish, which would live together without fighting or destroying each other. Perch, on the contrary, are said to be so ravenous that they will devour their own spawn, and that of other fishes. They breed freely and are quite hardy, but do not grow rapidly. Trout, when kept in ponds, are rather ravenous; but pike far exceed all other fish in this respect. A large pike will destroy nearly all the small weak fishes in a pond; and, indeed, he has been known to seize young ducks, and devour them. These and similar acts have obtained for the pike the name of the fresh-water shark. Amongst the other enemies to young fish are counted the little creatures called sticklebacks, which are so small, and apparently so insignificant, that no one would suppose it possible that they could prevent the stocking of a pond. They do so, however, by devouring the spawn, and thus preventing the number of fishes from increasing. When a pond is once stocked very little care is necessary; the principal thing which needs to be attended to being to break the ice in severe frosts to supply the fish with air, if the pond should not be deep enough to render this unnecessary. When fish appear to want feeding, earthworms, steeped grain, and ground malt, should be thrown into the water.

Besides the regular fish-ponds, it is very conve