CHAPTER IV.
A BACK-YARD FISH-POND.
Although the writer has made frequent journeys to the wonderful dreamland of his boyhood, and has ruthlessly taken and brought to earth many of its air-castles for the use of the boys of the present day, there are still a number of things left, and among the latter is the back-yard fish-pond, which we shall now seize, and, bringing the idea down to your back-yard, make it water-tight, so that you can stock it with real live fish.
A Shallow Pond,
with a broad surface exposed to the air will support, in health many more inhabitants than a deep hole, with small exposed surface. Remember that it is easier to keep a fish alive in a shallow basin than it is in a bottle holding exactly the same amount of water.
If You Dig a Hole
in your yard and fill it with water, it will be a mud-hole, in which no self-respecting fish will live: besides which the soil will soon soak up the water and leave the mud to bake in the hot summer sun.
By Sinking a Wooden Tank
in the ground and filling it with water a pond may be made. But any old box will not answer, for, unless you are a much better mechanic than the writer was at your age, you will not be able to prevent an ordinary box from leaking.