However, if you really want a back-yard fish-pond, you may make a box or tank which will hold water, and the
The Back-yard Fish Pond.
Best Form for Such a Tank
is that of a wide, flat-bottomed scow. This scow may be of any dimensions you choose to build it, but I would advise you to make your first one not more than six feet long by four feet wide, and two feet deep.
Figs. 27 and 28.—The Side-boards must be Duplicates.
In selecting lumber for the scow, pick out pieces which are comparatively free from knots or blemishes. Reserve two one-and-a-half-inch planks, and keep the half-inch boards for the bottom.
A saw, a plane, and a sharp hatchet are necessary, but other tools, if not absolutely needed, should not on that account be ignored, as they may come in very handy at times.
Trim off your two side-boards to exactly the same length—say six feet; they should then be six feet by two feet. On the edge which is to be the bottom measure toward the centre from each end of each board two feet, and mark the points; then rule a line diagonally from each of these points to the corners of the boards on the upper edge; this will mark out a sort of double-ended sled-runner, as shown in the illustrations, and when you saw off the triangular pieces marked on the boards you will have