When a pond is made for this purpose, and filled with water, the owner goes to market, and buys as many young store-fish as his pond can conveniently hold; this he can easily do, as almost all their fish are brought to market alive. Placed in the stew, they are regularly fed morning and evening, or as often as the feeder finds it necessary; their food is chiefly boiled rice, to which is added, the blood of any animals they may kill, wash from their stewing-pots and dishes, &c., indeed any animal offal or vegetable matter which the fish will eat. It is said, they also use some oleaceous medicament in the food, to make the fish more voracious, in order to accelerate their fattening; but of this the writer could obtain no authentic account.
Fish so fed and treated, advance in size rapidly, though not to any great weight; as the kind (a species of perch) which came under observation, never arrive at much more than a pound avoirdupois; but from the length of three or four inches, when first put in, they grow to eight or nine in a few months, and are then marketable. Drafts from the pond are then occasionally made; the largest are first taken off, and conveyed in large shallow tubs of water to market: if sold, well; if not, they are brought back and replaced in the stew, until they can be disposed of.
This business of fish-feeding is so managed that the stock are all fattened off about the time the water is most wanted for the garden-crops. The pond is then cleaned out, the mud carefully saved, or spread as manure,—again filled with water, stocked with young fry, and fed as before.
An intelligent Chinaman, from whom the writer had the above detail, and who showed him as much of the process as could be seen during a residence of three months, declared as his belief, that a spot of ground, containing from twenty to thirty square yards, would yield a greater annual profit as a stew, than it would in any other way to which it could possibly be applied.
That fish may be tamed, suffer themselves to be caressed, and even raised out of their natural element by the hand, has been long known to naturalists; witness the famous old carp formerly in the pond of some religious house at Chantilly, in France, with many other instances on record. But it is probable no people has carried the art of stew-feeding fish, and practising it as a profitable concern, to such lengths, as is done by the Chinese at this day. I. M.
METEOROLOGICAL DIARY for the Months of June, July, and August, 1827, kept at EARL SPENCER’s Seat at Althorp, in Northamptonshire. [◊] The Thermometer hangs in a North-eastern Aspect, about five feet from the ground, and a foot from the wall.
| FOR JUNE, 1827. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thermometer. | Barometer. | Wind. | |||||
| Lowest | Highest | Morn. | Eve. | Morn. | Eve. | ||
| Friday | 1 | 47 | 65 | 29.50 | 29.50 | SW | SW |
| Saturday | 2 | 42 | 62.5 | 29.60 | 29.43 | S | WbS |
| Sunday | 3 | 44 | 63 | 29.67 | 29.67 | W | W |
| Monday | 4 | 44 | 62 | 29.70 | 29.79 | W | W |
| Tuesday | 5 | 47 | 59 | 29.70 | 29.59 | W | W |
| Wednesday | 6 | 47 | 58 | 29.47 | 29.60 | W | NW |
| Thursday | 7 | 43 | 60 | 29.78 | 29.88 | W | NW |
| Friday | 8 | 36 | 63 | 30.02 | 30.07 | NW | W |
| Saturday | 9 | 45 | 72 | 30.13 | 30.17 | W | W |
| Sunday | 10 | 48 | 68.5 | 30.17 | 30.10 | NE | NE |
| Monday | 11 | 46 | 70.5 | 30.09 | 30.02 | NE | NE |
| Tuesday | 12 | 46 | 66 | 30.02 | 30.02 | NE | NE |
| Wednesday | 13 | 51 | 65 | 30.02 | 29.94 | NE | NE |
| Thursday | 14 | 48 | 65 | 29.89 | 29.78 | NE | NE |
| Friday | 15 | 51 | 60 | 29.70 | 29.60 | NE | NE |
| Saturday | 16 | 52 | 71 | 29.60 | 29.57 | NE | S |
| Sunday | 17 | 54 | 73 | 29.66 | 29.66 | WSW | W |
| Monday | 18 | 54 | 72.5 | 29.78 | 29.79 | W | W |
| Tuesday | 19 | 50 | 68 | 29.79 | 29.69 | W | W |
| Wednesday | 20 | 48 | 65 | 29.65 | 29.67 | W | WbS |
| Thursday | 21 | 44 | 66.5 | 29.70 | 29.73 | SW | W |
| Friday | 22 | 43 | 64 | 29.80 | 29.88 | W | W |
| Saturday | 23 | 48 | 63 | 29.90 | 29.94 | W | W |
| Sunday | 24 | 43 | 66.5 | 29.94 | 29.97 | W | W |
| Monday | 25 | 49 | 66 | 29.97 | 29.90 | WNW | NNW |
| Tuesday | 26 | 46 | 69 | 29.90 | 29.86 | W | WbS |
| Wednesday | 27 | 53.5 | 67 | 29.80 | 29.69 | SW | SW |
| Thursday | 28 | 56 | 66 | 29.48 | 29.46 | SW | SW |
| Friday | 29 | 56 | 70 | 29.46 | 29.53 | SW | SW |
| Saturday | 30 | 52 | 72 | 29.59 | 29.68 | W | W |
| FOR JULY, 1827. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thermometer. | Barometer. | Wind. | |||||
| Lowest | Highest | Morn. | Eve. | Morn. | Eve. | ||
| Sunday | 1 | 55 | 69 | 29.60 | 29.63 | E | SW |
| Monday | 2 | 49 | 66.5 | 29.70 | 29.60 | S | SW |
| Tuesday | 3 | 49 | 69 | 29.63 | 29.78 | WbS | WbS |
| Wednesday | 4 | 48 | 73 | 29.99 | 29.99 | W | WbS |
| Thursday | 5 | 58 | 67 | 30.06 | 30.20 | NE | NE |
| Friday | 6 | 42 | 70 | 30.29 | 30.27 | E | WNW |
| Saturday | 7 | 55 | 75 | 30.27 | 30.26 | WNW | WNW |
| Sunday | 8 | 53 | 74 | 30.26 | 30.21 | WbN | WbN |
| Monday | 9 | 54 | 73.5 | 30.19 | 30.08 | W | W |
| Tuesday | 10 | 54 | 72 | 30.02 | 29.87 | W | WbN |
| Wednesday | 11 | 55.5 | 67 | 29.90 | 29.98 | NW | W |
| Thursday | 12 | 45 | 68 | 30.02 | 30.04 | W | ENE |
| Friday | 13 | 44 | 73 | 30.06 | 30.04 | E | E |
| Saturday | 14 | 46.5 | 71.5 | 30.04 | 30.00 | ESE | E |
| Sunday | 15 | 45 | 71 | 29.98 | 29.91 | E | NE |
| Monday | 16 | 47 | 71.5 | 29.91 | 29.90 | E | E |
| Tuesday | 17 | 46.5 | 77 | 29.90 | 29.88 | SE | WbS |
| Wednesday | 18 | 57 | 72 | 29.83 | 29.87 | WSW | W |
| Thursday | 19 | 51 | 68 | 29.87 | 29.71 | W | SW |
| Friday | 20 | 57 | 69 | 29.59 | 29.62 | W | W |
| Saturday | 21 | 50 | 69 | 29.77 | 29.80 | W | W |
| Sunday | 22 | 45 | 64 | 29.82 | 29.80 | ESE | SE |
| Monday | 23 | 57 | 73 | 29.83 | 29.88 | EbS | W |
| Tuesday | 24 | 58 | 75 | 29.90 | 29.89 | W | WbS |
| Wednesday | 25 | 60 | 72 | 29.82 | 29.82 | SW | WNW |
| Thursday | 26 | 46 | 69.5 | 29.92 | 29.78 | W | SSW |
| Friday | 27 | 54 | 74 | 29.90 | 30.00 | W | W |
| Saturday | 28 | 58 | 79 | 30.00 | 30.02 | W | W |
| Sunday | 29 | 54 | 78 | 30.04 | 29.92 | ESE | SE |
| Monday | 30 | 65 | 75 | 29.62 | 29.80 | SSE | W |
| Tuesday | 31 | 52 | 72.5 | 30.03 | 30.10 | W | W |
| FOR AUGUST, 1827. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thermometer. | Barometer. | Wind. | |||||
| Lowest | Highest | Morn. | Eve. | Morn. | Eve. | ||
| Wednesday | 1 | 51 | 72 | 30.04 | 29.95 | W | |
| Thursday | 2 | 46 | 77.5 | 29.82 | 29.67 | W | |
| Friday | 3 | 56 | 74 | 29.60 | 29.50 | SW | W |
| Saturday | 4 | 58 | 71 | 29.48 | 29.63 | SW | W |
| Sunday | 5 | 53 | 66 | 29.91 | 30.06 | W | NE |
| Monday | 6 | 51 | 67.5 | 30.13 | 30.18 | NE | ENE |
| Tuesday | 7 | 42 | 70 | 30.18 | 30.10 | E | E |
| Wednesday | 8 | 40 | 68 | 30.04 | 29.98 | E | E |
| Thursday | 9 | 41 | 70.5 | 29.93 | 29.80 | EbN | SE |
| Friday | 10 | 57 | 70 | 29.60 | 29.48 | SW | W |
| Saturday | 11 | 47 | 66 | 29.48 | 29.44 | W | W |
| Sunday | 12 | 50 | 62 | 29.55 | 29.67 | WSW | WNW |
| Monday | 13 | 46 | 67 | 29.76 | 29.73 | W | WbS |
| Tuesday | 14 | 51 | 70 | 29.53 | 29.43 | SW | SW |
| Wednesday | 15 | 60 | 68 | 29.22 | 29.25 | SE | WbS |
| Thursday | 16 | 51 | 67 | 29.30 | 29.36 | S | NE |
| Friday | 17 | 56 | 68 | 29.60 | 29.76 | NE | NE |
| Saturday | 18 | 54 | 60 | 29.87 | 29.87 | NE | NE |
| Sunday | 19 | 48 | 65 | 29.89 | 29.90 | NE | NE |
| Monday | 20 | 42.5 | 59.5 | 29.90 | 29.90 | NE | NW |
| Tuesday | 21 | 56 | 67.5 | 29.90 | 29.95 | NE | NE |
| Wednesday | 22 | 51 | 59 | 30.03 | 30.10 | N | NW |
| Thursday | 23 | 48 | 68 | 30.20 | 30.20 | NW | NW |
| Friday | 24 | 52 | 63 | 30.14 | 30.08 | WNW | WbN |
| Saturday | 25 | 49 | 60 | 30.00 | 30.04 | WNW | W |
| Sunday | 26 | 44 | 58 | 30.08 | 30.08 | NW | N |
| Monday | 27 | 42 | 67 | 30.12 | 30.16 | N | NW |
| Tuesday | 28 | 47 | 64 | 30.16 | 30.16 | W | NW |
| Wednesday | 29 | 50 | 63 | 30.24 | 30.24 | NNE | NW |
| Thursday | 30 | 47 | 63 | 30.18 | 30.07 | W | W |
| Friday | 31 | 52 | 63 | 30.12 | 30.20 | N | NE |