December, 1878.
THE WEST SHORE.
CARP CULTURE.
From a series of articles now being printed in
the Pacific Rural Prttt on carp culture, we
make the following extracts on the con"
traction of fiah pondi :
I will give guuorai rule biutb will apply
to pondi of all sizes from 1,000 acrei to one rod
square, and that is in selecting a site for ponds
of considerable size these points ought to be
observed:
1. Is there a sufficient supply of water in the
dry season? 2. Is the ground, soil and water
favorable for fish culture? 3. It is important
to examine the land minutely, in order to And
what the components are. 4. It ought also to
be deoided from the commencement now large
the establishment is intendod to bo; whether
only for private use and pleasure, or at whole
sale for the production of the flsh as an article
of trade.
A rocky, gravelly ground is not good for
the Union, it is necessary to ascertain whether
they can be put into the proper condition for
regular culture. This can only bo done if toe
influx of water can be regulated and the entire
drainage of the pond made possible. Trunks of
trees should be taken out of then, and when
they are too deep thev should hs (tiled un or
a una cannot be done, they should be brought
into connection with the above described as wars
on the bottom of the pond. If this is not done
too many Hah will remain in these holes when
theDondJis drained, and this will lessen the
profits to a great extant.
To carry on carp culture in a regular and
judicious manner, several ponds are required,
according to the various purposes they are des
tined for: First, the batoning pond; second,
tho breeding pond, or pond for small Hah; third,
the culture or regular oarp pond.
A New Metal. M. Delafontaine announoea
the discovery of philippium, a new metal. He
has obtained from nadolinite an oxide of a really
new metal, to whioh he gives the name of
THK LLAMA AND ALPACA.
We give on this page, pictures of two rumi
nant animals whioh are agreeable and even at
tractive in appearance, are inoffensive in their
The wool of the llama is made Into cords and
sacks, and of these again are made various
tuffs; and in Msxioo the bonus are converted
into instruments fur weaving the wool. Hut
the European sheep is gradually taking the
place of the llama, even in Peru.
The alpaca inhabits the more elevated ranges
of South America, living almost on the burden
of perpetual snow. The Peruvians keep vast
llocks of them (or their long, silky fleeces, whivh
lor luster rival that of the Angora goata. The
"alpaca cloth," of the dry goods trade, is made
of this materu! It is principally used for
woman's clothing; but is now largely used for
LLAMA.
ALPACA.
carp culture. Ground with a considerable mix
ture of loam, day and humus is good.
If the size of the pond has been deoided on,
the leveling of the bottom is required to assist
in the determination of the depth of the ditches,
collector and outlet to be dug. A ditch should
run through the center of the pond, and be
from two to three feet deep, and four or five
wide. In ponds of considerable sise there
should be cross ditches. At the lower end of
this ditch there is what is called the "collec
tor," whioh is a place dug out large enough to
hold all the flsh in the pond. This should be
one foot deeper than the ditch, and from this
the sluice box runs through the dam.
In the erection of the required dam it is most
important that it be made of the very beat ma
terial, so as to make it secure against the de
structive influence of the water. It ought to
be three times as wide at its base as it is high,
and at the top aa wide a it is high. The in
tenor, or water side, should be less inclined
than the exterior one.
If it be designed to make use of natural ponds,
of which there are numbers in every State in
" Philippine " (Pp.), in honor of M. Philippe
Plantamour, of Oenevs, the friend and student
of Herxeliua. Bupposiug "philipmne" to be a
protoxide, its approximate equivalent Is be
tween (JO and 06. M. Delafontaine describes in
ths fVomaV HhvIum some properties of its for
miate, sulphate, nitrate, etc. "Philippium"
gives well-marked characteristic bands in the
spectroscope.
Oxoxi m Disease. -Dr. Beitar, in his essay
on diphtheria, referring to the rapid rusting of
iron in the open air as an Indlastien of the
presence of osone, any: "When I have
patient recovering from a severs) illness, on
whom mgnniii mischief seems to nave been
spared, bat tho reoopsreti ve fores appears held
down by humidity and elonded iky, my (In
eight of the rails of onr railways rsddsnsd with
oxide 8Us nss with a bopetsl expectation of
recovery where We has bean tumbling In the
balance, that has rarely been disappointed. "
covering umbrella In texture it is (liter end
more durable than outton, and is much cheaper
than silk.
I.irx or Sir r i It ah js. The Hailrwut Uavtk
says i The tile of steel rails on a trunk line la
said to be turning ont to be front Ave to Ian
years, and ths wear of the rails bought l lata
years Indicates that the shorter rather than the
longer period named will be their average Hie,
The frame la prulsibly four or live times aa greet
as the avenge of American railroads, but still
the wear is more rapid than waa sipseted, ami
mora so, indeed, than experience with the rails
Bret laid gave reason to expect That Is, steel
rails appear not to be mads so durable now aa
they used to be, and the roads are beginning to
see the necessity of making and insisting upon
the fulfillment of certain pretty stru t spscifW
tione as to the quality of the steel in the rails
delivered to them. Hitherto there seems to
have been no very definite idan of the qualitie
reuulred for the most durable nil i Ml
begin to he some knowledge oa the subject.