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6

Domesticated Trout.

fflfi

//<?ze/ to Breed and Grow Them.

HY

r.

a^

LIVINGSTON STONE,

riiiio.l .Stnu■^ D-'imty I-isli Commis^iuiK-r, in ^.liari^r ..lilie riiitud States Salnum Broediui;

Sl,itii>n on tlic r;ii.itlc Co.ist ; forni.-rly Secretary ot' American l'"i-,li Ciiltiirists'

Asiociation ; and lulitur dt' the I'isli Ciiltnrihts' l)ei)arlnient of

"The Neu V.irl< Citi/^en."

o
■J r)

" Piir/>iiyisi;u,- S,t/ttr stclLitus li-yg^ot,: v .t"i.\."

.litsoiiius. lilyl Tenth.

".I/.7<\' it.i'iuriiiir- il'u''!i' surf."

A/uch-f/:, Act iv. Scene t.

ID

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h'oVK'LlL EuilIoN.

'J

5
■s

CHARLESTOWN, N. IL
FOR SALE AT THE COLD SPRING TROUT PONDS.

1893.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S72,

liV LIVINGSTON STONE,

in the Office of tlie Librarian of Congress, at Wasliington.

TO

THEODORE LYMAN,

THE LEADING SPIRIT IN THE NEW PISH RESTORATION MOVEMENT
IN NEW ENGLAND,

rms BOOK IS RnspncTrvu.v dedicated

HY

THE AUTHOR.

'•■-■5

PREFACE.

To warn my successors of the dangers into which
I fell myself as a pioneer, and to make their path
easier, is the object of this little book.

CONTENTS.

PART I.
TROUT-BREEDING WORKS.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

Page

Trout can be raised successfully. — Qualities required for
the Best Success.— The Principle of Security, — em-
phasized because, i. It will insure Success ; 2. Losses
occur on so large a Scale ; 3. Sources of Danger un-
seen. — Suitable Water, Importance of Precautions :
I. Beware of Insufficient Water; 2. Of Freshets; 3. Of
Water that heats in Summer ; 4. Of Water intrinsically
Unfavorable to Trout. - Spring and Brook Water com-
pared .

3-17

CHAPTER II.

PONDS.

A Beginner's Inquiries. - Directions about the Construc-
tion of Ponds: I. Exercise Forethought in locating
Ponds ; 2. Excavate the Ponds rather than dam up the
Stream ; 3. Build compactly; 4. Build small Ponds for
Busmess ; 5. Have a Fall at the Head of each Pond •
6. Do not build Ponds too near the Spring ; 7. Build
Keepers House very near the Ponds; 8. Make Ponds

X CONTENTS.

very Secure ; g. Shape of the Ponds ; lo. Be able to
draw off the Water; ii. IJeware of 1 liihiig- Places ;
12. Number of T'onds ; 13. Protections for Ponds;
14. Spawning Peds. — Ainsworth's Spawning Races.
— C(jllins's Roller Spawning liox ; 15. Inlets and Out-
lets ; 16 Screens '8-39

CHAPTER III.

hl'ii.dincs.

Buildings required. — Meat Room. — Store- Room and Car-
penter's Shop. — Office. — Ice-IIouse. — Other Struc-
tures. — Hatching House. — Size of Hatching 1 (ouse ;
Location ; Shape ; No Fire required ; Skylights j Wa-
terproof Partitions 40-46

CHAPTER IV.

HATCHING APPARATUS.

Enumeration of Hatching Apiratus: i. Supply Reser-
voir; 2. Hatching-Room Aqueduct, Effect of Air on
Temperature of Water ; 3. Filtering Arrangements :
Nature of Sediment, Filtering Tanks and Screens,
Flannel for Filters, Cleaning the Filters ; 4. The Dis-
tributing Spout, Temporary Aqueduct, Gravel Filter ;
5. Hatching Compartments or Hatching Apparatus
proper. Responsibility of. — Materials. — Glass Grilles
-c's. C;harcoal Troughs. — Expense of Carbonized Wood
compared with Glass Grilles. — Discovery of Carbonized
Wood for Hatching. — Wood lined with Glass inade-
quate. — Placing the Hatching Troughs ; Dimensions ;
Compartments ; Elevation ; Inclination. — Screens. —
Trap-Box. — Laying the Gravel ; Size of Gravel ; Prep-
aration of; Depth. — The Covers. — Most Embryos
develop in the Dark. — Covers a Protection from Ene-
mies. — Glass Grilles. — Wire-Netting Hatching Trays.
— Various Methods of using Trays: i. The Oiie-Tier
Method; 2. The Double-Tier System ; 3. Williamson's

/

o

18-39

1^0 - 46

CONTENTS.

XI

Method ; 4. Clark's Method; 5. Holton's Afcthod ;
f). 1 he Use o» deep Trays with the Williamson Hatch-

'"^^'■""6'^^ 47-79

CII A I'TKR V.

THE NURSKRY.

fntroduction. - The Water. - Methods of Hearing -
I'ond. :-.. kearing-Ik.xes - Rearing- Hoxes ; Essential
r o.nts of: I. A Kail of Water ; 2. A Current ; 3. Tro.
tection against Suction ; 4. Security fro.n Overflow •
5. Absence of fixed I liding- Places ; 6. Comj.actness .'
7- I rotcction against Outside Enemies ; 8. Perfectly
nght Joints; 9. Protection against Fungus. - Maxi-
mum and Minin.um Supply of Water. - Arrangement
of Keanng-lioxes. - Directions for Ponds . So 90

,£

PART II.
PROCESSES IN TROUT BREEDING.

CHAPTER I.

TAKING THE EGGS.

Introduction. - Preparations for the Spawning Season. -
1 he Spawnmg Season. - Appearance of the Two Sexes
-The First Fish up. -Method of Capturing. - Ifold^
mg the Fish. -The Writer's Method. - DirerMons
about Handling. -Impregnating the Eggs. - Russian
Method. — Russian vs. American Theory. — How to tell
Ripe Fish. -Further Directions for Impregnating the
iiggs: I. Use Eggs that flow easily, and no others;
2. Use good Milt and plenty of it; 3 Make Quick Work
m Impregnating the Eggs; 4. Allow the Eggs Ample
Time to separate ; 5. Rinse thoroughly ; 6. Practise to
acquire Dexterity. - Closing Notes -Time of Spawn-
mg. - Age. - Number of Eggs. - Effect of the Weather.

Xll CONTENTS.

— Best Days for Spawning. — Spawning in the Pond.

— The Spawning Pans. — Placing the Spawn . 93-123

CHAPTER II.

HATCHING THE EGGS.

Kind of Labor required. — Dangers ; i. Fungus; 2. Sedi-
ment; 3. Living Enemies; 4. Byssus. — Examination
of the Eggs. — Instruments for Picking out Eggs. —
How to tell Dead Eggs. — Method of Procedure. — I':s-
timating Percentage of Impregnation. — Time required
fo.- Hatching. — Progress of the Eggs. — How to tell
Eggs that will produce Good Fish. — Transportation.

— Packing. — Modu.< Operandi .... 124-150

CHAPTER III.

CARE OF ALEVINS.

Hatching of the First Trout. — Duration of Yolk-Sac Pe-
riod ; Progress of. — Instinct to hide. — New Instinct.

— Indifference to Cold. — Alevins easily Transported.

— The Black Crook 151

160

CHAPTER IV.

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

Section I. — Progress of Young Fry, and General Direc-
tions. — When to begin to feed. — Method of Feeding.
— Hiimmerle's Invention for feeding Trovt. — Bright
Prospects. — The Young Fry dying. — How to save
them. — Further Progress 161 - 182

Section II. — What to do to make the Young Fry live :
I. Have healthy, well-fed Breeders; Large Eggs how
produced ; 2. Develop strong and healthy Embryos in
Egg ; 3. Provide Suitable Place for Young Fry. — Points
to be secured : a. No Possibility of Water being cut off;
b. New, unused Water essential ; c. Shade necessary ;
d. Must not be crowded ; e. Take good Care of Fish. —
Scepticism about raising Young Fry. — Discussion. —

CONTENTS.

Xlll

d.
)3-i23

1-
n

5-

d
11
1.
14-150

I -160

[-182

Causes of Death external and removable, — Maxims.

— Good Care rewarded , o'
Section III. - Diseases of Trout Fr;. - Untrodden Field'" '^^

— Diseases enumerated ; i. Fungus on the Egg • 2 Par-
tial Suffocation of the Embryo; 3. Strangulation of the
Embryo; Seth Green's Dropsv, or Blue Swelling • c De-
formity at Birth ; 6. Fungus on the Surface of the Body •
7. Constitutional Weakness ; 8. Emaciation ; 9. Star-
vation ; 10. Ulcers on -he Head; 11 Animal Parasites •
12 Pm Disease; 13. Black Ophthalmia ; 14. Irritation
of the Optic Nerve ; 15. Inflammation of the Gills •
16. Patty Degeneration of the Vitals; 17. Spotted Rash ,'
18. Strangulation by Food; 19. Cannibalism. Nib-
bhng;2o. Overheating; 21. Suftbcation.-Cautions 193-20Q

SECTlow I V .- Filling Orders for Young Fry. - ,>.epara '

tions. - Counting. - Precautions in Travelling . 209-214

CHAPTER V.

GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

Section I _ Tn.ut in general. - Scientific Descripdon of
the Salmo Fontinalis (Storer). - Trout the favorite
among Hshes. - Suited to Domestication. - SVht -

Hearing. — Smell TTnKiVnf n ^^ ■ ■

r.M^ 1 * "^'^'tat. — Peculiarities. — Natu-

ral Food. - Age. - Weight . . . . ^ _,^^

"ON II. - Commissary Department. - The right Kind ~^
of P ood - Other Kinds of Food. - Care and Irepai a-

SECTION m H ■ ~ ''"''^^- - ''^'y ^^^-- ■ -8-237

W-. Guard against: i. Freshets; 2. Overstocking;
3; Heated Water; 4. Careless Handling; 5. Ca.i-

nibahsm; 6. Fouled Water; 7. Natural Enemies; 8.
Poachers. ^ Safeguards at Cold Spring Trout Poilds.

Section'iV - How to grow Trout 'to a ;ery Large slzl"'^'

and rapidly. -Directions: i. Give them Plenty of Wa!

ter; 2. Plenty of Food; 3. W.,..„ Water (relJtiVeW^^^
4. Range; 5. Space . . '''

253-255

XIV

CONTENTS.

■ Little La-
• • 255,256
257-259

Section V. - Daily Care of the Large Trout. •

bor required. — Mortality slight
Section VL-Marketing the Trout ' . ' .

CHAPTER Vr.

CONCLUDING CHAl'TER.

'' liZcnt'^^^' '" '"""• "'^ Trout-Breeding Estab-
i^hmcnt: In hummer; Fall; Winter; Spring -The

UcmuaryV.ew or Trout-Growing -Current E^penl .

Large Margu.s of Profit. - Estimates. - Risk -

Sale of Spawn. — Youn:? Stnrk- p • r-
Sfctiov ir ... \"""S^*°<^'^--rr'ces Current 260-270
' 'ON II. - Recapitulation, - Summary of Directions
and Precautions in Regard to Water, Ponds, N e"
Eggs, Young Fry, and Large Trout !/'

. .-70-273

APPENDIX.

L A New Discovery. -Cure for Fungus . . 377-081

n. Journeys ofLive Fish and Effcs ^i "tl

IIL Odds and Ends . ^^ ' " 'f'^^^'

IV. i'atent Carbonized Hatching Troughs " S~^°«

V. Brief Sketch of Operation's at r Cold Sprf'
1 rout Ponds . ^

VL Salmon-Breeding Establishmen't on" the * Mirimi'"'''

VI r. Expenments with Trout Egg^ and Trout. " ITJ":
VIII. The Progress of Development of a Salmo Egg ^^
iCo,riro„,,s/a/,,a). (Y<,gt.) Translated from the

French by Frances W. Webber . . ..g-^.c

L\. Perch Hatching . . ^ ^^^

X. Organizat.on of the American Fish Cultunsts' As^"^^"^
sociation

xri. Marking Salmon (Diickland) ,!,

x'r'v Bol"" ^'t ': '^' ''' di'"i--'.i„g.. ,Ber.;am.)348:3«
AlV. Books on Fish Culture ° •'^^

• 356-362

INDEX . ~~

363-367

■4

%

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

PART I.

TROUT-BREEDING WORKS.

M

(I

DOMESTICATED TROUT.*

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

WHEN the writer of the following pages asked
Seth Green, in 1866, "how many of those
who engaged in trout breeding would succeed," he
answered, with his well-known quickness of manner,
" One in a million." There was so much wanting, at

* How fully the word "domesticated" will finally apply to
trout that are bred and grown artificially, time alone can decide.
It is still a very doubtful question whether thev will ever be-
come so accustomed and attached to the habitations of man that
they will prefer to remain around his homes and under his pro-
tection, like dogs and fowls, and so become in the strictest
sense domestic creatures.

^ Still, this result is not impossible, perhaps not improbable.
Cattle and horses become as wild as buffaloes and deer
when left to run wild long enough. Artificial influences have
given these creatures their domestic habits. Why may not a
sufticiently long course of similar influences create a similar
change in the habits of trout >

Trout are not naturally averse to man in their primitive wildness,
before they have learned to fear him. I have seen wild trout in the
'•nmhabited forests of New Bruns- J-, as little disposed to avoid
man as sheep in a pasture. Why, then, may we not, by taking
away their fear of man through domestication, restore that

4 DOMESTICATED TROUT.

that time, in the knowledge required to insure suc-
cess, that Mr, Green's reply was hardly an exaggera-
tion. Since that ^ime, however, the whole aspect of
the matter has been changed, and the care and study
bestowed on the subject have evolved a set of rules
and principles, the careful observance of which will
render a degree of success almost certain. I think it
may safely be said that the time has come when trout
can be hatched, reared, and brouglit to maturity in
great numbers and with comparatively little loss ; and
I think it is also safe to say that success in raising
the fish will of necessity be accompanied by i)ecuniary
success while the present relations exist between the
prices of trout and the cost of the food on which they
are reared.

primitive state of feeling towards him, which is free from aver-

sion r

Again, I have at my ponds trout that were hatched from
])arents that were themselves hatched there artificially. Now, it
may have been wholly a fancy, but there has seemed to me to be
a difierence between these fish and tlie offspring of wild parents
in respect to shvness, and that the artificially hatched i^rogeny
of domesticated parents were less shy than the artificially
hatched olTspring of wild parents. If this is so, and the trout
show an improvement in one generation, what may we not ex-
pect of fish in which domestication has been hereditary for many
generations .''

The time may come when continued domestication, together
with the overcoming of their fear of man, will so modify the
present action of their instincts, that, when pains are taken with
the domesticated trout, they will prefer to seek the shelter and
food which they find around the homes of men to the precarious
chances of a wild and roaming life. This may not be probable,
but I do not think it is impossible.

I

INTRODUCTION. c

I do not wish to be understood, however, in saying
that following certain rules will insure success, that a
mechanical adhen,"nce to rules will make any one
succeed. On the contrary, to raise trout successfully
demands a vast deal more than that. It requires not
only the ordinary force, foresight, and tenacity of pur-
pose requisite to success in any business, but also, in
an unusual degree, constant vigilance and caution, 'and
that peculiar blending of insight, skill, and precision
which makes a successful sportsman, and which seems
to be a gift, rather than an acquirement.

I do not say that without these qualities a degree of
success may not be obtained, but for the l^es/ success
these traits are indispensable.

You can see at once why this is so. In the first
place, the trout breeder has to deal with the most
elusory, the most treacherous and capricious thing in
the world, namely, running water. To make running
water go as you would have it and 7c>/iere you would
have it, from one year's end to another, through all
the vicissitudes of weather of the four seasons, in-
cludmg the extremes of frost and heat, freshet and
drought, is a task the difficulty of which only those
know wlio have tried it. Then it must be remem-
bered that your charge is a wild creature, which has
never been domesticated or taught domestic habits, and
every one knows the vast difference in the difficulty
of the work between the rearing of wild and domesti-
cated creatures.

Furthermore, the trout lives in an element not yours,
but foreign to you, and one which you can never by any

O DOMESTICATEn TROUT.

possibility learn the nature of by living in it yourself-,
and lastly, in the earlier stages of its growth the de-
velopments and functions of the trout and the progress

of its diseases are almost or wholly microscopic,

all of which considerations call for a peculiar watchful-
ness and skill.

But though so much is required for great success, it
is also true that the knowledge which has now been
gained of the art will enable most persons to raise
trout with very gratifying results, and almost any one
in a fiivorable locality can raise trout enough to feel
rewarded for his pains.

The Principle of Security.

Before taking up the various branches and pro-
cesses of trout raising, I beg to mention one prin-
c."Dle, the most important, in the writer's opinion, of
any in t!ie whole prosecution of the enterprise, and
one which, on account of its importance, will be im-
pressed upon the reader at every favorable opportu-
nity throughout this little treatise. This is the prin-
ciple of insuring the utmost degree of security in every
department of your work.

The emphasis with which this principle of security
is urged upon the trout culturist will be understood
when the following points are considered.

I. All you have to do to be successful in trout
raising, or to make your fortune from it, if you have
a good place, is to keep your fish alive and growing.
The hundred thousand trout you hatch this spring,
if you keep them thirty months, will bring you thirty

INTRODUCTION. j

thousand dollars, if you get only thirty cents apiece
for ihcm ; and thcv will be poor trout if they do not
bring that.

This calculation is very simple, but sound. I1ie fact
IS, that trout are produced in the first instance in such
enormous quantities, and at so little cost, they can he
raised with so little outlay of money, a.ul they bring
when matured, such, a high price in the market, that all
you have to do is to keep the fish alive and growing
and your success will be all you can wish. The prize
IS already m your hand. All you are recjuired to do
i-s to hold It. Hence the importance of making what
you have secure. It is important, because that alone
will bring you almost incredible returns ; and if secu-
rity alone will make you successful, it must be impor-
tant. *

2. The utmost degree of security is demanded, be-
cause when losses do occur, it is generally on so lar^e
a scale. The peculiar nature of the things you detal
with, namely, fish and running water, and the magnitude
of the numbers you operate with, are such that Ihere is
hardly an occupation in the world where insecurity
IS followed by such wholesale loss. For instance the
stream that supplies fifty thousand fry is cut off" a few
hours, we will suppose, in a hot night in summer, by
an accident. In the morning fifty thousand trout are
cead. It is not the loss of a ^^v.-, as the farmers in
the provinces lose their sheep by the attack of the
black bear, or the .spring lambs are killed by foxes
but It IS the whole fifty thousand. As an illustration
of this, a visitor, one July evening, about seven o'clock

8

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

accidentall)' moved a small gate which regulated the
supply of twelve thousand fine, healthy trout fry
belonging to the writer, and at half past ten the
same evening every fish was dead on its back. The
gate was not moved over an inch ; the consequence
was the death of twelve thousand beautiful young
trout.

For instance, again, a freshet that you have not
guarded against comes down unexpectedly, and
sweeps over your ponds ; when the waters subside, you
will not have lost one or two of your fish, but, it is
very likely, three fourths of them. Or a screen inse-
curely placed may let them all go ; or an epidemic,
bred by foul meat, may take off half your brood before
you can check it.

A score of instances within the writer's knowled"-e
might be mentioned, where actual losses of great mag-
nitude have occurred in each one of these ways, when
the only cause was insecurity. Thus it is seen that
losses, when they do occur, are frequently so disastrous
tliat no degree of security in guarding against them
seems excessive. As in business, so in trout raising,
the magnitude of the risk calls for a corresponding
degree of security.

3. The utmost security is also necessary in trout
raising, because the dangers are so incessant and so
constantly present. Plant your corn in the field, or
turn your sheep out to pasture, and they are tolerably
safe ; their dangers come seldom, and their enemies
are (ew ; but hatch your trout in the water, and not
a moment, by day or by night, are they free from

i

INTRODUCTION. q

danger, and there is not a moment when they are
not surrounded by mortal enemies.

Frogs, li/ards, hind and water snakes, water-beetles,
the caddis-worms, land-rats and water-rats, mice,'
nn'nks, weasels, kingfishers, herons ofseveral kinds, and'
even cats, are on the alert for them all the time, 'and,
after they have once found them, will visit them every
day or night as long as they last. 'I'he unprotected
trout are like a Hock of sheep in the haunts of pan-
thers and wolves on the Rocky Mountains, and have
about as much chance of surviving.

Their danger is incessant. It is not once a week
or once a month that their enemies come for them,
but every day and every night of their lives, if they
are unprotected ; and e\ery week the number of crea-
tures that feed on them will increase. It is surprising
how fast kingfishers, herons, frogs, and snakes will
multiply around a well-filled and unprotected trout
pond. Furthermore, there is the constant danger
from the water itself which sustains them, either ''of
Its overflowing, or running short, or of getting too
warm, or becoming unwholesome, —all which accidents
are likely to happen and to be attended with flital re-
sults. The constant presence of these dangers ren-
ders It doubly important to make security your first
thought in raising trout.

4. This is not all ; the sources of danger to which
your fish are exposed are of the invisible, intangible
kmd, that keep out of your sight and out of your
reach, and for that very reason security becomes ten-
fold more needful. Many of their dangers come when

10

DOMESTICATKl) TROUT.

they arc least expected ; they do their work unseen,
often in the (hiik, and leave no trace of their i)resence.
For example, one or two of the fine threads in the
screen of your hatching trough may be worn through,
or tl)ere may he some small undiscovered crevice in
a corner of your nursery, and day after day, for weeks,
the little creatures may be slipjMng through and escap'
ing, and an immense loss occur before you even sus-
pect the cause of the mysterious waste.

Or the cover of your hatching trough, although to
all appearances tight, may be loose enough to admit
a mouse, and every night for a month he and his
companions may come into the trough, and feed on
your alevin trout in the corners, where they swarm by
thousands ; and yet, when morning comes, not a sign
or a trace may you discover to show that anything
has gone wrong, except that your fish are daily dimin-
ishing. Or it may happen that a muskrat, out of sight
under the earth, is boring a hole that will let your
fish out, when you think they are perfectly secure;
or a mink, wholly unexpected, may have quartered
himself in one of your ponds; or the invisible fungus
may, without your knowledge, be gathering in the gHls
of your young fry, to their certain future destructton.
Such is the occult character of many of the dangers
which threaten the lives of your trout, and hence the
need of extreme security in raising them is such that
it can hardly be overestimated. Labor, patience, and
constant care are required to be successful ; but the
one consideration which ranks above all others is to
guard them frvm every species of insecurity.

INTRODUCTION.

II

Selectfxc. iffR \V.\Tr'R.

The first thing to do, in gettin^i,' ready to raise trout,
is to find suitable water. Tiiis is a very important
part of your preparations, for it is the element that
your trout are to sikmu! their lives in ; and if there is
anvthinjr wrong about the water, it will sooner or later
show itself in fatal results.

In looking for suitable water, the following precau-
tions should in no instance be overlooked.

I. I5e sure that there will a/icm's be water aioi/^i:/i
for your purposes. 'I o decide upon this, you must be
guided by the amount of water flowing in the hottest
week of the dryest time in the summer.

This IS your guide : the stream or spring is worth
no more than what it will do at its very warmest and
lowest time. It seems like reflecting on the reader's
intelligence to insist on this precaution, yet thousands
and thousands of fish have been lost by neglecting it.*
Great care ought to be exercised to guard against
being misled by deceptive appearances.

When you see a brook sweeping along in the spring
at its flood height, it is extremely difficult to realize
that the swollen stream can become, as it often does,
a dry or nearly dry channel. Therefore, when you'
select your brook, either see it yourself in its dryest
state, or take the testimony of some perfectly rc/iabk

^ * I once received a letter from a man who wanted to know
what kmd of fish he could raise in a brook which was quite
large eight months in the year, and dried up wholly durinL^ the
other four."

12

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

person who has seen it thus ; and if from what you
see or hear you are led to believe that it is possible {ox
the supply of water to become insufficient, have noth-
ing to do with it. Overcome all temptations to try it,
and look elsewhere.

2. lie sure that no freshets which can carry away or
overflow your works are possible. In deciding upon
the character of your stream, in this respect allowance
should be also made, as in the former case, for decep-
tive appearances, though in just the opposite direction.
It is so very difficult to believe that the harmless
little rivulet of August can become a resistless torrent
in October, that many persons are apt to be misled by
the deceptive appearance, and will actually go to work
on a stream liable to freshets, and will build ponds,
and will stock them, at great expense, with no guar-
anty whatever that the next fall cr spring flood will
not, as it generally proves, sweep everything away.
I'rust to no probabilities, but make sun that no fresh-
ets can come that can do you damage, or, at least, that
no such freshet ever has come. If this is not made
siircoi, a single night will destroy the work of years.

Brook< subject to moderate freshets that can be
controlled are not necessarily objectionable ; they need
not be given up, if the expense of carrying off the sur-
plus water is not too great ; but a bro(;k where the
freshets cannot be wholly guarded against is a delusion
and a snare, and ought to be utterly avoided.

3. Be sure that the water does not heat up in the
summer to an unwholesome point. Many brooks
which have the appearance of being perfect trout

INTRODUCTION. . .

Streams are worthless from becoming too warm in the
summer. Here, also, the test should be the hottest
day of the dryest time. For it should be remembered
that one day of freshet, drought, or intense heat may
do as much mischief, in taking away your trout, as six
months of the same might do.

The waters otherwise suitable, which are most to be
dreaded on account of their excessive heat, are outlets
of ponds or lakes, and such as are at the fish preserves
distant from their sources. These waters, though peren-
nial and of even flow, and fed by springs, mav yet,
froiii too much exposure to the sun or air, be wholly
unfit to keep trout alive, by reason of their temperature
rising too high.

This objection is not always so imperative as the
other two just mentioned, because there are two ways
of obviating it to some extent, viz. :- ,. ]]y p,,ttino-
ice in the stream. 2. By taking the water fiom nea'r
Its source, through a pipe under ground. The fir^t
remedy often involves so much risk, as well as
expense and necessity of constant vigilance in hot
weather, that it had better not be contemplated
except m cases of great counterbalancing advantages'
The latter remedy, however, when it will pay, is usually
practicable, and will do if it can be made safe, vj
at all events, make sure either that the water will keep
cool of itself, or that you can and 70/// keep it cool
enough by one method or another.

Under this head it may be suggested that the quan-
tity and force of current and xigor * of the water have

* I cannot exactly define the word " vigor" in its present ap-

14

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

much to do witli the degree of temperature at which
trout will live. For instance, when water does no* pos-
sess much vigor, is deficient in quantity, and sluggish,
it will not support trout life in so high a temperature as
when it is vigorous, plentiful, anil rapid. I think it is
safe to say that sluggish Hal water at 70° is dangerous,
if not fatal, to trout ; while they will live in vigorous
rapid water which occasionally runs to 80°. I have
found 85° to be fotal to them in all kinds of water.

4. Be sure that the water you select is intrinsically
favorable to trout. Be very careful about using any
brook or spring which can possibly receive the dis-
charge of a tannery or mill, or drainage discharging
any poisonous substance. The presence of some lime
in the water naturally is not necessarily an objection ;
for trout do live in limestone regions, and in water
having some lime in it. So of iron ; but too much of
either in the water will kill them. The best test of
this point that you can possibly get is that the
stream is a natural trout brook. On the other hand, if
it is not a natural trout brook, or has not been one, be
very shy of it ; there is some good cause why trout
do not inhabit it, and the cause is probably to be
found in the unsuitableness of the water.

It is no objection to a stream where trout are raised
that it is occasionally turbid, or even muddy. Such

plication, nor can T find a better word to give my meaning. In
drinking water, we distinguish between that which is flat and
that which is sparkling. What we call sparkling water, when
we drink it, I mean by vigorous water in a trout brook. There
are very great differences in this respect, as all are aware.

INTRODUCTION.

15

water, though injurious to eggs, is wholesome and
beneficial to the fully formed fish of all ages.

It is always a good precaution, where a stream is used
which has no trout in it naturally, to put in a few and
keep them there the year round, and see how it suits
them, before adoptmg it fully as a trout-breeding water.'
There is some conflict of opinion about the compar-
ative value of spring and brook water for raising trout.
As a rule, I think generally, all things considered, that
spring-water is best for hatching, and brook-water is
the best for raising trout. It is said that brook-water
■s more natural for hatching ; that it hatches the trout
out at a better time, nameiy, in the spring, and that
the young fry, when they do come out, are uncommonly
lively. It is not certain, however, that brook-water is
more natural than spring-water for hatching, for in many
brooks, and in most of those with which I am accjuaint-
ed, half,the fish lay their eggs in spring-holes, or so near
the spring-sources of the stream that it is practically
spring-water that they are hatched in. Then, again, it
is a doubtful advantage, if any, to have them hatch late ;
and lastly, they are not sure, by any means, to make
better trout for being unusually lively in the earlier
days of their infancy.

On the other hand, spring-water possesses, for hatch-
ing, the vast advantage over brook-water of being safer.

I think that in hatching, except in very rare instan-
ces, brook-water can have no advantages wliich can
begin to offset this great counterbalancing advantage
of safety. You cannot be too sure of the water which
flows over your eggs. In most brooks you cannot be

i6

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

I

sure that there will not be trouble in the course of
tlie winter from a stoppage of water, an overflow,
sediment, or injury to the water above. At any rate,
with a brook, your risk, on account of these dangers,
is vastly increased. But with a spring there is an even
flow, a steady temj^erature, very little danger of stop-
page of the water or injury to it, and the whole thing
is compact and well in hand.

These considerations will, in ihe long run, give the
spring-water for hatching purposes a very decided ad-
vantage over brook-water.

Brook-water, again, is best to raise trout in. Spring-
water, just emerging from the darkness of tlie interior
of the earth, is cold, wholly free from animal and vege-
table life, and deficient in that peculiar vitality which
its flow through the open air and sunshine imparts to it.
Trout will not grow fast, will remain small, and will
develop small ova, in such water.

Brook-water, on the contrary, possessing the qualities
which spring-water lacks, is much more nutritious, if I
may use the word, will grow trout rapidly, will give
them a good size, and will develop large eggs in the
fish. For these reasons it is, if safe, better than spring-
water for raising trout.

It should be mentioned here, however, that cold wa-
ter makes a hardier and firmer-fleshed fish, and is less
favorable to disease. It is conse(}uently better, some-
times, when there is any tendency to disease, to keep
the very young fry in the spring-water until they have
acquired some firmness of bone and flesh.

The best water advantages of all are perhaps found

Vi

St

INTRODUCTION.

i

17

where both spring and safe brook water are at one's
command, and either or both can be employed at
pleasure.* The brook-water can then be used, if de-
sired, while it is safe, and a mixture of spring and
brook can be so graduated as to make the eggs hatch
at any desired time between the minimum and maxi-
mum periods of incubation. In the long run, however,
I think experience will prove that a large spring
of even temperature and even flow is about as good
as anything for hatching the eggs.

* Thiii is the case at the Mirimichi Sahnon-Breeding Works.

CHAPTER II.

rONDS.

THE first questions you will ask yourself, when
you have decided that you liave suitable water
for your puri)oses, are, where shall the ponds be located,
at what points on the stream shall the i)onds be built,
and how shall they be constructed ?

In answering these inquiries, a great variety of con-
siderations of a special character will come in, such
as the nature of the soil, the lay of the land, and your
personal tastes, which you can best settle for vourself
without help; but there are other considerations of a
general character which should be noticed here, and
among them are the following.

I. The water you have is to be used for three dis-
tinct purposes, — for the hatching ai)paratus, for the
nursery, and for the ponds of the mature trout, — and
it should be borne in mind that the water which may
be good for one of these may not be good for another.

Eor instance, the cold, barren water, just emerging
from the earth, though just the thing for hatching
eggs, is, from its cold and unnutritious character, poor
water to fxtten mature fish in ; on the other hand,
brook-water, full of animal life, which is just the thing
on that account for the mature trout, may, from its

PONDS.

'9

liability to sediment, or intractable character, or other
causes, be extremely unsuitable for hatching. In
l()catin<r your ponds, then, these three departments
should be kept distinct in the mind ; and it should be
remembered that the works belonging to each should
be so built in reference to their distinctive require-
ments, and also with reference to each other, that,
when they are finished, each will have its proper water
advantages, the precedence, when there is choice of
water, being always given to the first two named,
the hatching apparatus and the nursery. Nature has
done so much in some trout-pond localities that very
little foresight is required in this respect ; but in many,
especially where the water has to be used over once
or twice, the exercise of considerable forethought will
be well repaid.

2. Get your ponds, whenever you can without great
inconvenience, either wholly or partly by excavating
the earth, rather than by damming up the stream.
This is for safety ; with the bulk of the water above
the level of the adjacent land, you are never secure.
I never saw a trout-pond dam in my life that I con-
sidered absolutely safe.

Recollect that muskrats, frost, and decay are the
active enemies of your pond walls, and their "'ork is
correspondingly mischievous in the degree that the
ponds are raised above the le\-el of the surrounding
land. As I said, I never saw a trout-pond dam that
was safe to hold trout in ; but I have seen more un-
safe ones than I can think of, that sooner or later led
to disastrous losses by breaking away and letting out

20

DOMESTICATE!) TROUT.

the fish. Excavated ponds nre the only safe ones.
Let your rule be, when possible, to excavate rather
than dam up.

3. Build your ponds as compactly as possible. This
might be said of your whole establishment also. Have
all your ponds and works as near together as other
more important considerations will allow. In rainy
weather, and deep snows, and times of danger, you
will appreciate this.

4. Ijuild all your ponds small that mean business.
Never break over this rule. Make your ponds for
sport as large as you please, and I should say the
larger the better ; but when you mean business, build
small. The greatest nuisance in the world, in a trout-
breeding establishment, is a large pond, where the
trout are out of control, and do as they please, and go
as they please, wholly regardless of your convenience.
This rule should always be observed, namely, never
to let a trout escape to any place where you cannot get
at it, observe it, and capture it at a moment's notice.

It is just as ridiculous, in the present stage of trout-
breeding at least, to turn out your trout in a large
pond, where they can get away from you, as it is to
turn out your sheep or cattle in an un fenced moun-
tain-pasture, where you will never hear from them
again unless you fit out a regular hunting expedition
to look them up. In course of time, when trout
become as plentiful as the cattle and horses in South
American pampas, this will do, perhaps ; but now, when
trout are a^ scarce as they are, and worth a dollar a
pound, you want to have them where they cannot

PONDS.

21

■■',*

possibly get away from you, or even permanently out of
your sight ; consequently, your ponds should be built
small,

5. Have a fall, and as much of one as you can,
at the head of each pond ; this is not essential, but
very desirable, as then the water comes full of air and
life directly on your fish, which is worth a great deal.
You can keep more fish in the pond by it, they will
be healthier, and will grow better.

6. I think it is a good plan to locate your ponds far
enough from the fountain-head of the stream for ihe
water, by running through the air and sunlight, to have
changed its character from cold barren spring-water
to warmer and more nutritious brook-water. It will
soon acquire this brook character, especially if it is
spread out over considerable surface. Indeed, a pond
having a /ar^e surface exposed to the sun, built directly
over the spring, answers very well ; but trout will not
grow fast or f-itten easily in a deep, small spring-hole
or spring-water pond, not much exposed to the sun.
Do not infer from this that trout need to be in the
sun ; it is not the trout, but the water that the trout
live in, that requires the sunlight. Brook-water which
has a good deal of sunlight in it is better for ponds than
spring-water with none. I'rees are to some extent ob-
jectionable, when their leaves make trouble bv cloo-o-ino-
up the screens, but they are very desirable for shade.

7. If your dwelling-house for yourself or keeper is
built, then try to locate your ponds as near to the house
as possible, within sight at least. If your house is not
built, then build it very near your ponds.

22

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

You are never enthrly safe froiri i)o:ichers, it is true,
but your security is much greater for living near
your ponds. Herons, kingfishers, minks, and other
destructive animals, are also less likely to frequent
your ponds if your house is near.

Then, besides the general advantages of always
being near, and having your ponds in sight, you will
many times, when a sudden shower comes up, or in
some other case of need, go to the ponds, when, if you
lived farther off, you would, perhaps, not think it worth
the while. In the course of time the lack of this
advantage will surely show itself in your record of
losses.

8. You cannot exercise too much caution in making
your ponds secure. 'Jo this end, I would recommend
that every pond and every aqueduct on your place be
built of two-inch plank. Had I followed this rule
when I began five years ago, I should have saved
thousands and thousands of fish. I have had all
sorts of ponds and dams, and have had them built by
experienced workmen, and warranted to stand twenty
years ; but not a single pond has held, out of twenty-
three that I have built, except my plank ponds. Some
of them have stood for five years to perfection. Mean-
while, there has been no end of vexation, annual ex-
pense, and loss, caused by the other ponds breaking
away ; and if I began over again, I would build every-
thing from beginning to end, that the water flowed
through, of two-inch plank. Stone, concrete, cement,
and similar substances, may answer as well, perhaps, for
single ponds ; but for a material to be used throuoh-

I

PONDS.

23

out I prefer plank, because it can always be de-
pended upon, rci)air.s can be easily made, a screen
can be readily put in anywhere, a tight joint can always
be formed without trouble, tighter and more convenient
connections can be made with the streams, and, on
the whole, it stands the test of time and weatiier, and
of both the routine and emergencies of exi)erience, bet-
ter than anything I know of.*

If you object to the want of durability of wood and
its unsuitablcness for fish, char the plank f an eighth of
an inch deep all round, and then you have both a dura-
ble and a suitable material.

I do not, however, insist upon the necessity of using
plank, if you think you have something better. I
only give the lessons of my own experience ; but, what-
ever you use, be sure that it is safe, that it will
resist the muskrats, the weather, the frost, and the
natural tendency to displacement, which, I suppose,
all materials in the earth or on its surface are sub-
ject to.

If it is necessary to build a dam, I would recom-
mend to the inex|)erienced to procure, by all means,
the skill of an engineer, or practical dam-builder, who
understands the nature of running water ; for to con-
fine running water securely is an art in itself, and a
beginner is almost sure to make a mistake somewhere,
for which in the end he will pay a heavy penalty in
losses.

Running water is the most treacherous of all things,

* These remarks are intended, of course, for business ponds.
It does not matter much what amateur ponds are built of,
t See page 274.

I

4

_

24

DOMICSTICATIU) TROUT.

and is always seeking to run in a different ehannel
from that artitieialiy provided for it ; and if there is
a weak spot anywhere about the sides of llie dam
or pond, the water will find it, and sooner or later,
with the help of nuiskrats and frost, will bore a liole
through it, and very likely this will happen in some
place where you have never dreamed of its going.
Once having gained an advantage, it never loses it,
but will render your pond more and more unsafe,
till you make an entire reconstruction of it or aban-
don it.

I-'-mpIoy an experienced man, then, to build the dam,
if you must have one, and tell him to make it doubly
safe ; and even then, if your experience is like mine,
you will be sorry you built it.

9. The shai)e of the ponds should be adapted to
your water supply. If you have plenty of water at a
low temperature, build the ponds of any shai)e you
like so that they are not too large. If your water
sui)ply is small and cold, make your ponds narrow
and shallow. If the supply is small, and liable to
heat up, make them narrower still, and duep. Indeed,
a deep ditch is the best thing where you have neither
.cold nor plentiful water. With average water, experi-
ence favors oblong ponds, not over twelve or fifteen
feet in width, nor over three or four feet in depth,
and of any desirable length ; these ponds can be
easily inspected, easily swept with a seine, and will
have no places of concealment for the fish to hide
away in.

I think it is a good plan to have the ponds deepest

rONDS.

25

ill tlic middle, and to diininish in depth towards both
ends, so as to grade off to nothing at the inlet and
outlet. Such ponds keep the cleanest. If the pond
is deep at the lower end, in the course of years a "ood
deal of refuse and unclean matter will collect there,
which you would rather have out of the pond, and
which would have natiually worked off at the outlet
if the bottom of the pond gradually shelved up to-
wards ii.

10. Always, if i)ossiblc, have your ponds so ar-
ranged that you can draw off the water, if necessary.
When you want to make repairs or changes in the
pond, or wish to clean it out, this will be lound a great
convenience ; but it is especially serviceable when )oti
want to use the pond for smaller fish than have been
living in it, for it is never quite safe to put small fish
in a pond which has been stocked with larger ones,
unless it is drawn off.

Trout have such a wonderful faculty forgetting out
of sight, that even in the best-constructed ponds, where
the water is not drawn olT, the\- will often elude your
search, and one or two fish may still be left in the
pond after you have, as you believe, examined it thor-
oughly and taken them all out. I need not say how
mischievous the mistake would prove. Instances
could be cited of /losls of small fish having been de-
stroyed by o/ic or t7i>o large ones, left unwittingly in the
pond. Therefore have your pond, if possible, so that
you can draw it off if required, and always do so v. hen
you are going to substitute small fish for large ones
in it.

20

DOMESTICATED TROUT

II. Allow no hiding-places in your pond which you
cannot remove at pleasure. They almost always lead
to mischief. A dead fish, perhaps, will get in them
without your knowledge, and foul the water ; or a mink
will make use of them, and elude you for weeks, or,
more likely than all, a large cannibal trout will hide
there and prey on the smaller ones for months, undis-
covered by you. On the other hand, provide all the
mo%;ablc hiding-places within your control that you
please, — the more, up to a reasonable extent, the bet-
ter,—but never let them get out of your control, or
exist without your having access to them. 'I'he safe-
guards against outside dangers, which all ponds should
possess, are very important, and would, perhaps, more
naturally come in here, but they will be considered
under the head of "(jrowing the Large Trout."*

Number of Ponds.
There is no regulation number of ponds for a trout-
grower to be governed by. The best rule is to build
all you want ; the usual number, three, recommended
in books, being no guide to go by. You will certainly
want three, and probably several more. I have often
found ten quite few enough. You may be sure of
this, that you will in time have two sizes of young fry,
two sizes of yearlings, and at least three sizes of older
ones, which should be kept apart.

Besides the ponds for these, you will find a minnow-
pond, a pond for rare fish,t and two or three experi-
* See pp. 245-253.
t At the Cold Spring Truut ronds there is a pond twenty feet

PONDS.

V

ment ponds convenient. I should say, build all the
])onds you i^lease, if you have water enough ; you will
not have too many.

Spawning Beds.

The spawning beds consist simi)ly of a long narrow
Hume, or raceway, at the head of the ponds, where
the fish come up to spawn. They should be built at
the very upper end of the pond, and should have a
good current of water running through them. They
are generally made of plank, and should be at least
thirty feet long, with sides eighteen inches deep.

From the lower end of the spawning beds, the slope
should be gradual to the lowest level of the bottom of
the pond. If the slope is abrupt, the fish are not so
Hkely to go up the races, and are more likely to spawn
m the pond. The width of the .spawning race will de-
pend on the volume of the stream, it being an essential
point to secure a lively current over the beds. Where
there is plenty of water, the raceways should be four
feet wide. If the water supply is small, two feet, and
even eighteen inches, will do. There should be trans-
verse bars placed on the bottom, across the whole
width, high enough to make the water above them
from four to twelve inches deep. The more water you
have, the deei)er you can afford to make the water in
the beds, without dulling the current too much.

square, called the happy-family pond, where nine different kinds
of large fish are kept together, including glass-eved pike, mill-
lets, Llack bass, and others. Although not profitable, I have al-
ways found it sutticieiitly interesting to make it worth while to
keep it up.

28

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

In the spawning season, a layer of coarse clean
gravel, three or four inches deep, should be thrown
•nto these beds. They should be closely covered, and
generally your whole force of water turned on

The trout will come up here to spawn in preference
to any other place in tlie pond, and it is here that
they are trapped for the purpose of expressing their

P(r (rc

1 he continued daily disturbing of them for this pur-
pose will sometimes -and usually, I think -drive
then, down the stream a little lower, towards the end
of the season.

It is therefore a good plan to cover and prepare only
the upper half of the beds at first, and to trap the hsh
there at the beginning of the season, so that when thev
tall back, on account of being disturbed, they will not
drop far enough down the stream to si)awn below the
lower beds, which, when the propter time comes, can be
made ready and covered like the rest.

We have thus far treated wholly of the artificial
method of taking the eggs. This method has two ob-
jections. It is entirely artificial, and it involves severe
work, and exposure to water in the spawning season.

To obviate these two objections, Hon. Stephen H
Ainsworth conceived the very ingenious plan of mak-
ing the fish spawn naturally, and at the same time of
saving the eggs. This idea he carried out in what is
now ever)'where known as the Ainsworth Siiawnincr
Races. *'

The following description of this invention is by
the inventor, Mr. Ainsworth.

PONDS.

29

I

m

Ainsworth's Spawning Race.

This race may be built lil<e the races made for the artificial
impregnation of spawn used by nearly ail trout-breeders to en-
tice the trout up from the ])ond to spawn. It can be made of
any length, from ten to fifty feet, and from two to six feet wide,
according to the number of trout which are to use it and the
amount of water for the supi)ly of the pond. It should be made
with plank sides and bottom, so tight as to keep out all sedi-
ment. Paving the bottom nicely with small stones will answer.
The bottom, whether of plank or stone, must then be covered
with a half-inch layer of fine, well-washed gravel.

When one has large trout to spawn in the race, the water
should be two inches deep at the upper or supply end, and fif-
teen inches deep at the lower end, where it empties into the
l)ond, with a gentle current throughout its whole length. This
will give good spawning depth to the water for trout of all sizes
from six to twenty-four inches long. Usually a race three feet
wide, and from fifteen to twenty feet long, will be quite sufficient
for a pond of one thousand or eighteen hundred trout.

The bottom of this race must be covered with fine wire-cloth
screens, of about ten meshes to the inch, made of zinc or galvan-
ized wire, so as not to corrotle the spawn. Iron wire, if pai)ited,
will answer where zinc cannot be obtained. These wire screens
must be nailed to wooden frames made of inch-square stuff, the
frames to correspond in length with the width of the race, and to
be as wide as the doth will permit, — say two feet. Strips of
^inch stuff must be nailed to the bottom of the race for the
screens to rest on, in such a manner that they will be raised a
quarter of an inch above the gravel on the bottom. This is done
to give good circulation to the water under the spawn as they
fall on to these wire screens. These screens must be laid the
whole length of the race, side by side, to catch the spawn as it is
deposited by the parent trout.

Now, place over these another set of screens made of coarse
wire-cloth, of about two or three meshes to the inch, so that the
spawn will drop through easily. '!'hese screens must be nailed

I

30

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

on frames of the same length as the others, but of two-inch stuff,
and as wide as the clotli will permit. 'I'hcsc screens must be
strong enough to hold two inches of well-washed coarse gravel,
i'rom three quarters of an inch to two inches in diameter. They
should be so large that there will be interstices between the
gravel large enough to let the spawn pass down, if necessary, to
the lower screen. The upper screens should have handles on
each end to lift them by, as they will have to be taken out and
replaced every few days during the spawning season.

When these two sets of screens are placed the whole length
of the race, and all is complete, the water will pass over all, two
inches deep at the supply end and fifteen inches deej) at the
lower end, with a moderate current through the wluile race.
The reader will perceive by the description and diagram that
there is one inch of space between the two screens to hold the
spawn as they are deposited by the ])arent trout, with a gentle
current passing over and under them : and that the up|)er screen
prevents the spawn from being destroyed by trout and insects,
so that they are perfectly safe until removed to the hatching
bo.x.

When the trout is ready to spawn, she will enter the race
from the pond and prepare her nest. This she does by whip-
ping all the sediment from the gravel with her tail, and then slit-
whips or digs a hole in the cleansed gravel about two inches
deep, or down to the upper screen, and about four inches in
diameter. She then bends herself down in this hole and presses
her abdomen on the gravel, and forces out from one hundred to
five hundred spawn, which fall to the bottom of the hole and
down through the upper screen to the lower one. She then
passes up the race, and the male trout attending her comes over
the nest and spawn and ejects his milt on the ova ; he then
whips the water in the hole with his tail, sending the water and
milt in all directions, so that the mill reaches all the spawn on
the screen or in the gravel, and, as they are ripe and readv for
the milt, impregnates every one of them. As soon as this is
done, the mother trout returns and covers up the spawn and
fills the hole, and soon digs another in like manner, and so on

it

$

PONDS.

31

till she has deposited all her ova, which sometimes takes two
weeks.

There may be from twenty to fifty trout in the race spawn-
ing at (Mie time, and all, or nearly all, of the spawn will he found'
perfectly impregnated and fully matured, so that they will all
hatch, if taken out every three days, or once a week, and placed
in hatching boxes.

To take the spawn from the lower screens, first take out two
of the upper screens with what gravel is upon them ; then re-
move the lower ones, and wash the spawn off into a lar^e pan
of water carefully, and replace one set behind you, and then
take up one set at a time and place back, until all are returned.
Should any spawn remain in the gravel, ])y raising the screen up
and down a few times they will drop down through the inter-
stices. The race must be kept well covered during the time of
spawning, all persons must be kept away, and the fish ilisturbcd
as little as possil)le.

By this method the spawn are all saved, are perfectly ma-
tured, are all impregnated, and will all hatch ; the young will be
perfect, few or none will die, as their sac food is complete, and
they will be strong and healthy when they commence seeking
food for themselves. It is much less work to take the spawn
than by handling, and no parent trout are lost.

The spawning race above described answered its
purpose perfectly in making the fish spawn naturally,
and also lessened the work of gettin<z the eL^^Ts.

The tending of the races, nevertheless, required
considerable labor and exposure. This latter objec-
tion was ingeniously surmounted by Mr. A. S. Collins,
the partner of Seth Green, in a modificaiion of the
Ainsworth Races, known by the name of the Roller
Spawning Box.

I give a description below, written by the inventor.

I

32

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

Fig. I is a spawning box, with a portion of the side removed.

Fi<;. I.

A is a double row of coarse wire screens ; B apron of fine wire cloth ; D a
screen ; I'' a screen.

Roller Spawning Box.

For /a/c/j/jr the naturally iinprconatcd ct^gs of Brook Trout, Salmon,
etc. {Patent of A. S. Collins.)

In the Roller Spawning Box the principle used is that of the
Ainsworth Screens, and the improvement consists in a new and
convenient method of collecting the eggs. A double row of
coarse wire screens (three meshes to the inch), eight in number,
each two feet square, are put together in one frame, eight t'eet by
four. These screens are to be filled with coarse gravel, and the
eggs pass through as in Ainsworth's Screens. Under these
is an endless apron of fine wire-cloth, passing over rollers at the
two ends of the box. This apron is about one incli beneath the
upper screen, and is kept from sagging by small cross bars,
corresponding to the division of the ujiper screen.

These cross-bars are supported by, and, when the rollers are
turned, slide on, an inch-square strip nailed to the side of the
box. A similar strip, one inch above, supports the larger screens.

LLA

PONDS.

33

The cross-bars also keep tlie eggs from being carried down by
the current. I?y using two small bevelled cog-wheels the front
roller can be turned by a handle. As the roller is turned for-
ward, the endless apron moves with it, and the eggs, as they come
to the edge of the roller, will fall off. The pan is placed in front
of the roller, and receives the eggs as they fall. The bo.x need
not be more than two feet deep ; the depth depending u])on the
size of the rollers, which in a short race may be (piite small, and
the box not more than eighteen inches deej). The box is set
ch'rectly in the raceway, and intended to fill it completely. The
water may either enter with a fall over the top c^'the l)ox, or the
top df the box may l)e cut down until the water will enter on the
level at which it is intended to stand over the screens,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the front of tlie same box.

Fig. 2.
// is 1 double row of coarse wire screens ; B apron of fine wire cloth ;
C pan to receive the eggs; D screen ; A" catch to hold screen V wlien raised.

A screen, intended to prevent the fish from rmiiiing bcvnnd the
race or getting into the lower part of the box, niav extend to the
bottom, or be arranged differently ; a screen placed at the front of
the box is also intended to jirevent the fish from getting below.
When the eggs are to be taken, this screen is raised on hinges to an

34

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

upright position, and c(jnrinccl by a si)ring catch or latcli. This
confines the fish which may happen to l)e in the race, and none
of them can get hclow. The pan is tlien lowered t(j its position,
the roller tnrned, and the eggs taken. When the operation is fin-
ished the screen is again lowered, the button turned, and the work
is done. If the box is witle, say four feet, it is more convenient
to have the pan made in two or three sections, inserted in
a light frame, as the eggs can be more easily carried in and
poured out of a shorter pan. It is better, perhaps, to make the
screen to open in the middle, having hinges at both sides. Tlicu
one half will keep the fibh in the jjond, and the other half the fish
in the race, from running into the well. The box can be made of
any length from four feet to forty feet, and of any width from two
feet to six or eight. If it is made very wide, an additional longi-
tudinal support mn-it be provided for the revolving screen. We
recommend the following dimensions for speckled-trout races:
two feet wide, and from ten to twenty feet long ; cr four feet
wide, and from twenty to tbrty feet long. The uppcY screens may
be made in convenient sections, the whole width of the box, and
six or eight feet long.

The end screens are so made that while a full current is per-
mitted to flow over the upper screens, only a gentle current can
flow through the under part of the box. This current is meant
to be so regulated that when the pan is placed about an inch
from the turning-roller, all the small stones which the trout may
whip through the upper screen will fall short of the pan ; the
eggs, being lighter, will l)c carried by the current into the pan,
while a great part of the dirt, etc., which may collect on the
under screen will be carried up over the pan and entirely out of
the box-. The revolving screen w^i;;' be made of tarred muslin or
mosquito-netting. lUit wire-cloth (of ten or twelve meshes to
the inch) keeps much the cleanest, and we are inclined to think
it best for the purpose. I make my aprons half wire-cloth and
half tarred muslin, furnishing the wire only with cross-bars, and
always leaving it uppermost. This apron is fastened around the
rollers by a lacing of cord. At the end ot' the season the water
in the pond can be drawn down a foot, and everything taken out

PONDS.

35

but the rollers.. Give the screens a coat of p-int or gas tar, and
lay thcni away in a chy place until llie next autumn. A stiff
brusli may also l)c placed under the forward roller, so that every
time the roller is turned to remove the eggs the screen will be
perfectly clean.

The box can be so arranged that the rollers also can be re-
moved each season ; and this arrangement on various accounts
is much the best.

This box looks, at first sight, somewhat complicated, but is
in reality very simple, and easier to make llian to describe. Any
one who has the knack of using tools can make one which will
answer the puri)ose perfectly. The cost is very little more than
that of the Ainsworth Screens (of the same area) as generally
used. The cost for wire being the same in both cases, the lum-
ber in the box itself being extra, and also the rollers, hmges, and
cog-wheels (or windlass wheel).

A few of the advantages of the plan arc as follows : Let us
compare a double row of forty Ainsworth Screens, each two feet
square and occupying a space in the raceway forty feet long and
four feet wide, with one of the new spawning boxes of the same
dimensions.

1st. ]}y the old way it wouUl take two men a good half-day to
remove the screens singly, feather off the eggs in a careful man-
ner, and return each (double) screen to its projKM- place.

It would take the new spawning box about fifteen minutes to
do the same work with one man.

2d. The weight of the gravel which has to be lifted in the old
way every time the eggs are removed amounts to many tons in
the course of a season.

In the new box the gravel is not lifted at all.
3d. By the old way the operator's hands must of necessity be
more or less wet during the whole operation. Now, as the trout
ai-' salmon spawn during the winter season, when the thermom-
eter generally stands below the fre>ving-point, taking eggs in the
old way is not only inconvenient and painful, but often impos-
*<ible.

By the new way the hands arc not made wet, and may be kept
comfortably gloved.

36

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

m!

4th. Ry the uid way more ov less of tlic e-ns arc lost by care-
less featliering, exposing the eggs to the iVee/ing atmosphere,
clumsiness in handling the screens (caused by cold (ingers),
tipi)ing of the screens, wash of the current, etc., etc.
iJy the new way every egg is saved.

5th. liy the old method every fish is driven out of the race
when the eggs are taken. Some of them will not return, but
will seek a spawning-place in the pond, and many eggs will be
unavoidably lost.

l{y tile new way the tish are not driven from the race. And
as the b<..xes are always covered during the season, the fish will
not even be disturbed. In fact, they may spawn 7i'/.//e the c^-gs
are hcinq- taken, and yet not a single egg be lost. ^

This Spawning-l!ox answers for securing the naturally i.n-
pregnated eggs of salmon, salmon trout, speckled brook trout
whitehsh, shad, etc. It is recommended by the leading piscicul-
turists of the country.

Mr. Ainsworth's idea \va.s one of great value, and
Mr. Collins's device an excellent modilication of it^ and
1 cordially recommend their methods to those who
wish to avoid the labor and exposure of taking the
eggs artificially.

No one who has not had experience in taking spawn
by hand can conceive of the amount of labor and hard-
ship which this beautiful contrivance saves. There is
some difference of opinion as to the question which
yields the most eggs, the artificial or the screen method,
and the results of some experiments of Mr. F. Mather
seem to be adverse to the Ainsworth plan.* I will not
express an opinion here on this point, but will sa that
the saving of exposure by the Collins Roller Box is
worth paying a good many eggs for.

* See American Agricultural Annual, 1S71, p. 94.

PONDS.

InLF.TS and OirPLETS.

17

12. The inlets and outlets of your ponds should be
ample, and securely "jointeJ," if I „niy use the word,
to the ponds; that is, so joined to the side of the pond
that no water will ever work its way under or around
them. 'J'his is so simple and safe a process with the
plank system, that the advantages derived from this
alone would decide me in favor of the use of plank
ponds.

'i'he outlet is usually a plank trough, or bulkhead
with a screen to confine the fish, and the inlet is the
same, except that one half the floor of the bulkhead
IS made to project over the pond, and is formed of
hard-wood slats, laid longitudinally with the length of
the bulkhead, and a (]uarter or half an inch qxirt
This is much better than a screen, because, while it
answers the same purpose in confining the fish, it lets
through all the food from above, and does not get
so easily clogged up.

When a bulkhead inlet or outlet is made to a com-
mon earth pond, great care should be taken to have
piling driven down to the hard pan below, and on both
sides, for several feet ; and even then in some soils
the water will work through it in the course of years.

Be sure to make the outlets broad enough to admit
a screen of sufficient size to carry off all the water at
Its highest possible flood height, making large allow-
ance, also, for the clogging up of screen. Always have
a gate at the inlet which will wholly shut oti" the water
in case of danger.

38

DOMEST I C A T !•: i; T KU U T.

SCIUCICNS.

Screens hold a very responsible position in trout
culture.

All that separates your thousands of fish from the
outer world, where they would be lost to you, is the
tvventicth-of-an-inch barrier of wire-screen. As far as
their voluntary escape is concerned, the wire-screens
stand in the place of gates, locks, bolts, and bars. It
is obvious how responsible their office is.

All screens should be of copper or galvanized iron.
Copper is best for fine-mesh screens, galvanized iron
for large meshes.

Wooden slats answer very well for grown-up trout.
In using slats it should be remembered that a fish,
by turning on its side, will go through a surprisingly
narrow aperture, if it is long enough. A square mesh
of iron will hold fish securely, when sAi/s would need
to be only half the width of the mesh apart.

The wire netting should be fastened on to firm
frames, and the frames should fit tight in their place,
especially at the bottom.

Thousands of fish have been lost by neglecting this
simple precaution.

There should be , ighteen threads to the inch for
the very smallest fry, four threads to the inch for year-
lings, and two to the inch for two-year-olds.

For placing the screens for the young fry, see p. 59.

If leaves or other i/el?r/s coming down the stream
make trouble by clogging the outlet screen, you can
protect it by building out a board frame, say a

PONDS.

39

foot deep, in front of the screen, with about eight
inches of its width below the water and four inches
above ; this will catch and retain the obstructions float-
ing down, and the screen will remain comparatively
clean.

^\'herc it is practicable, it is a good plan to have all
the inlets and outlets of the ponds of the same size,
so that the screen of any one will fit all the rest. This
secures uniformity of size in the screens, and is often a
great convenience when it becomes desirable to move
a screen from one pond to another.

When there is danger of too much water, have a side
channel provided to carry it off. This channel should
be considerably lower than the inlet to your pond,
should be the channel the stream would naturally seek
when shut off from the ponds, and should be very
ample. I would have it, for safety's sake, double the
capacity of any freshet that was ever known on the
stream. For the want of this precaution, trout enough
have been lost, within my own knowledge, to make a
fortune.

It is usually the best plan to leave the natural chan-
nel of the brook for the surplus water, and to build
your ponds on one side of it, and take off the water
sui)ply for them from the brook. This is the way the
breeding ponds at the Cold Spring Trout Ponds are
arranged, and it is the safest way in time of a freshet.

CHAPTER III.

BUILDINGS.

n^HE hatching house is the one essential building in
-L fish breeding ; but ?.. thorough trout-breeding es-
tablishment should have, besides the hatching house
several other buildings or rooms, as, for instance, a
meat-room, carpenter's shop, and ice-house. It is not,
of course, necessary to have a separate building for all
these, but each one should have at least a separate
room.

The reader inquires at once, I suppose, why the
hatching house will not answer for all of these pur-
posts, except, possibly, the ice-house. The reason is
this ; if you engage in hatching on any considerable
scale, you will have water running through the house
in great quantities, half the year, and perhaps all the
year round. The result will be that this house will be
the dampest place you ever were in, and everything in
it, that moisture can hurt, will ])e spoiled. Tools will
rust, the firewood will not burn, the kindlings will be
soaked, your scales, microscoj)es, matches, pails, pans,
and papers, — everything, in fact, will become intolera-
bly damp.

Then, again, the hatching house, being built for the
use of water, should not contain anything that would

'A

BUILDINGS.

41

restrict the most perfect freedom in its use. If it is
essential to turn a stream of water over some fish, in
an unusual place in the house, for a week or so, there
should be no such obstacle in the way of it as the
danger of exposing tools, or microscopes, or any uten-
sils, to too much dampness, llierefore I would have
the hatching house, or hatching room, devoted to the
water, and have all other considerations so subordinate
to this that you can deluge the house with water at
any time you like, without doing any harm, and without
any feeling of restraint, on account of things in it be-
ing injured by the dampness.

This is the reason why it is not best to use the
hatching room for the other purposes mentioned.

The buildings or rooms which I \\ould recommend
are, a meat-room, an office, a storeroom and carpen-
ter's shop combined in one, and an ice-house.

I. The meat-room. You should bear in mind that
a stock of ten thousand large trout will consume at
least forty pounds of meat a day ; this is over a thou-
sand pounds a month.

This food must first be cut up, and some sorted
out for the young fry and soma for the old trout.
Then the meat for the large fish must be run through
a coarse meat-cutter, and that for the small ones
through a finer one, and the meat must be kept
thawed out in the winter, and fresh in the sum-
mer. This handling of the meat, sometimes a thou-
sand pounds in a month, sometimes more, and keep-
ing it in the right condition in all seasons, is no
small task, and unless it has a separate room devoted

42

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

to it becomes an intolerable nuisance, especially in
the decomposing heat of summer.

I would then, by all means, have the meat-room by
Itself, and here in this room, and nowhere else, should
be kept the two meat-cutters, with their stands, the
meat-grater (if you use one) for the young fry, the meat-
bench, the pails, pans, and baskets for holding and car-
rying the meat, the meat itself, and everything else,
in short, that belongs to the commissary department,
— in this room, and noiuhere else.

The most disagreeable feature about trout-breed-
ing is the commissariat ; and the more you keep it by
Itself, and out of sight, and out of the way of every-
thing else, th(^ more desirable your place will be, and
the better } ou will like your work.

The meat-room, like the other rooms, should have a
plank floor, with a trap-door in it, should be well ven-
tilated, should have a tank of water in it, supplied by
a stream large enough to keep it from freezing in the
winter and heating up in the summer, and arranged
so that the whole stream can be turned on to the floor
when it is cleaned or " swashed," — which should be
often, — and whatever other conveniences may be de-
sired.

The tank is not only to furnish water to keep things
clean, but it will be found to be the best place in the
summer to keep the meat, and the only place in win-
ter. I have tried both the ice-house and the spring
water for this purpose, but have found that the spring
water answers much the best in practice.

2. The next most important room is the store-

I
I

i

BUILDINGS.

43

room and carpenter's shop combined; these can be
together as well as not. They are required, because
a great amount of lumber, old 3creens and screen-
frames, pails and pans not in use, and a thousand
other things, will collect about the place, which you
will want to have under cover and in a dry place.
Then there is so much little work constantly to be
done,— what is called in New England "puttering," —
that a carpenter's bench and tools are almost ti'idis-
pensable, the more so because what needs to be done
must often be done at once, before one can send for a
carpenter to come and do it.

3. An office is a very desirable thing about a trout-
breeding establishment. It is almost as indispensable,
in fact, as the carpenter's bench, unless your house is
right on the spot.

The office will be your comfortable room, where
you can keep a fire, can transact business, make your
microscopic examinations, examine the progress of ex-
pernnents, take notes, do your writing, receive orders
and keep your record-books and show-case of speci-
mens. Indeed, so many things call for such a room
that no establishment is complete without it.

4. An ice-house is absolutely necessary, unless you
can depend upon ice, whenever ^-ou want it, from out-
side sources ; and even then it is desirable. In trans-
porting live fish, young or old, you cannot do without
ice, except in cold weather, and you may sometimes
need it for the meat-house ; you will frequently need ice
unexpectedly, and you must have it for shipping your
large fish to market. Have an ice-house, then, by all

44

DOMESTICATICn TROUT.

I . \

I

means, and locate it near the hatching house, and
where the fish are packed for market. A building of
the size of an ordinary family ice-house will do.

5. Besides these rooms, there are at the Cold Spring
Trout Ponds a bird pen, made of plank, large and dur''-
able, and a fox-i)en, also built of wood and of good size.
The bottom of the latter, made of plank, is laid three feet
under ground, and is covered with earth to this depth,
so that the animals confined may have a good place to
burrow in, without being able to escape by burrowing.
These pens are desirable, because as you will trap more
or less about your place, you will sometimes catch ani-
mals and large birds alive, which you may like to keep
alive. There is also a rouy'ily built shanty, with a
stove in it, near the s])awning beds, in which the spawn
can be taken in stormy weather, which is also recom-
mended.

Thk Hatching House.

The hatching house, or hatching room, is, of course,
the central point of the whole establishment.

Here the swarms of young trout ui)on which the
other departments depend for their supply are brought
into being; the greatest care, therefore, should be
exercised in having it just right.

It should in general be roomy, well lighted, firm,
and durable. Such a one, however roughly made, will
answer its purpose of hatching as well as a more ex-
pensive one ; though if one's means are unrestricted,
there is no reason why it should not be a handsome
building, and an ornament to the place, like that of
Colonel I'hompson at Springfield, for instance.

HUILDINGS.

45

(

The size of the hatching house depends on the
amount of work to be done in it. A room thirty feet
long and eighteen feet wide will have hatching space
for one hundred thousand eggs, besides ])assage-ways
between the troughs, or hatching-stands, and con-
siderable spare room to keep the gravel -boxes, and
to work in.

For more eggs you will of course need more room ;
but, whatever the amount of business you do, it should
be remembered that it is far better to have too much
room than too little. I know of few things more dis-
agreeable than a cramped hatching house.*

The hatching house should be located near the
spring or reservoir which supplies it with water ; for
the longer the aqueduct which takes the water from
the spring to the house, the greater is the risk of the
water going wrong. The house should also be placed,
if possible, so that the water will enter it several feet
above the floor. This will enable the hatching appa-
ratus to be elevated to a convenient height for examin-
ing the eggs standing or sitting, which is a great ad-
vantage ; and T think it is better, on the whole, to incur
the risk of a longer aqueduct from the spring, if neces-

sary,

to obtain this advantajre.

No fire is required in the hatching room, to keep the
water warm.t That keeps warm of itself, and also keeps

* Our hatching-house at the Mirimichi Sahnon Breeding
Works is a hundred feet long.

t It is un addition to one's personal comfort to have a stove in
tiie hatching house, though it may not be required to warm the
water.

46

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

the house comparatively warm. There is often a differ-
ence of 30" between the outside air and the interior
of the hatching room in extremely cold weather.

It is a good plan to build the walls thick, and then
the water running through will keep the air not very
many degrees from its own temperature.

This makes a much more comfortable room to
work in.

The shape of the hatching house will be determined
almost wholly by 'local considerations.

It is becoming quite the custom now to admit the
light into the hatching room by large movable sky-
lights in the roof; this is optional, however, unless
sufficient light cannot be obtained otherwise.

I will only add that if the four rooms mentioned —
the office, storeroom, meat-room, and hatching room —
are included in one building, the first three should be
separated from the hatching room by a partition pre-
pared with waterproof cement, or other covering,
impervious to water.

!l

ii

i'i

CHAPTER IV.

HATCHING APPARATUS.

!

1

5

4

THE hatching apparatus consists of the supply
reservoir, the aqueducts, the filtering arrange-
ments, the distributing spout, and the troughs, or
hatching apparatus proper.

The Supply Reservoir.

The supply reservoir, which hatches the eggs, is the
great motive power of the whole establishment. It
is this which does the work of replenishing all the
other departments of the trout Harm.

On its steady, unfailing supply everything depends.
If it should fail from any cause during the hatching
season, the whole year's increase would be lost. It
follows, then, from the importance of this agency, that
it should be most securely guarded. You should,
therefore, in enclosing the reservoir, make your work
very firm and secure, especially the lowest parts of it,
where there is the most danger. Leave nothing to
chance in this work. Take no risk whatever, but
guard it from the possibility of breaking away ; and
in doing so, do not forget that muskrats and frost
will have no more consideration for your hatching
reservoir — so important to you — than for any other
body of water.

48

DOMKSTlCATi:n TROUT.

fi (■

if I

»f

nm I:

Make it as small as you can without sacrificing
water. Cover it from dirt, leaves, and liolu. Keep
It perfectly clean, and never put any fish into it under
any temptation ; and finally, unless you are certain tliat
you can make a very sure thinn; of it y(.virself, employ
an experienced man to construct it for you.

Ha rem NO- Room Aquedix t.

One of the most important parts of the whole hatch-
ing ai)paratus is the aqueduct which takes the water
from the hatching reservoir to the hatching room. It
may be nothing but a simple short pipe or spout, but
its office is nevertheless exceedingly responsible. ' In-
deed, it is literally a s/ue qua mm of a hatching
establishment to have this aqueduct safe; for if it
fails for a night to fulfil its purpose during the period
of incubation, that is the end of that season's opera-
tions, and unless you buy more eggs, there will be a
gap of one year in your chain offish broods that never
will be filled up.

This aqueduct, therefore, ought to be made espe-
cially secure. To make it so, i. Build it of iMnch
or 2-inch plank, and fasten it firmly so that" frost
cannot heave it, and so that it cannot be dis-
placed by any accident whatever. I have known
serious loss to result from an aqueduct being simply
pushed out of place by the foot.

2. Char the plank.* This I consider very important
mdeed, if you use plank, for you cannot be certain
without charring it, that fungus is not being generated
m It. Do not imagine that you are safe from fungus

* See }).age 274.

IlATCIIINf; APPARATUS.

49

because your hatching Ixjxx-s themselves are well
j^'uarded from it. Jt may grow in the aqueduct and
be borne down by the stream, and before winter is
over, you may lind, to your dismay, that it has fastened
its fatal grasp on your eggs. If so, they are ruined.
There is no remedy for fungus which will make
healthy fish of the eggs attacked. They may hatch,
but the young fish will be good for nothing to raise.
Therefore l)egin at the beginning, and guard your eggs
from fungus by charring the aqueduct.

3. As a rule, it is best to have the aqueduct covenvl,
but beware of making the outlet end smaller than the
inlet end, for then, if anything gets into the pipe too
large to pass through the outlet, it will stop the water,
and your eggs will be ruined. I have known great
danger and actual loss to come from such a defective
aqueduct. In one instance a frog got into the pipe,
in another a muskrat, in another a cork ; each of which
came very near shutting off the water altogether and
doing very great mischief. For further safety, put a
coarse, galvanized-iron screen over the end of the
aqueduct which receives the water.

4. If you have a small stream, and must convey it
a considerable distance, and want to economize any-
thing in temperature, you can keep it a little warmer
by boxing up the aqueduct itself. But as a general
thing it is labor wasted. Vou will be astonished
to see how little any considerable stream changes
in temperature in passing through even a long closed
spout.

At the writer's works at Charlestown, N. H., when

so

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

w

I I

the mercury is 10° below zero, the water at the hatch-
ing house loses only two degrees in passing through
one hundred and twenty feet of channel.

I'lIK FiLIKRIN'O ArRANCKMKNTS.

Next to fungus, sediment is tlie most dangerous
enemy to trout eggs, and, like fungus, it is the more
to be dreaded because it is invisible ; that is, as it
is held naturally in the water. A stream or a spring
may look to you as clear as crystal, you may examine
most carefully and not find any traces of dust or foreign
matter in it, yet the same water in running sixty days
over any given spot will very likely deposit enough
sediment to kill a million eggs. Some few springs are,
I believe, sufficiently free from sediment to be used
without filtering, but such springs are exceedingly
rare, and are the exceptions. As a rule, all springs
and streams, however clear they may appear, will in
time deposit a fine layer of dust, or sediment, as it
is usually called, which is sulficient to destroy or de-
form all the fish embryos that are exposed to it.

It is very important, therefore, to have this sediment
kept away from the eggs ; and to effect this, the water
is conveyed through a very efficient filtering apparatus.
This usually consists of a large tank containing a
series of flannel screens. These screens consist sim-
ply of light wooden frames, with flannel fastened on
them, which are made to slide in grooves prepared
for the purpose, on the inside of the tank.

The flannel should be drawn tight over the frames,
and the frames themselves should slide obliquely into

HATCHING APPARATUS.

SI

the tank at a very considerable angle, say 45°, with
the lower end np stream.

a Flannel filters.

/> Hatching room aqueduct or inlet.

c Outlet.

The tank should be built very solid, of two-inch
plank, charred,* and should be bound with iron bands,
to prevent spreading. Its size will be governed, of
course, by the amount of filtering required, a small or
very clean stream needing less than a large or com-
paratively turbid one. JJut be sure of one thing, that
the tank is large enough, no matter how large' that
may be, to arrest «// the sediment, beyond all possi-
bility of risk. I'housands of eggs have been lost by
the filtering tank being inadequate. Better have it
twice as large as is necessary, than to incur any risk
of not stopping the sediment.

At the Cold Spring Trout Ponds there are two
tanks for filtering, one containing cighty-one gallons
and SIX filters, the other one hundred and sixty-eight
gallons and seven filters.

52

DOMESTICATKn TROUT.

I think it is better to have two niedium-sizecl tanks
than to Iiave one excessively large one.

I should call the first of the two just mentioned a
medium-sized one, and the second a large one, as
large, perhaps, as should be made.

'I'he outlet of the filtering tank should be at least
six inches lower than the top of the tank, to guard
against the water escaping over the top when the
screens clog up. There should be two holes at least
an inch in diameter in the bottom of the tank, to let
the water off wlun necessary, and they should be
plugged with very long stoppers, which will come
nearly to the surface, so that they can be withdrawn
without the arm being much immersed in the water.

'J'he filters themselves may be made of any kind
of strong, coarse tlannel. White has the advantage of
showing dirt best, and red, Seth Green says, will last the
longest ; otherwise, one color will do as well as another.

These filters must be watched, and, no matter how
often they rec^uire it, they must be taken out and
cleaned as soon as they are dirty ; but in doing this the
rear one should be moved as little as possible. If
you clean while wet, wash them under water, either
with a brush, or a long-handled stick smoothed at the
end j the brush is the quickest method, the stick
wears them out less. If you have a chance to dry
them, the deposit on them can be easily brushed off
with a dry brush. It may be riecessary to clean the fil-
ters every day. If it is, do not neglect it. The tank is
placed, of course, at the oudet of the spring aqueduct,
which is usually at the head of the hatching-room, and

-*

4

I
I

HATCHING APPARATUS.

53

no water slioulcl be all(3Wi.'cl to pass over the eggs any
length of time, without having Tirst run through this
tank. Tlie tank need not be covered.

THK DlSIKIJiUTIXC SPOITT.

The next thing in order is the distributing spout,
the office of which is simply to receive the water from
the filtering tank, and distribute it into the various
hatching troughs.

It joins the filtering tank, and extends, of course,
either way, as far as the hatching troughs reach later-
ally, over which it is placed.

It is provided with an outlet at the head of each
trough, and it will be found a convenience to have all
these outlets levelled so as to each draw an equal
supply of water when they are open, 'lb secure this,
the openings farthest from the inlet screen should
be a little lower than the next, and so on, for the
water at the inlet will be a little higher than the
other end. If built of wood, the distributing spout
should be of lA-inch plank, charred,* and should be
abundantly ami)le in width and depth for its purpose.
There should also be an aqueduct connecting the
water supply above the filtering tank with tht^ dis-
tributing spout, so that the water can be temporarily
turned directly into the distributing spout when it
becomes necessary to wash the tanks.

The distributing spout often has gravel placed in it
for an additional filter. This is a good plan, because
the gravel gathers up whatever fine sediment may
have run the gantlet of the flannel filters, and any

* See page 274.

54

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

fine fibre of the flannel itself, which has become de-
tached from the screens. But it is a better plan to have
a special spout or aqueduct for the gravel filter, be-
tween the filtering tank and the distributing spout, and
to have the latter free from gravel, on account of the
gravel in it being often an inconvenience. The gravel
should be coarse enough to let the water pass through
it freely, the pieces being of the average size of chest-
nuts, or larger. There is usually enough of this coarse
gravel sifted out when the fine gravel is being pre-
l)ared for the hatching troughs.

If fine gravel is used, it will force the water to flow
over it, and thus defeat its purpose.

Hatching Troughs, or Hatching Apparatus.

The hatching apparatus is of course the central fea-
ture of your whole indoor establishment, the part for
which, indeed, all the rest is created. This is the foun-
tain-head, from which all the other departments of the
fish farm are furnished with stock. Here you intrust,
for six months, the whole of your year's increase, and
it occupies so responsible a place that no pains should
be spared to get it right. Indeed, you cannot overrate
the importance of having your hatching apparatus
without a fault, esi)ecially as a single defect or neglect
may cost you your whole stock of young fishes, — not
merely part, but perhaps the whole.

Materials.

Various kinds of material have been used for hatch-
ing trout eggs, the principal of which are wood, soap-

HATCHING APPARATUS.

55

Stone, slate, pottery, metal, wood with glass lining, glass
grilles, and charcoal, or carbonized wood.* I think ex-
perience will finally reduce the number in general prac-
tice to two, namely, glass grilles and carbonized wood.
A\'ood in its natural state is out of the question, for
the fungus that it grows wholly unfits it for hatching.
I venture to say that hundreds of thousands of esrirs
liave been destroyed by the fungus coming from wood-
en troughs. Metal, whether in the form of screens
or anything else, will not do, because the absorbing
power of trout eggs is so great, that, if placed in con-
tact with it, they will in time absorb enough metallic
matter to destroy them.f

Slate, pottery, and soapstone answer very well, but are
all expensive; and if an expensive article is used, glass
grilles, I think, have the preference over everything else.
For cleanliness, tidiness, and convenience they are
not surpassed by anything. I'heir expense is their
only objection. Charcoal troughs,* on the other hand,
are equally as effective as grilles, and infinitely more
economical. 'Jliey are also more accessible, more
simple, and more durable.

In estimating their comparative merits I should say
that the glass grilles are the thing for the rich man's
experiments, and the carbonized troughs are the thing
for business ; I cannot but think that the carbonized
troughs* will supersede everything else, where trout-

* See page 274.

t Fourteen trout eggs were placed on a coiiper-wire screen, in
November, 1869, at the Cold Spring Trout Ponds, and in fifty
days they had absorbed so much copper that they were of a
dark brown tinge, and hard like peas.

w i

56

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

I

li!j.

breeding is carried on on a large scale, or when dura-
bility, economy, or accessibility must be consulted.*

The comparative expense of the two methods may
be estimated as follows : Glass grilles cost per tray
1 3.50 each, by the quantity.f Allowing 1,250 eggs to
each tray,t the apparatus for hatching 100,000 eggs,
with glass grilles, costs $ 280.

The expense of the patent carbonized troughs,! in-
cluding cost of right to use them, is less than Ibrty
cents a foot, for one hundred s([uare feet. Allowing
1,000 eggs to the square foot, the apparatus for hatch-
ing 100,000 eggs, with the carbonized troughs, costs
$ 40, leaving a balance of $ 240 in favor of the carbon-
ized troughs.

Besides this, in the country, where most of our trout
ponds are and will be, the wood to make the troughs,
and also wood to char them with, is always plenti-
ful and witliin reach, and, once prei)ared and placed,
the carbonized troughs will last no one can tell how
long. The perfect freedom of charcoal from fungus,
and its tendency to purify the water, will, I feel confi-
dent, make it a fiivorite for hatching all eggs that are
to be long under water. The carbonized troughs were
first experimented with at the writer's salmon breed-
ing establishment on the Mirimichi River, where they
worked to perfection. They have since been used at
the Cold Spring Trout Ponds, and have given the most
complete satisfaction.

* See Appendix IV., p. 306.

t See Dr Slack's Catalogue, p. 4.

t See page 274.

'0&'-

'1

■I

HATCHING APPARATUS.

57

They seem to have solved the problem of obtaining
a safe, economical, and durable material for hatchinir
trout. I am aware that some of our largest operators
have used wood loosely lined with glass, but it costs a
good deal to get the glass, and it is also extremely un-
safe when the young fry hatch, for they will get under
the glass by thousands, and die of suffocation ; and
finally it does not answer perfectly, as charcoal does,
the purpose for which it is used, namely, to obviate
the growth of fungus.

I would recommend, therefore, the use of glass grilles
if you have the means and think they are better. Use
charcoal or charred* wood if you do not use grilles.

Placing the Hatching Troughs.

Having decided on the material for the hatching
boxes, the next thing is to construct and place them.
If you use charcoal or carbonized troughs, you should
first send to the Cold Spring lYout Ponds, at Charles-
town, N. H., and obtain the right to use them,t they
being patented, and the directions how to prepare
them.

As to the size and shape of the hatching boxes or
troughs, a great variety of opinion prevails. The fol-
lowing suggestions, however, may serve as a guide in
making a selection. If you are limited in your supply
of water, you should use long and rather narrow troughs,
say twenty feet long by eight inches wide, and if you
wish, you can have another trough of the same size be-
low the first tier, using the same water over again, pro-
vided you have a fall between the two troughs of six

* See page 274.

t The patent right referred to expired in 18S8.

58

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

t! !'!

or eight inches. This second lower tier of boxes is,
however, somewhat objectionable, because whenever
the screens of the upper boxes are cleaned, or tlie
water in them for any reason disturbed, the lower ones,
in taking the washings from the upper, must suffer'
This can be obviated, it is true, by cutting off the water
temporarily, but this, again, is not only dangerous, but
often inconvenient. It is best, therefore, not to use the
water but once in hatching, if you have enough. Still it
can be used twice, if necessary, without great injury.
If you have plenty of water, I would recommend shorter
troughs and more of them. There is no harm in hav-
ing them twelve inches widr I prefer ten or eight
inches, howev.r. ^J'hey should be at least six inches
in height in the inside, to guard against dieir running
over, from the screens clogging up, and it is desirable
to have them still higher, say eight inches, if you
mean to keep the young fry in them any considerable
time after they hatch. The troughs* should be divided
into compartments about one inch deep and fifteen
inches long, by nailing charred cleats of the required
depth transversely on the bottom of the trough, at
regular intervals of fifteen inches. The head of 'the
trough should be placed just under the distribut-
mg spout, from which there should be a fall of a
few inches ; the trough should be high enough from the
floor, if practicable, to be examined by a person stand-
mg. The troughs should be inclined, so that the water
will make a gentle ripple over the cleats. A grade
having a fall of one and one fourth inches to ten feet
will do very well, but be sure to have enough slope to

* See page 67.

3
tf

HATCHING APPARATUS.

59

make the ripple, othenvise your fish, when hatched, will
not be as strong as they might have been. At the
lower end of the trough there should be a copper-wire
screen of about eighteen or twenty threads to the inch.
I^his screen should be very carefully fitted in, and
should be made as tight a fit as human handiwork can
make it, otherwise you cannot be sure that the youn<r
fry, when first hatched, will not slip through. In orde*?
to be perfectly sure to get this screen safe, first exam-
ine the place or bed that it fits into, with a strong li<rht
and take care that every bit of sand or gravel is re-
moved from it. Then put down the screen, havin^
previously arranged a perfectly tight fit in the side
cleats, and hammer it down.

This done, sift sand along the bottom and sides of
the screen, bank up with gravel to the height of the
transverse cleats, and sift sand about the sides again.
Vou are then as safe as you can be with regard to the
screen, and with these precautions you will be j^retty
sure not to lose many fish by this most common of all
avenues of escape, - loosely fitting screens. Should
any aperture be caused in the future by any spring-
ing or shrinking of the wood, or otherwise, calk thl)
opening with flannel without delay. Below this screen
should be placed what is called a trap-box, to catch
any of the young fry that may escape through the
screen aboxe. This trap-box is nothing but a com-
mon box with a wire screen, which will let out the
water, but hold the fish that come into it. 1 would
have one at the end of every hatching trough. They
are a very important safeguard, for they not only save

6o

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

all the fish that come through the screen, but will al-
ways tell you wiiether any are escaping, and also
whether the screens are tight. If you do not provide
this safeguard, thousands of fish may escape before
you know it. It is a good plan also to have a larger
box or reservoir, still farther down, on a similar plan,
collecting the water from all the troughs, and arranged
so as to detain everything that may have escaped, from
any cause, from above ; and I think I may safely say
that you will be astonished to find how often the
young fry slip past places that you have considered
perfectly tight. H.s.ving so far prepared the hatching
troughs for action, and having tried them l)y running a
stream of water through them, the next thing is

Laying the Gravel.*

Gravel is used to hatch the eggs upon. This
hatching gravel should be the size of half a pea,
or less. Coarser gravel will not do, because the
eggs will get into the chinks between the stones, and,
being out of sight, will die without your knowledge ;
and when they die, the dead eggs will certainly grow
the filial byssus, which will stretch its long arms out
over other eggs above or near it, and destroy them.
Coarse gravel is very vexatious on this account. Any
clean gravel of the right size, free from rust, rotten
stone, and the like, will do, and you will frequently
find such gravel nearer than you suppose. It is
therefore a good ])lan to try any high banks near b) ,
before sending a great way for it. You may often
find just what you want in a bank right o\-er jour

* Where batching frays are used, as tliey are now almost
universally, no gravel is needed. Sec p. 67.

HATCHING APPARATUS.

01

brook. To prejiare the gravel for use, you should
have two screens, one to sift out the sand, and another
to hold the coarse gravel. The residue which remains
in the first and goes through the second screen is
what you want for the hatching troughs.

Having obtained the right size of gravel, the next
thing is to wash it. This should be thoroughly done.
Then you can boil it, if you wish, to kill the insect
larVcX' in it ; and I wc dd advise you to do this by all
means, for the larvae in unboiled gravel often produce
insects that are very destructive to the eggs and young
fish. It is not absolutely necessary to use gravel in
charcoal troughs, as the eggs will hatch safely on the
charcoal bottom. Twenty thousand salmon-eggs were
placed directly on the bottom of the charred troughs,
at the writer's establishment on the Mirimichi River,
by way of experiment, and they did as well as the
others hatched on gravel. A thin layer of gravel,
however, is recommended. The gravel, if used, should
be evenly placed in the troughs to the depth of about
half an inch. According to the old method of hatching
on wood in its natural condition, the gravel was placed
an inch and a half deep, to prevent the fungus from
growing up through it ; but in charcoal troughs, ^\ here
there is no fungus, half an inch in dejith, and even
less, is sufficient. Be careful to level it off evenly,
and leave no holes or depressions, or the eggs will
surely collect in them deeper than they ought to.

There is always so much use for gravel about trout-
breeding works, that it is a good plan to save all kinds,
and what has been used once, and not washed, put

62

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

away by itself. It is therefore a good plan to have
four barrels or large boxes in the hatching house, —
one for coarse gravel not clean, and one for fine gravel
not clean, one for clean coarse gravel, and one for
clean fine gravel. These boxes should be distinctly
labelled, so that clean and dirty gravel will not get
mixed ; antl in course of time this little systematizing
of the gravel will be found to be a source of great
con\enience, and economy also. A bushel of prepared
gravel usually costs more than a bushel of grain.

When the gravel is laid in the troughs and the
water is turned on, they are ready for use, with one
exception, viz., —

The Covers.

I am firmly convinced that hatching troughs should
be covered. I would not have o/ie without a cover.
Trout eggs and salmon fry are stronger and healthier
for being hatched in the dark. It is more natural
also. The foetus, or embryo, of almost every creature —
beast, bird, or fisli, everything above insect life — is
developed in the dark. The embryo of the trout is
no exception to the rule. After the parent trout has
deposited its eggs in the bed of the brook, the gravel
with which they are covered, the stratum of water
above the gravel, and the layer of ice and snow above
the water, make it as dark, where the eggs are, as it is
in the covered hatching-troughs.

Furthermore, the light seems to have a forcing
effect on the eggs ; and those that I have seen matured
in the light did not contain the dark, thick, firm,

4

■s
'%

%

HATCHING ArPAKATUS.

63

vigorous-looking embryos tliat are sure to develop in
the (lark. At all events, my experience has been
decidedly to the effect that eggs hatched in the dark
develop a thicker, firmer, and harder fish than those
hatched in the light ; and the first three months of
feeding proves it. I am sure, at least, that no young
trout fry could be hardier or healthier than mine have
been through their first six months, and all of mine
are hatclied in covered hatching troughs.

But even if darkness were not desirable, there is
another reason of the utmost importance for having
covers on the troughs. It is that you are not certain
that your eggs are safe a single night in the open
troughs. I'lie enemies of trout eggs are legion.
Mice, snakes, lizards, rats, weasels, and you know not
what else, may be feeding on the eggs every night if
they are not covered. I lost thousands of eggs and
alevin trout in this v^ay, before I began to use covers.
At the Mirimichi Works, we lost at least twenty thou-
sand salmon eggs, in the course of two weeks, by a
weasel, before we began to suspect danger. There is
no security without covers, at least in ordinary hatching-
houses. On the contrary, when the covers are on
and down tight, then, and only then^ you know you are
safe. And this is the only normal condition that any
department of a trout-breeding establishment should
ever be in.

The covers, for convenience' sake, should be made as
light as possible. Half-inch pine, and even thinner,
answers very well. There should be a piece cut out
at the upper end to let in the water, and wire netting

64

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

should be tacked over tliii, upv;ning, so that there can
be no (hmger of ai)ythin2: getting in there ; and if the
covers do not fit down tight, they sliould be hooked
down, or caught with a spring. When the carpenter
puts on the covers, examine them carefully, and see
that there are no chinks to admit even a lizard. If
there are not, then your hatching boxes are complete
in every respect, and, if the previous suggestions have
been carried out, will do their work to your perfect
satisfaction.

Use of Glass Grilles.

I have proceeded thus far on the supposition that
troughs of carbonized wood or other material are
used. For the guidance of tliose who prefer glass
grilles I quote the following remarks upon them from
"Harper's Magazine"* and from Dr. Slack's Cata-
logue of fish culturist's apparatus.

" The Costc Hatching Tray fglass grilles) consists of a
trough (made of earthen-ware, glass, or slate) about two
feet long, six inches wide, and four inches deep. On the
inside, about two and a half inches from the bottom, are
small projections, upon which rests a elass grille, a species
of gridiron formed of glass tubes pheed closely together,
the ends being confined in a wooden rack. There is a
spout on one side and at the top of the box to run off the
surplus water ; at the bottom and below the level of the
grille are two other openings, usually stopperl, but con-
venient to open in order to remove the sediment which
from time to time collects. In using these hatchin<r boxes,
water can be supplied from a water-cooler through a filter,

* Harper's Magazine, November, 1868, pp. 728, 729.

HATCHING APPARARUS.

65

i

and after passinsTj through the box it can be caught and
used over again. If water has been wild in the house, a
constant stream of fresh water can I)e kept Mowing with
less trouble by using a discharge-pii)e instead of a receiver.
In one such box a thousand eggs — the product of ,1 single
trout — may lie hatched. It will require no more attention
than a globe of gold-fish, far less than an aciuarium, afford
a far more interesting study than either, and be tjuite a.s
much ot a parlor ornament.

"If it is desired to experiment more largely, this box
may be duplicated interminably, as has been ilwiie by Mr.
Coste, in perfect' ^ his apparatus in use at Iluningue. No
greater supjjly of water and very little more room is nece.s-
.sary for a dozen tha: or one box on this ])lan. The ad-
vantages of this apparatus are : First, cleanliii vs, the sedi-
ment being easily removed without disturbing the eggs;
-econdly, the eggs can at all times be readily examined ;
and thirdly, the fry or young fislies can be removed from
one 1k)x to another with facility, thus leaving room for
more eggs in the first be \es.

"These trnys, indented by M. Coste, Professor of Em-
bryology in the College of France, have been used during
the past season at my ponds with perfect success, and it is
intended in future to hatch all our spawn in 1 em The
boxes are made of the best galvanized sheet-iro . an-i are
coated inside and out with asj^halt varnish. T!ie grille is
composed of strong glass tubes, firml\- fastened in a frame
of black walnii' This is so arranged that should any of
the tubes become broken they ran be readil) removed and
others substituted. Each box will hatch from one thousand
to fifteen hundred e^frs.

-&&'

^'Prices of Coste Hatching Trays.

"Single trays 54.00

One dozen trays 45.00

m- -mk^M'^m.

c^

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

I

%

Fifty or over, at the rate of
Extra glass tubes (each) .
'* " " i)cr pound

•05
•75

"Fi.uiHT OF Tkavs with Stand.

"This is a neat and convenient form when several travs
are reciuired.

"Tlie stands are made of the l)est seasoned white-pine.
neatly framed toj^ether.

" Prices.

" Flight of five trays and stand . . . . $21.00

three " "... 13.50

.Stands for five trays 2.50

three " 2,00." *

There is another form of grilles used, whieh has
stood the test of experience very well. It consists of
very narrow strips of window-glass, laid side by side
in the hatching box, an inch or two from the bottom,
and closely enough to keep the eggs from falling
between them, but wide enough apart to allow the
hatched fish to fall through. Each alternate strip is
placed about an eighth of an inch lower than the rest.
In this depression the eggs lie until hatched, when
the young fish fall into the Idox or trough below.
The advantage of this class of grilles over the last
form is that they are cheaper. Another advantage
is that they can be used in water where too much
sediment would collect on tight grilles or in troughs,
the sediment being easily washed off the eggs on the

* Dr. Slack's Catalogue of fishes, and apparatus used in fish
culture, pp. 4, 5.

*

'i

HATCHING APPARATUS.

(3;

i

strips, and sinking down through the apertures out
of the w;iv.

WlRE-NF/niNf. HATCIMNr, TrAYS.

Wlien the foregoing part of this ciiapter was writ-
ten ill icSyj, win.' I rays were not used to much extent
for hatching the eggs of lish. At the present writing,
in 1S77, wire trays are very extensively employed, and
it seems likely that their use will entirely supersede
the old method of hatching on tin; bottom of the
iiatching trouglis and on glass grilles.

The trays in (|uestion consist simply of a light
wooden frame made perhaps of three-fourths inch
stuff, with a wire-netting bottom, or, in the case of
deep trays, wire-netting sides also. The trays are
made a little narrower than the troughs, and of any
convenient length, from a foot to eighteen inches,
or two feet. 'I'hey are coated all over twice with
asphaltum xarnish, to keep the wood part from grow-
ing fungus and the iron part from rusting.

They are usually placed on a rack, to raise them
an inch or two from the bottom, and the whole bot-
tom of the trough covered with them, the end of one
adjoining the; end of the next, and so on. If desir-
able, another tier can be similarly placed on top of
these, and another, and another ; as many tiers being
laid as the water supply and circulation will warrant.
They can be used in various other ways, as will be seen
further on.

The advantages of the tray system are very great,
the chief merits about it being that it economizes

ifi

68

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

space, makes the handling of the eggs simpler and
easier, and provides an easy way of getting rid of
sediment. These points will appear as each particu-
lar method now in use is taken up in turn.

Various ^Methods of Using Hatching Trays,

There may be other ways of employing wire travs
for hatching purposes, but those which have come
particularly under my observation are six in number,
and may be enumerated as follows : —

(i) The one-tier method ; (2) the double tier meth-
od ; (3 ) the Williamson method ; (4) Clark's method ;
(5) Holton's method ; (6) the use of deep trays with
the Williamson hatching troughs,

I. T//e o)ic-ticr incthod consists simply in covering
the bottom of the common hatching troughs with
shallow trays raised about half an inch from the bot-
tom, to allow the water to flow under as well as above
the eggs, and also to give the sediment that collects a
place to settle in, out of the way of the eggs. The
water is turned through the trough as usual, and there
is nothing else peculiar about the use of the trays be-
sides what has just been m.entioned. If there is much
sediment in the water, this method is a vast improve-
ment over the old one of placing the eggs on the bot-
tom of the troughs; for while there is a space under-
neath the trays for the sediment to settle in, it can
always be kept off the eggs. This i)lan is usually
adopted in trout-hatching establishments where the
sediment is very troublesome. It is not patented.
2. The donblc-tier system consists in placing one

HATCHING APPARATUS.

69

tier of trays above another in the hatching troughs.
If there is abundance of water, three or four tiers can
be safely used. More than this with the ordinary
hatching troughs would be inconvenient, as the lower
tier would necessarily be so deep in the
water.

The advantage of this system is that it
economizes room, it being obvious that with
four sets of iravs running the whole lenirth
of the trough, one above another, four
times as many eggs can be hatched in a
trough as could be hatched in one set cf
trays. This plan has been in use, I think,
at the United States Salmon-breedins: P's-
tablishment in Maine, under the charge
of Mr. Charles G. Atkins It is not pat-
ented.

3. Williamson's Method. — This is really
a modification of the hatching trough, but
as it is intended only to be used with trays,
and as it makes an entire chancre in the
tray system, I include it here with the
other methods of employing trays. Ac-
cording to this plan, the water is forced
uj) through these trays from the bot-
tom. Tliis is accomplished, as will be
seen in the accompanying diagram, by
placing at the lower end of each compartment in the
troughs a cleat extending entirely across the trough,
and reaching from the bottom almost to the top, and
by placing at the upper end a similar cleat reaching

ii\'

JO

DOMESTICATED TROUT,

from the top almost to the bottom. By this contri-
vance the water is compelled by the first or upper cleat
to pass to the bottom of the trough, and by the second
or lower cleat to rise again to the top before it can
escape. In order to do this, the water is obliged to
ascend throu-h tiie trays of eggs. As many tiers of
trays may be used as is convenient. This method
nisures an excellent circulation through the eggs, and
is in my opinion a great improvement over the use of
trays in the slmjile hatching trough. It was brought
to public notice by Mr. John Williamson, secretary of
the California Acclimatizing Societv, and Avas original
with him, although others have resorted to the same
device without being aware of Mr. Williamson's inven-
tion. It is not patented.

4. Clark's MeihoiL — This is a contrivance of Mr.
Nelson W. Clark, of Clarkstown, Mich. In principle
it is just the reverse of Williamson's plan, as it forces
the water through the trays from the top to the bot-
tom. I give below a description of this contrivance,
taken from the " Scientific Manufacturer" of Tune 1/
1874:- ^'

'' This invention consists in the construction of a suitable
building, at one end of which, nearest the water su])ply, are
tanks, containing many barrels of water conveyed throu-h
faucets from spring or lake, as the nature of the e-gs to be
hatched may require, which passes through tiannefscreens,
and is thus filtered from all sediment before enterini,^ the
troughs containing the liatching boxes. These trou^rhs are
about one foot (or more, as the case may be) in widdi and
ten inches deep, each of them containing a series of water-
tight compartments, which contain the same number of

i

HATCHING APPARATUS.

71

f

boxes of less dimensions, also water-tight, except the bot-
toms, which are covered with finely perforated copper or
brass wire-cloth to prevent the eggs or lish from escaping
when hatched out.

72

DOMESTICATED TROUT,

" These last boxes arc filled with several screens, each
containin,^^ many thousand ei;gs, and may be of sufficient
cai)acity to hatch an almost unlimited number of c;;q;s.

" ( )\er these screens, and after the e.i^gs are eciually dis-
tributed over IIk-iu. tlure is placed a finely ])erlorated me-
tallic plate yV, and the whole is kc])l in place by a cross-bar
C, fastened to the sides of the main trou,;;h. These boxes
are elevated u[jon feet to raise them from the floor of die
trough, to allow a free passage of water under them, and to
raise them above any sediment that may pass through and
settl.' on the said tloor.

"The first screen that lies over the copper cloth is also
raised to gain free circulation to the water. The main
trough must have a descent of three sixteenths of an inch
to the foot to form sufficient fall of water into each separate
box to produce a moderate current of water down through
the eggs.

" This arrangement comi)leted, the water is let in at the
upper end of the long troughs, upon the perforated cover,
which spreads it equallv over the whole part of the c^'ps
!)elow, which, owing to the declivity of the main trough and
the water-tight partitions in them, causes it to How over
said iDartition on to the next below, which produces an up-
and-down movement to the current running throughout the
whole series of hatching boxes, making changes around and
through the whole number of eggs in each comjjartment,
constant while in process of hatching.

"Many more fish are hatched In- this process than can
be stored and cleansed from their shells and other im])uri-
ties consequent upon the last stages of hatching; hen.:e, it
l>ecomes necessary to add store room and an additional
process for cleansing the fish, when hatched out. from the
impurities above named.

"'^I'o remedy this troul)le, a scries of large tanks, G, //, A\
are erected for the reception of the water as it leaves the

I

1
i

I

n

f

HATCHING APPARATUS.

71

i

hatching trough. From ten to twenty days are rcqrired
from tlie commencement of the hatching season to its close,
conseciuently a proportionate number of fish are liaiched
daily ; these are washed from the unhatclied eggs into the
tirst receiving tank before mentioned, and allowed to stand
([uietly witliout much current to the water in which they
arc. The eggs thus cleansed are returned to the hatching
l)oxes from which they came. As soon as the shells from
tile eggs are well settled to the bottom, a moderate current
of water is allowed to flow through an opening to the ne.xt
tank below, carrying the cleansed fisli with it. depositing
any impurities that may yet lie left with the fish in .said set-
tler: and the fish are allowed to follow on with the current,
jxissing still through another opening to the large reception
room, where they remain in perfect condition in pure run-
ning water until placed in the waters designed for them.

•' M is a shallow trough supplied with \\ater drawn from
the main tank, being the same temperature of that in which
the eggs are hatched.

"During the fiist few weeks of their incul)ation, many
imi)erfect and dead eggs are found, and for the purpose of
removing them from the good ones, the screens upon which
they lie are removed from the hatching bo.\es to the shallow
trough of running water and ])icked our in the usual way
with forceps, as shown by the figures in the illustration." '

5. Holtoi's Mdhod.'^ — Tliis is an invention of Mr.
•MarcelJus G. Holton, who was drowned at the time
of the unfortunate accident to the party who were col-
lecting salmon-trout eggs on Lake Ontario in 1873.

This contrive; ;cc is very highly spoken of by those

* The P>rgus(3n J .us, invented by T. P.. Ferguson of lialti-
more, arc a modification of this principle, the variation in Fergu-
son's apparatus being thatcylindriiai glass jars, with round trays
to match, arc substituted for the square wooden bo.\C6 of Holton.

74

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

who have iiseil it. I5clo\v will be foiiiul the Patent
Office specification of this invention.

"The ohjcct of my invention is to i)mvi(!c a sim])Ic and
convenient niethod of fish-spawn iiatchin;., wliich may l)e

Fii^. I.

practically carried on durins: the winter season. Its nature
consists, mainly, in the employment, in connection with the
spawn trays, of an npward current or flow of water throituh
tlie layers of spawn, affordin- a thoroii-h and constant cir-
culation of fresh water throu,i,di the same.

"In the drawing, Fi- i is a vertical central section of
one case of trays. Fig. 2 is a top or plan view of the same.

i

f

3

JSP

HATCHING APPARATUS.

75

i

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of tl,e cylindrical bot-

-^ / represents a square l.ox or case, m.v.le water-ti-^ht
preferably of wood, and pr.nided with a c(.ncave bottom,'

Fig. a.

shown at 77, or a hoj^pcr bottom mi-ht do as wdl the ob
jcct beino; to cause any sediment, etc., to be easily remove<l
thnni^h the discharge pipe /. There is a channel' C formed
entirely around the case near the top. The outer walls ot
sue!, channel are somewhat elevated above the upper ec'.^e
o the case proper. This permits a gentle ox-erHow frcirn
all sides ot the tray chamber, near the bottom of which is
hxed a ledo-e /, Fig. r, upon which the travs r mav rest
Ihese latter consist of shallow rectangulai- frames, each
provided v,ith a fine wire-gauze bottom, upon which the
srmvn IS deposited and held during the time of hatching.
There is a suitable metallic or other strap . attached to t^u,
opposite sides of the bottom tray in each case of travs.

76

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

Fig 3-

whereby the whole set may l)e raised or lowered as may I.)e
necessary in removini,' or replacintj; them, as hereafter more
tuUy described. There is a vertical recess cut in the sides

of the case to receive
the straps. The latter
are perforated at dis-
tances correspondinj;-
to the vertical depth
of each tray; and the
straps, if made of met-
al, may be provided
with a suitable pin a\
but if leather is used,
they may lie hooked
ujjon a fixed pin in the
upper ed,<jje of the case.
A pipe P may be used to conduct the water from the sjiring
or fountain into the bottom of the case; or a water-cham-
ber may be formed entirely across that side of the case and
also across the bottom. This latter construction is rather
preferable for all except the first case in each tier, and, in
fact, would not be objectionable for that. To insure a
thorough distributitm awl circulation of the upward flowing-
current of water through all parts ui the trays, I provide the
deflector //, which may be spherical, as shown, flat, or any
other suitable shape. It is supported directly over the inlet
opening d upon suitable standards ;/. The discharge spout
or trough / conveys the overflowing water to the descend-
ing water channel or chamber of the next suCccedin"; case.
"The case may be made of a!TTdesir?cT size: l)ut I pre-
fer them aljout eighteen inches to two feet scpiare, and from
two to four feet or more in height, according to the amount
of fall afforded to the water from the spring or fountain.

" The c.ises may be arranged in tiers the whole length of
the floor of the hatching house, and the water overflowing

HATCHING AFTARATUS.

77

from (iiu- made to pass into and tlimut.di the next succecd-
\\v^ one to ail) desired extent, as to numbers.

"'riu' lower tray is suspended, when it is to l)e tlHed, in
the ])osition occupied hy the upper tray c' . The spawn is
deposited evenly over the surface of the wire-gauze, and in
a suitable quantity. The tray is then lowered by the straps
s sufficiently to permit the insertion of another tray, which
is treated in a liki; nianner, and so on until the case is filled.
The trays and yount; fish may then be removed in a similar
manner,— that is. one tray at a time, — and the water al-
lowed to tfow through during either process.

'• It will be seen that the spawn will remain evenly dis-
tributed on account of the longitudinal position of the trays ;
and, by means of the buoyant tendency of the upward cur-
rent, there is no damage or loss of spawn by lack of circu-
lation.

" This \)\\\w is intended more especially for winter hatch-
ing, or foi- the spawn of white lish ; but it may also be used
for almost any other kind."

The following paragraph describes the Holton boxes
actually in use at the New York State Hatching House
in 1873.*

" These boxes were constructed especially for the incu-
bation of white fish eggs, although salmon, salmon-trout,
etc., can just as well be hatched upon them. They arc
about twenty inches square and two feet deep, and will' hold
eiiditeen wire trays placed one upon another. The water
enters from the bottom, passes up throng! 1 the box, falls
evenly into little troughs which run around the four sides,
a; id is thence carried into a reseroir. The trays are
lifted for cleaning by arms at two sides of the box fastened
into a lower frame. The trays are made of wire-cloth of so

* Report of the Commissi(Micrs of Fisheries of the State of
New York, 1S74.

78

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

small a mesh that the e-irs will not pass tlinnioh. Inn lan^.
cnou-h to permit the passa-e of the Irv, whid'i, as soon as
tiicy break the shell, are carried up hv the current and int..
the reservoir, Irom which ihev may he taken out as rc-
'lu.red. White tish e,u-s placed in one laver will number
>iixty-Jour to the s<|uare inch. Kach :ra\ nill hold al..uit
i.S,ooo e--s,an(l each box about 325,000. JUit .s(,nu- <,f
the bo.xes are made smaller, for the sake of experiment, so
that the ei-ht boxes, usin- (uith the reservoirs) a space of
sixteen leel Ion- by three feel four inches wick, will luUcii
•diout 2,000,000 white lish eij<'-s ''

r.. The use of deep iniys 7.uth the Ullliamson hateh-
>'ig troughs.-'Wxx^ plan was adopted at the fiHtcd
States Salmoivbrcediiig Station in California in 1S74.
and u'a.s found to be, in the writer's jiid^i^nient, the
best thing yet devised for iiiaturin-' .sainion 'e--s
on a large scale for sliij^ment. Not having tried
it for trout eggs, I cannot say how it would work
with them, but, with proper modifications, I sliould
think it W(Hdd do ver}- well. The advantages i
the plan are that it economi/.es space and saxes a
vast deal of trouble in picking over tiie eggs.

At n-.y ])lace in California the trays used were really
wire-nettir.g baskets, ten inches wide l)y twenty-four
inches long, and deep enough to bring the to]) of the
trays an inch or two aboxe the water, which was five-
or six inches deep in tiie Williamson troughs, in which
they were placed. Into tiiese trays we used to pour
t-a>o gallons of salmon eggs at a time. 1 his made the
eggs twelve or fifteen tiers deep, and yet thev suffered
no injury whatever from being so piled up'; one ex
planation of this being that the water all the time

i
I

IIATLHIXG AI'I'AK ATUS.

j

"i

79

A its way up thro,, I, the c^^.s, loosens thcni so'

' ,' \^'"""' ■ of those above them,

^^ll•Ie a: the same tiu. ..hes every e-r an 1 fur

nishes a fresh supply of ai. ihcni all.

Let us lo • for a moment at the advantam-s of
this m- hod. '^

' ••) The top of the tray or basket is out of the
water and always entirely dry ; consequently, in haud-
ling them the hands are aUvavs dry

(>.) ]{y tilting one er f the tnu" or basket up and
^ '.^^vn a httle, or by lifting the whole b,. ket and set-
tl.ng.lgcndy back again in its phu the white e'^gs
-111 be lorced to the top. Consequently no feather
IS requu-ed m picking over the eggs, and tlu.s the m-
junes very often inflicted with th. feather are obviated
(3-) I be top of ihe basket being rd,ove the water the
eggs can never run over the top nor escape in any wav
which IS a great advantage over the shal'ow trays ' '
(4.) The whole thing is ^o sini, le that n'othino-
simpler that answers the purpose can be conceived"
There is no complication of parts. There is nothin-
in fact, to look after or move l)ut the basket itself. "'
(5.) Finally, it economi;^es space. Fifty thousand
eggs can be kept on a superficial area of two square
feet. Two troughs twenty feet long and a foot wide
will, by this method, carry a million salmon e-rs it
IS not patented.

In closing this chapter I Mill simply repeat what has
already been said, that one form or other of the tray
system is undoubtedly destined to entirely suj^er.ede
the old methods r f hatching on glass giilk^s, or on the
bottom of troughs.

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TEST TARGET (MT-3)

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(716) 872-4503

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CHAPTER V.

THE NURSERY.

THE next use for the water, after it passes over the
eggs, is for rearing the young fish.
This department should be arranged with great care,
as it is here that the trout pass through the most deli-
cate portion of their lives, and require the most vigi-
lant attention. Hatching trout is easy enough, and so
is the growing of them, after they are a year old. But
to bring them through the first year, and especially
the first six months, is a more difficult matter. This
was the snag on which the earlier trout-breeding enter-
prisers were wrecked, and it is here that the greatest
losses have occurred with most trout breeders at all
times. This has been the one weak point of trout-
raising, and those who have succeeded in all other
points have often failed here. It is obvious, then,
that it is very important to have this department just
right.

The Water.

The water coming from the hatching- troughs should
have considerable fall before it enters upon this part
of its work, and the more the better, up to the height
of three feet, especially if any young fish are still kept
in the troughs.

If it is proposed to raise the young fry in a pond.

THE NURSERY.

8i

1

i

then nothing needs to be clone with the water but to
let it flow into the pond in the way most natural to it •
but if boxes or tanks are used to raise the young
fish m, then it is desirable to collect together all
the water from the various troughs into a common
reservoir, or at least into a common aqueduct, from
which to draw, in the quantities needed, for the supply
of the rearing boxes.

Leaving the water here, we will enter at once upon
the discussion of the methods of rearing the young fry.
The methods are two in number, — i, By the use of
ponds ; and 2, by the use of rearing boxes or nurseries.
Of these two methods the rearing boxes are by far
the safest for the first two or three months. I do not
deny that satisfactory results have been obtained from
the use of ponds at this stage, but I regard these as
the exceptions. They were ponds peculiarly adapted
to the wants of the young fry. As a rule, not one pond
in ten, nor one in twenty, is safe for the very voung fry.
Ponds, when contrasted with rearing boxes, present
the following points of comparison.

I. As soon as the young fish are put into the pond
they scatter to all parts of it, and cannot be broucrht
together to feed. The consequence is that many get
away into corners or holes, become weak from want of
food, and die, while nineteen twentieths of the food
fed to the fry in the pond is wasted, and only serves
to foul the water. I„ rearing boxes the fish are all
kept compactly together, where they are evenly fed
aiKl where, owing to their being compact, almost all
the food is consumed.

U'

!M

ir I.

82

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

2. In ponds the young fish arc exposed to all their
enemies, whose name is Legion. Without enumerating
them all again, it is suillieient to say that birds, frogs,
and snakes will depopulate a pond of young trout with
surprising despatch.

Rearing boxes being so prepared that when the lid
is shut down nothing can get in and nothing get out,
the safety of the fish is by this arrangement immeas-
urably increased.

3. In ponds the green Confcrvtc (frog-spittle) may
grow. If it does, it will probably cost you a great
many fish. It will not trouble you in the rearing box.

4. The comparatively still water of ponds is often
unfavorable to the young fry inclined to be sickly.
This objection is obviated in the rearing box.

5. In ponds there are likely to be unnoticed crevi-
ces, — at least, more than in rearing boxes, — where
the young fry often escape w-ithout your knowledge.
In rearing boxes perfect security can be obtained in
this respect.

6. Dangers sometimes exist in ponds for weeks un-
noticed. In rearing boxes the trout and the whole
apparatus are so wholly under your eye that perfect
security from this source, also, may be acquired.

7. When in ponds, you cannot keep account of the
numbers of the fish without much trouble. When in
rearing boxes, they can be taken out at a inoment's
notice, and counted.

Seth Green suggests that the hatching troughs be used
until the fish are large enough for ponds ; this, he says,
saves one removal. This may answer sometimes, but
it is open to these objections : —

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THE NURSERY.

8

a. The hatching-house water is too cold and earthy,
if I may use the expression.

d. If other hatching troughs work like mine, the
screens will clog up, and call for extra watching.

c. The fish must be very much thinned out to make
this method work, and in this case the one removal is
not saved.

d. The fry do not do so well, in actual practice, in
the troughs, as they do in the rearing boxes. I may
also add that (;reen's partner, Mr. Collins, sent last
spring for my rearing box to use at Caledonia.

My experience has all been one way in this mat-
ter. I have tried all kinds of ponds for very young
fry, and in every instance have ,' .>.t most of them,
while in rearing boxes in most instances I have had
surprising success, the loss having been very small
indeed.

I am aware that the experience of others has been
different, and that they have found ponds more suc-
cessful than boxes ; but I repeat, that I think the ponds
were exceptions, and that nineteen ponds out of
twenty are not safe for the very young fry.

The use of rearing boxes is accordingly recom-
mended, in preference to ponds, for the very young
fish.

The principles of the rearing box will be described
in the next few pages.

REARING BOXES.

A rearing box in its simplest form is very simple ; a
common soap or candle box, with a wire screen at

m

84

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

I

one end, and some gravel on the bottom, with a stream
of water running through, is a rearing box, and will
do, if only a hundred or two young fry are to be
raised.

A rearing box in its most perfect form is a more
elaborate and complicated thing, and should combine
these points,* viz. : —

1. A fiill of water.

2. A current of water.

3. Protection against too forcible suction through
the outlet screen.

4. Security from overflow.

5-
6.

7-

Absence of fixed hiding-places.
Compactness of fish themselves for feeding.
Protection against outside enemies.

8. Perfectly tight joints.

9. Protection against fungus.

T. A fall of water. The very young fry need all
the vitality and freshness which can be given to the
water ; and that imparted to it by a /all immediately
above them is too valuable to be disregarded. Ex-
perience has proved, also, that all trout do be ^t just
below a fall of water.

2. A current. If you want to make hardy fish, give
the young fry a current to head up against ; this is not
only more natural, but it will keep them clean and
vigorous, while in (relatively) still water they will often
take on a fungus growth or fin disease, which will

* It should be added here, that ponds for young fry should, as
far as possible, be constructed on the same general principles that
are recommended for rearing boxes.

I I

THE NURSERY.

ss

finally kill them. Again, by compelling the young
fish to head up against a current, you not only keep
them healthy, but can even sometimes save their lives
when they have become sickly, and would otherwise
have died.

The way co raise hardy, healthy trout is to put the
young fry in a current, and keep them strong enough,
by feeding, to make them feel like heading up
against it.

3. Protection against too forcible suction through the
outlet. If the pressure against the screen is too vio-
lent, the fish will be sucked against it, and cannot
keep off. A very wide screen is the protection against
this, or, if necessary, a dead-water board, nailed on
below the screen.

4. Security from overfloio. When sudden showers
come up, especially in the early summer, the streams
will collect so much fine floating matter as to clog up
the screens very rapidly.

A very little of the green Co7iferva;, sometimes
called frog-spittle, will give a great deal of trouble
from this cause. Various other circumstances also
make it important to take especial pains to guard
against an overflow. This is accomplished by having
deep sides to the rearing box, and by the use of wide
screens. Sometimes, in order to obtain perfect secur-
ity, it is found necessary to insert a long narrow screen
in the side of the box, near the top, called a safety
screen. This, with the regular screen at the outlet,
will usually take the water off sufficiently fast when it
rises to the safety-screen level.

86

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

5. Absence of fixed hiding-places. Such hiding-places
are bad, because in general you do not know what the
fish are doing in them. They may be dying there.
They may be crowding in them too thickly. The
hiding-places may conceal a snake, or a frog, or a
cannibal trout, which is making deadly havoc with
the small fish. The best rule for hiding-places
is, not to have them fixed, but so that you can
always remove the shelter, and look in if ycu
wish ; then you will know what is going on in
them.

6. Co7npactness of the fish themselves for feeding. This
I regard as a very important point. When the very
young fry are scattered widely apart, you are obliged
to feed them at a great disadvantage.

Only a few can be got together in a spot to feed.
Sometimes they are so shy that they can only be fed
at all with great difficulty, and, with the best you can
do, nineteen twentieths of the food will go to the bot-
tom. On the contrary, when the fish are compactly
confined, their numbers seem to give them confidence,
and they do not attempt to run away from the food.
They will gather together to get it, instead of scatter-
ing as before ; and, being so thick together, they will
consume nearly all the food given them, and very little
will go to the bottom. The advantage gained by this
is very great.

7. Protection against outside enemies. The necessity
of this protection is obvious. It is obtained by at-
taching to the rearing box a wire-work lid, fitting
down tightly, and provided with a padlock.

■f! : ^

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THE NURSERY,

87

It is necessary to have even the opening where the
water falls in protected by a wire screen.

One autumn I lost several hundreds of fine trout
three inches long, by something, I never knew what'
entenng the boxes where the water came in.

The cover can be made of wooden slats, if preferred ■
but they should be very close, for snakes, which are
very destructive to young fish when confined, will ven-
ture through holes which are big enough to admit
their bodies.

S. Perfectly ti^^ht joints. Only a person who has
had many years' experience ,n raising young fish
knows the whole significance of this precaution The
knack which young trout have of going through very
small crevices is almost incredible. I once made a
solid bank of fine hatching gravel a foot long, to hold
some young fry. In a week three hundred had found
their way through it. I venture to say that there is
not a trout breeder who reads this page, who has not
lost more or less young fry, through some unnoticed
crevice in their place of confinement.

It seems as if they had the gift of flattening them-
selves almost indefinitely. At all events, they will
squeeze through a wonderfully small crevice, so that
the only safe way is to examine the box or trough
thoroughly and make every joint perfectly tight If
this cannot be done effectually with hammer and nails
the places should be calked with flannel, or somethinc^
similar. The outlet screen should be as fine as eigh*^
teen threads to the inch. With anything larger than
that, the fry will get their bodies through, and han-
themselves by the neck. *

,'tl

1h

88

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

i

t
'

ff ji

1

9. Protc'ciion against fitn^i^its. Last, but not least,
there should be no possibiHty of fungus getting
on to the young fish. I wish I could find words to
describe how infectious and how fatal this ubiquitous
enemy is to trout. If they are exposed to it, it will
attack their fins, gills, and every part of them, and,
long before they begin to show it by dying, it may
have spread over your whole brood, and rendered
them past saving even when its presence is first dis-
covered. I have known instances where persons have
found their trout dying, and upon moving them to
other places, and taking every pains with them, have
wondered why they continued to die, with everything
apparently favorable to their health, while the fact was
that the fatal fungus had fastened upon them and
doomed them to death days, perhaps weeks, before
they were first moved. You cannot take too much
pains to avoid fungus. The best way to do it — and
it is a sure way — is to char* the inner surface of all
the woodwork leading to the rearing-boxes, and also
the rearing boxes themselves. This is a sure preventa-
tive, and the only satisfactory one I know of

The above points should be secured f in the rearing
box for the young fry, and when they are so secured,
if the water supply is right, the box may be regarded
as a suitable place for growing them in the first two
or three months, and much safer, as a general thing,
than a pond. I should call the maximum water
supply, just that amount which the fish will bear

* See page 274.

t It was to combine these points that the rearing box of the
Cold Spring Trout Ponds was contrived.

::

I

THE NURSERY.

89

witliout being carried down with it. Tiie minimun
supply for very young fish is less than one would
suppose.

A cold stream throwing one hundred gallons an
hour will keep ten thousand alive, with a proper fall
and current ; but this minimum should not be resorted
to except in cases of necessity.

If you have a large number of frv to raise in rearing
bo.xes, build a platform where you want the boxes.

Make all the boxes of the same size.* Place them
Ml a line, side by side, have your distributing-spout
just over the upper end of the boxes, and draw the
water from it just as you draw the water from the dis-
tributing spout in the house into the hatching troughs.
This gives uniformity and system, and increases the
convenience of feeding and taking care of the fish.

Place a layer of gravel in each of the boxes in such
a way that the water will be deepest under the fiill, and
the bed of the boxes will slope up towards the outlet.
Provide water-plants as freely as you please. Below
the system of rearing boxes place a long trap-box, with
a screen, which will catch everything that escapes from
them by accident.

Then your arrangement for growing the young fish
by this method will be complete.

If ponds are used, they should be shallow, narrow,
very tight, and should be well stocked with rvater-

* Four feet long by sixteen inches wide and sixteen inches
deep is a good size.

It is a good plan to widen the outlet and to admit a larger
screen, say twenty-eight by sixteen inches.

i]

90

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

plants,* which will iinprovc the water and give the
tish a chance to hide from their enemies, and supply
them with a good deal of natural food.

The i)onds should be also well provided with covers
or rafts for shelter.

Even then I would have the ponds constructed on
the principle of rearing-boxes, but 1 wish it distinctly
understood oii/y for very youiii^ fry. I am myself in
favor of turning the fish into safe ponds after they are
two or three months old, but not before.

They are so small and frail at first, that it seems to
me no better than destroying them by wilful neglect
to turn thcin loose into ponds when they begin to feed.

* Sec Appendix III , pp, 394, 295, for list of water-plants.

i

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I

PART II.

PROCESSES IN TROUT BREEDING.

I

15 <

PROCESSES IN TROUT BREEDING.

i
I

1

CHAPTER I.
TAKING THE EGGS*

Introduction.

WE now turn from the construction of the works
required by the processes of trout breeding to
the processes themselves. The first in order of these
is, taking spawn. This is a department of the trout-
breeder's work which it is very important to under-
stand thoroughly, for it depends on his success here
whether he secures most of the increase of his breed-
ing stock, or whether he loses most of it. A careless
and unskilful person will not save over twenty per
cent. A careful and skilful operator will not lose five
per cent. The reader can see for himself what a vast
difference this makes, when hundreds of thousands, or
even millions, are the numbers dealt with.

This branch of the work is no cliild's play. It
constitutes an art by itself, and requires, for its
success, knowledge, proficiency, and skill. Do not
neglect to give this department careful study.

* For description of eggs, see p. 118. For number of eggs,
see |ip. 287, 288. For spawning season of different fish, see
pp. 290, 291.

i I

li '

94 DOMESTICATED TROUT.

Preparations for the Spawning.

It is very desirable to have the preparations for the
spawning season completed before the season begins,
as it is often very inconvenient to attend to them after-
wards. The hatching apparatus and experiment boxes,
the filtering tank, and all the aqueducts above the
hatching apparatus, should be thoroughly cleaned out
and put in readiness. The spring or supply reservoir
should be put in just the condition you mean to have
it left in for the winter, for that often cannot be dis-
turbed after the spawn are laid. The gravel for hatch-
ing should be obtained, sifted and washed ant, boiled,
two sets of flannel filters made, and ready to place'
and the outlet screens ready to drop in their grooves.'
A set of nippers and a bunch of feathers should be in
their places, as also homoeopathic phials for examin-
ing the eggs, the spawning pans for taking them in,
moss to pack them with, and the tin boxes in which to
send them away.

At the breeding ponds, the spawning races shouki
be thoroughly cleaned out, and clean gravel put in,
or the Ainsworth and the Collins apparatus * placed in'
readiness where these are used. A notice should be
put up that visitors must not go to the breeding
grounds till Lhe season is over. The covers for thu
spawning beds should be ready and down. The nets
and the rest of the spawning outfit should be at hand,
and yourself free to attend to the spawning as soon
as the season begins.

* For description of the Ainsworth and the Collins Spawning
Apparatus, see pp. 29-36.

I

TAKING THE EGGS.

95

The Spawning Season.
As the cold fall days come on, the male trout take
on brighter colors, the lower rays of the anal and
ventral fins show brilliantly white, their bodies grow
lank, their noses sharp, and there is an unmistak^able
air of expectancy in their whole expression, peculiar to
this period. The females grow big with spawn, and
lose some of the brightness of their color, though
their forms still retain a grace which does not leave
them till the eggs are dei)osited. You need not
have any fear about telling the sexes apart. After a
very little experience, you can hardly make a mistake
in this particular, at this season. The brief descrip-
tion just given will be a sufficient guide.

Some time before any eggs are deposited, both
sexes become indifferent to food, and work up into
the shallow swifter water below the spawning beds,
the males usually in advance. By the second week
in October, and sometimes before, in the mean latitude
of New England, a few stragglers, like advance skir-
mishers, will get into the beds and begin making their
nests. The exciting season of taking spawn is now
close at hand, and as soon as you perceive that the
fish on the beds have completed their nests, you may,
if you adopt the artificial method of taking the eggs,'
proceed to try whether they are ripe.=^

The method of capturing the spawning fish is as
follows : t A net of coarse bagging, six or eight feet
* See p. 113.

t For directions for collecting the eggs obtained by the
" natural " method, see remarks about Ainsvvorth's Screens and
Collins's Roller Spawning-Box, pp. 29-36.

'(,:

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96

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

Ill

lif.i

1

long, is made. The edges of the upper end of the
l)ag are fastened to a eommon wooden screen frame,
wliieh tlien forms the mouth of it. This frame fits
into grooves made for it, at tlie lower end of the
spawning beds. The other or closed end of the bag
is made to taper somewhat, and an opening, sav hf-
teen inches in length, is cut in it to let the hsh
through into the spawning tub. This is to avoid
pouring them out from the upper end. I1iis aperture
is tied up with a string before the bag is put in posi-
tion, and a large tub to receive the fish is placed on
the ground close to the outlet of the spawning bed,
where the bag will be placed.

Now, having brought spawning pans enough to take
the spawn in, you approach the beds carefully with
the bagging in your hands.* You slip the frame at the
mouth of the bag instantly into the grooves prepared
for it, and the spawning fish are trapped. You now,
with as little delay as possible, (ill the tub half full
of water. Keep the si)awning pans perfectly dry, place
them conveniently, and throw off the covers of the beds.

The fi ' . with a little urging, will rush down stream
and hide in the bag. When they are all in, raise the
bag up quickly but gently, drop the lower end into
the tub of water, untie the string, and let them out.
If you have many lish and an attendant to help you,
it is a good plan to have two pails of water at hand,
and to have your attendant, while you are taking the
spawn, sort the males into one pail and the females

* Articles to be used at the spawning-jjeds : Large tub, three
large pails, lancHng-net, impregnating pans, timepiece, ther-
mometer, note-book.

TAKING THE EGGS.

9;

into another, so that you can always lay your hand
instantly on the sex you want. Having got everything
ready and the fish into the tub, the next thing is to
take the fish out and strip them.

The first point to Icarn about this is how to handle
the fish. There are almost as many ways of handling
them as there are persons who practise it. Almos*t
every one has a way, or at least a peculiarity, of his
own.

My own way is to close the left hand very gently
over the face of the fish, and with the right grasp it
just above the tail. It is now not necessary to
squeeze the fish hard at all. She cannot get through
either hand, because the body is larger in the midtHe
than at either extremity. I then take the fish quickly
out of the water, throw it over partly on its side, and
holding it at an angle of about 45°, with the orifice
near the bottom of the pan, press gently but firmly with
the thumb of the left hand, on the upper part of the
abdomen. If the fish is ripe, the eggs will flow at
once, and then, by a peculiar bending of the body of
the fish, together with a slight downward movement
of the thumb, the eggs will come almost of their own
accord. I use very little force indeed in pressing the
eggs out. If they do not come almost spontaneously,
with this method of handling, I let the fish go and try
another. If any eggs seem to be left in the fish after
the stripping just mentioned, I quickly change hands,
and, grasping it firmly with the right hand, remove the
remaining eggs by a ^-entle pass of the left thumb
along the length of the abdomen.

f

98

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

This Strips the fish completely, and it is ready to
be returned to the water. I proceed in a similar
Nvay with the male, exce|)t that I exert the pressure
lower down tlie abdomen than with the female. This
method of handlincr does not hurt the fish ; it seems
to make the eggs How spontaneously, the struggling
of the fish only accelerates the flow of the eggs, i^
makes (juick work and takes all the eggs. I do not
claim anything for it, however, over other good
methods of handling, and would advise beginners to
try different ways, till they find the particular way
most convenient for them, and adopt that.

Holding the fish is at first an awkward affair. It
will seem to you, if you are a beginner, as if fish were
never so slippery nor so uneasy, and never so liable
to be squeezed to death before ; but practice will make
perfect in this as in other things, and you will at
length feel as much at home with a pound trout in
your hands as if it were a pet kitten.

I \vould, however, by all means kill and open a
trout first, and see just how the vitals lie packed
withm, so as to know just where you can press without
hurting it, and just where you cannot. This will give
you confidence, and save the lives of many fish.

You can press quite hard on the face and head, and
on the solid parts of the body, but be very careful of
the gills and vitals. Do not ever press the abdomen
very hard. If the eggs do not come with a light pressure,
let them go till next time. You might not impregnate
them all, if you took them. Do not press the female
fish at all near the organ of exit, or lower part of the

TAKING THE EGGS.

99

h

i-vi

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i

abdomen, except to push out the feu- remaining e.--,
after the ,„ai„ part of the stripping is <|one. let^uii
1^ pressure at first be at the upper eud. a„,l always
let the thtuBb >//.., the eggs, and never get in ad-
vance of them. Indammalion of the organs at the
ower part of the abdomen is often pro<luced by ne<>-
leet of this precaution, the result of which is an entire
stoppage of eggs and ulthnate death from ulceration

V\ hen the fish straggles, as you are taking the
spawn, do not squeeze it any harder than vou can
belp, but hol.l your left thumb firmly on the abdomen
just above the eggs, and the struggles of the fish will'
only help the flow of the eggs. Indeed, I usually trv to
make the fi.sh really spawn herself

You mu-.t keep your attention fixed incessantly on
the fish m your hands, or it will squirm itself out of your
arasp when you least e.xpect it, an<l in a way that you
cannot account for. You will probably drop a few fish
occasional y, even after some experience, but it will do
no harm ,f the fish does not fail into the' spawning
dish 1 h,s you must guard against, as a few lashes
of .ts body then may kill a great many eggs, lie

Z V 7°' '? '"' "" '™"' '" "^ struggles scrape
the shme off Us body; for this, especially in the fi,^t
part of the season, will cause fungus to grow, and the
end IS death.

Impregnating the Eggs.
All fish eggs were formerly impregnated in water, a
depth of one or two inches in the spawning pans bei ,g
generally u.ed. This was the universal cus om in thi^

100

DOMESTICATED TROUT,

r t

country up to the last spawning season, that of 1871,
in the summer of wliieh year, through the efforts of
Mr. George Shephard Page, the exi)eriments of M.
Vrasski, at Nikolsk, Russia, were made known in
America.* P.y these experiments the very singular
flicts were discovered that fish eggs could not onh- be

* "In his experiments, M. Vrasski had followed the counsels
given in French and German works on pisciculture ; but the
results obtained were far from being brilliant. In reality he
obtained at each hatching but an insignificant number. ' Fn,„i
many thousands of eggs,' said he, in one of his leittrs, -there
were only some do/ens of young fry. The rest of the eggs were
spoilt and lost for want of having been impregnated. "l have,
however, observed with scrupulous exactness all the directions
given by the manuals with a view to fecundation.' In the
autumn of 1856, M. Vrasski was occupied with the microscopic
study ot the eggs and the milt, and kept a journal in which ho
registered the least circumstances and incidents relative to each
fecundation that he effected. Two months of persistent efforts
brought the desired results. The journal and the microscope
proved to him that the cause of his failure proceeded precisely
from the exact observation of all the counsels of the foreign
manuals. It is necessary for fecundation that the spermatozoa
of the milt of the male should penetrate the eggs of the female.
In order to do this, the manuals recommended receiving the
eggs in a vessel of water ; afterwards, to receive in another ves-
sel of water the milt of the male ; and, lastlv, to turn the diluted
milt on to the eggs. 15y his journal, kept with scrupulous exact-
ness, M. Vrasski convinced himself that the fecundation was so
much the less complete according as the mixture of the milt
and the eggs had been the most delayed. If ten minutes elapsed
between obtaining the milt and the mixing of it with the eggs,
the fecundation failed almost entirely. Ilis^observations andihe
microscopic researches of the eggs and the milt showed that
first, when received in water at the instant of issuing from the
fish, the eggs absorb the water and preserve the power of being

h I

TAKING THE EGGS.

lOl

taken and impregnated safely in a dry vessel, but also
that the 7u/iole of i/icm could be iinprecrnated in this
way. Such marvellous success had never been reached
before by any method, sixty-five or seventy per cent
havmg been a large average of imi)regnation, in opera-
tions m this country, and Seth Green, who approxi-
impregnatcd only as long as this absorption is not finished • that
..s to say, during a half-ho.r at the utmost. f)ncc saturated with
water the eggs do not absorb any spermatozoa ; but if received
..no dry vessels on issuing from the fish, the eggs remain, on
he contrary, for a sufficient time, in a neutral state, and do not
lose the power, when once put into water, of receiving the
•spermatozoa. Second, the spermatozoa of the milt, in falling.
into the water, commence immediately, with much vigor and
rapidity, to make movements, which only last, however, for a
.nmute and a half, or two at the most ; when this time is elapsed
only m some few spermatozoa can there be seen particular move-
ments and agonized convulsions. When, at the issuing from the
male fish, the milt is received in a dry vessel, it does not change
or many hours, and during this interval the spermatozoa do not
lose the power of beginning to move when they find themselves
m contact w.th water. Closed in a dry tube and well corked
the milt preserved its impregnating virtue during si.x days

" From these observations, as also from the fact that the eggs
as well as the milt, are obtained slowly, their entire mass no;
bemg able to ,ssue at once. M. Vrasski arrived at the conclusion
that when they were received in water the greater part of the
eggs attempted to saturate themselves with water, and the
spermatozoa almost ceased to move before it was possible for
he hsh breeder to mix the eggs with the diluted water M
Vrassk, adopted then the system of dry vessels, and turned the
mdt on the eggs nnmediately he put them in water. The success
was complete ; all the eggs were impregnated, without one
exxeption." - «. The Establishment at Nikolsk for the Rearing of
Choice Fish. Review in New York Citizen and Round Table
May 27, 1871. '

I02

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

1

mated the method of the Russian by using a very little
water, never claiming over ninety-five per cent for his
best work. The result is that dry impregnation, or the
method of taking the eggs in dry vessels, has in trout
culture wholly superseded the old practice of impreg-
nating the eggs in water, among all who have heard
of it, the great gain in impregnated eggs being too
much ot an advantage to be sacrificed.

For the benefit of those to whom this part of the
subject is unfamiliar, I will say that the milt, or
seminal fluid, of the male fish consists of innumerable
living microscopic organisms, called spermatozoa or
zoospcrms. These millions of infinitesimal creatures
during their brief career in the outer world are endowed
with great activity, and jump and plunge about among
one another with a motion as ceaseless as it is rapid
and vigorous. 'J'hey appear all the while to be seeking
something. At the same time, the eggs, when taken
from the fish, exert a constant absorbing power, draw-
ing towards them everything in their immediate vicinity.
The eggs also possess on their surface a microscopic
opening called the micropyle, which is intended for
the entrance of the zoosperm. When, therefore, the
spermatozoa and the eggs are brought together, the
animalcute seek the egg with all their might, and the
egg draws them to itself with all its power. The con-
sequence is that one (or more ?) of the spermatozoa
finds the micropyle of the egg and is drawn into it,
and impregnation is the result.

When the egg has finished its absorbing action,
or when the zoosperms have become inert, the power

TAKING THE EGGS.

103

to giTO or receive impregnation is at an en.l. -I'he
■me for ,t „as passe.1. No l.untan power can after^
»ar I „,ake „„lt „r eggs anything l>ut „or,l,less.

I has l>een estnnated titat ti.e absorbing action of
tlie ront egg lasts ti.irty minutes in water. Ti,e period
of ,e activity of spermatozoa in water bas l>een J"
ousi). p laccl at thirty minutes, nfteen, ten, two. and
one and a half n,in„tes ; * the h.s, two estitnates L eg
ne rest the truth. As will be seen by reference to m"
V rassk, s expenments, this period of activity is vastly

cl'n Tef r ' '"' """""« ""' "'""•■'" -'-'t and thi
chances of .mprcgnatn,g all the eggs are i.nn.ensely

."crea.sed in consequence. For, according to the old

method of using water, either the spennatozoa died or

the eggs fimshed their absorbing process before there

was t,me for all the eggs to beco.ne impregnated ■

whde by the new method of not using water tte n,il,

has ample time to come in contact with all the eg.. s

durmg the period of the activity of the one and the

• The confusion on this point very probablv arises from tlio

the p.rm,l of life ul the zoosperms depending maieriallv on the

empera „re of the water. The z„,ispe,n,,s .' trout n,il do ,ot

-.udly „ve over two nnnutes in water v.ar,i„g hen,' '^^^

Qnatrefages'., experiments showed that the aetivitv of the sner
matozoa of different fish dilute, with water lasted i'd.etr;;

Brochet . o

Mullet * • ^ '""T""' '° '''°"^^'

^ • • • 3 10 «'

Carp ...,««

Perch . . ; ..

Barbel . . ■ , ■ I : ^l

T bee p. 107,

104

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

fr

absorbing action of the other.* The consequent ad-
vantage is obvious.

'I'his discovery being of great practical importance,
perhaps I may be excused for ([uoting at length from
my editorial on the subject in the New York Citizen
and Round Table of March 9, 1872.

THE RUSSIAN OR DRV METHOD OF IMPREGNATION.

"The most important discovery of the past year in
fish-breeding in ihis country was the method of the
dry impregnation of the eggs of winter-spawning fish.

" Its importance consists in this, namely, that almost

one hundred per cent of the eggs can be fertilized

and hatched in this way, while hitherto, with the one

excej)tional instance of our great prophet, Seta Green,

* The following table shows the j)ercentage of Sain. on eggs
impregnated by the dry method at the Maine State S.lmon-
Brecding Establishment, in 1871, under the charge of Commis-
sioner Charles G. Atkins, of Maine.

When taken.

Estimated no. of eggs.

, f

Fvrcentage fecundated.

Nov. 2

12,500

100

". 1

11,500

94,

" 6

9,500

92J

" 6

3.000

85

" 4

300

" 4

2,500

95

" 4

16,000

96

" 7

5,000

I

" 8

4,500

100

" 9

7,000

97i

" 10

85

100

" 10

50

100

" 10

365

100

72,300

96

i i

i I

TAKING THE EGGS.

lo;

the percentage has rangerl all the way from ninety
and eighty to tiftecn, and has probably not averaged
throughout the country over fifty or sixty per cent.*
'I'he gain, of course, is enormous, as will be seen by
the following table : —

The avernge yield of

1,000 eggs is

10,000 eggs is

100,000 eggs is

1,000,000 eggs is

I^y the old itietliod.

600

6,000

6o,oco

600,000

Ry the new method.

950

9.500

95,000

950,000

" When to this is added the consideration that all
the wortiiless eggs must be picked out one by one, by
hand, in the coldest season of the year, and that to
liick out three hundred and fifty thousand eggs (the
difference in each million between the two nre^thods)
requires, in practice, at least thirty-five days of inces-
sant and tedious labor, the immense advantage ami
importance of the new discovery becomes obvious.

" It will mark a new era, we are confident, in trout
and salmon breeding, and will entirely revolutionize
the system of impregnating the eggs of these fish. No
one, hereafter, who has heard of the new method, will
ever take the eggs of any cold-water fish by the old
one. It is a very significant circumstance that Seth
Green, with his wonderful insight, reached the same
result nearly ten years ago by using a very small
amount of water in the impregnating pan.

* There is not the same difference in impregnating the ecr-^s
of warm-water fish. Perch and shad, for in.sta.Ke, will yield
nearly one hinidrcd per cent good eggs tikcn in a pan fnll of
water, the natural temperature of which, when these fish spawn
rt.ns from a n.ininuun of 50° F. with the perch to a maximum of
yo , and even more, with the shad.

iiii

1 06

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

" This was the mysterious secret of his success in
impregnating trout eggs, wliich puzzled beyond measure
everybody tliat tried to imitate him, which every one
marvelled at, and no one could understand, (ireen
used to Icll everything about trout breeding excei)t
this, but this he kept to himself, and said it was as
good as a patent right to him ; and so it was.

"The Russian or dry method of impreo-natincr euirs
consists simply in taking both the eggs and the milt
in a dry pan. The pan will not, correctly speaking
be perfectly dry, for some drops of water will fall into
it from the fishes manipulated ; but the pan should
have no water in it to begin with. In .reflecting upon
this method for the first time, the objection rises
instantly in one's mind that the eggs will all be killed
by striking against the bottom of the dry pan ; but it
is the very singular fact that though the same eggs
would be destroyed at once by the same concussion
a week afterwards, or even twenty-four hours after-
wards, they do not suffer in the least from it at the
moment of extrusion from the fish. These and the pre-
vious facts here stated were confirmed this last season
by experiments of Commissioner Atkins of Maine, of
Mr. W. Clift of Connecticut, and of the writer in Ne^v
Hampshire, and are beyond dispute.

" At the last meeting of the Fish Culturists' Associa-
tion, at Albany, we opened a box of about a hundred
trout eggs, taken by us on the Russian plan last
Decemoer, and gathered afterwards from the hatching
troughs without our knowledge of the percentage of
impregnation. Seth Green and others examined them,

TAKING THE EGGS.

107

and only three were found empty. As less than two
per cent had been picked out previously from the
troughs, this leaves ninety-five per cent of good eggs.

" The explanation of the augmented impregnation
seems to lie in the following facts; —

" The spermatozoa of the milt of the male are found
naturally living in an alkaline fluid composed partly
of phosphates and partly of other constituents which
more scientific men know better than we do. This is
their natural element, and, if it is not changed, they
will live in it for several days after leaving the fish. On
the contrary, if this liquid is dilured with water, as is
the case in the old way of impregnating, the sperma-
tozoa are killed ; they cannot live in the new element.
Paradoxical as it seems, water drowns them.

"M. Vrasski says that he kept the spermatozoa
ahve six days in a corked-up phial just as they came
from the fish, but that they died in two minutes when
taken from the fish into water.

''With a view to testing these points, we tried some
experiments with the milt of trout last fall, using a
microscope that magnified a hundred diameters. The
results Mere the same.

" Milt taken from the fish in a phial and secluded
from the air and water remained unchanged for days
Carbolic acid killed the zoosperms almost immediately,
and water drowned them in two minutes.

" The explanation, therefore, of the improved results
of the Russian method, is plainly seen. The zoosperms
reach the eggs in their natural element, and have time
and vitality to impregnate them, while they are at the

io8

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

same lime in vastly greater numbers to the cubic line
than in the pan of water.

"The dry method of taking eggs was first discovered
by M. Vrasski, a Russian, from whom it is called the
Russian method.* He experimented with the eirirs
of sterlits, we believe, at Nikolsk, Russia, and by
careful and scrupulous ol)servation with microscope
and note-book solved in two months the mystery of
the previous meagre impregnations, and made this
most imi)ortant discovery of which we are speaking.

" It is very singular that sixteen years should have
elapsed before the knowledge of this remarkable
discovery should have reached America. But sixteen
years did pass, and many more might have i)asse(l
had it not been for the enterprise of Mr. George Shep-
hard Page, President of the Oquossoc Angling Associa-
tion, who had the experiments of M. Vrasski translated
into English, and who caused a review of his work to
be printed in the New York Citizen of May 27, 187 1,
whicii we would recommend all practical fish culturists
to read.

" To Mr. Page, therefore, belongs the honor of intro-
ducing into this country this discovery, second to none,
in practical importance, that has been made in the art

* Frencli experimenters had also discovered that undiluted
milt lived longer than the diluted, but the discovery led to no
practical results. Previous to 1S53, or more than three years
before the Russian experiments, M, de Quatrefages preserved
milt alive 64 hours by putting it on ice and allowing the water to
flow off as fast as it m(:\{<i(\. — Aiii!ah of t/ie Natural Sciences,
1853, Third Series, Vol. XIX. p. 34.

TAKING THE EGGS.

109

Since its inception, and to the New York Citizen tiie
credit of first making it public. We were very much
surprised that the announcement in the Citizen (hd
not make a deeper impression at the time than it did.
Mr. Page was kind cnougli to send us a marked copy
of the paper, and we wrote to liim in reply that the
statement of M. Vrasski, if true, would wholly revolu-
tionize the present method of impregnating eggs ; but
no one with whom we corresponded seemed to^'rJalize
Us importance, except Mr. Clift, President of the
American Fish Culturists' Association, who wrote to
us m very much the same terms that we used to Mr.
Page. It was also by his recommendation, we pre-
sume, that Mr. Atkins adopted this method in takin-
his salmon eggs last fall.* We are satisfied, howevert
that the results of the investigations of M. Vrasski
are of the utmost importance, and that the facts
cannot make too deep an impression on fish breeders.
We would advise them never to try the old plan again."'
There are several interesting consequences i^esult-
ing from the Russian discovery which seem to be
worth mentioning.

One is that since the spormatozoa of the milt remain
ahve several days when kept from the air and water
a cross can be effected between fish living at long dis-
tances apart, without transporting the fish. For in-
stance, a trout breeder in Kansas can bottle up some
milt from his fish in a homoeopathic phial, and send it
* This I have since found to I)e a mistake. Mr. Atkins be
came acquainted with the Russian metliod.fin.prcsnation through
h.s readmg of French writers on tiie Russian experiments

no

domesticati:d trout.

!> •!'

kl\

ll i

by mail or express to a Massachusetts breeder, who
can take a ripe spavvner from his ponds and mi\ the
Kansas milt and Massachusetts eggs in the impreg-
nating pan, and so generate a cross between the two
fish, as well as if the Kansas breeder had sent him, at
a great risk, some male trout. I'he great ease with
which this crossing can be accomplished may some
day lead to valuable results.

Another consequence is that the old theory that a
large proportion of the eggs ordinarily taken from the
spawning trout are immature, and therefore cannot
be impregnated, must be given up. I have opposed
this theory all through my trout-breeding experience,
and insisted that the trouble in poor impregnations
was not in the eggs, but in the milt, as it has now
turned out to be. But the immature-egg theory had
its advocates in high quarters, and has been very gen-
erally received. There, however, can be no question
about it hereafter. If ninety-five per cent of the eggs
are impregnated and hatched by the Russian method,
then not more than five per cent of the eggs are
immature, and we doubt if even this small proportion
are.

The Russian discovery also wholly sets aside the
question about which there has been such contradic-
tory opinions, as to whether the milt or the eggs should
be taken first. Under the old /rg/mc it was considered
an important matter, and so it was ; but now^ it makes
no difference which is used first, as, either way, both
the milt and the eggs will remain operative long
enough for all practical purposes of impregnation, and
in both cases the results will be the same.

TAKING THE EGGS.

1 i I

In consequence of the discovery that all mature c,L:gs
are impregnated by coming in contact with ripe milt,
the fish, both male and female, being taken at random,
vvc are compelled to admit, however unwillingly, that
the origin offish life, in artificial impregnation at least,
is wholly a mechanical affair. The mere mechanical
mixing of the ripe milt of any male and the ripe eggs
of any female creates the germ of life, and perpetuates
the race, all previous considerations of pairing off
among the fish, or of this or that one selecting its mate,
counting for nothing. The fish of either sex has no
choice and no knowledge as to the individual through
whom its progeny shall be generated. The female
fish may become a mother without ever having seen
her mate, and the male may become the father of in-
numerable offspring without ever having seen the
mother. Whatever margin of uncertainty the unim-
pregnated eggs of the old system might have afforded
for the conjecture that empty eggs were the conse-
quence of mismating on the part of the fish, or rather
of the manipulator, there is none left now. Mechani-
cal contact of eggs and milt, indiscriminately taken,
produces all the results that mutual atfection and
choice of mates could accomplish. There is now no
possible place left for sentiment in the connubial rela-
tions of trout that are artificially spawned.

There are also two practical advantages incidentally
connected with this Russian discovery, and with these
I will close this discussion of its consequences. One
of these advantages is that the operator need not feel
obliged to hurry through the impregnation process, as

ill

S

I

I 12

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

%

m

1 s

1 1

1
! ,

1

4*!

! i

HI

. (

he was formerly obliged to, lest the milt should become
worthless before the eggs were secured, or 7'/a' Tcrsa,
for by the dry method he can have time enough. And
the other is, that when there is danger that the milt
will run short on any day, the surplus milt of previous
more favorable days can be bottled up and kept for
the emergency, when the day's supply of milt proves
insufficient.

Process of Impregnation.

Let us now return to the subject more particularly
before us, namely, the ffiodus operandi of impregnating
the eggs. The process is very simple. Having se-
cured the fish and sorted out the ripe males and the ripe
females, take a female and express the eggs from her
into a dry pan, according to the directions on page 85.
It was formerly thought that more than one layer of
eggs was too much tor a pan, but with the dry impreg-
nation method a half dozen layers, or even more, can
be safely taken, provided it is done quickly enough,
and the milt supply is sufficient, and is thoroughly
mingled with the eggs. Then take the milt from
the male. One good one is enough. Shake the pan
gently and tilt it at each enr^ alternately, so as to mix
the milt and eggs as thoroughly as possible. Thh will
be easily accomplished, as the little water which falls
from the fish into the pan, and the capillary attraction
of the mass of eggs, will assist the dissemination of
the milt.

After giving the spermatozoa and eggs time enough
for thorough contact, but before the eggs set, pour on
water to the depth of an inch or two. Stir well and

w

TAKING THE EGGS.

I I

I

leave till the eggs separate, which will be from nfteen
to forty-five minutes, according to the temperature of
the water, the eggs remaining set longest in cold
water. When separated, rinse the eggs till they are
perfectly clean. They are then ready to be placed in
the hatching troughs.

How TO TF.LL Ripe Fish.

It is usually a very anxious question with beginners,
how they will know when a spawning trout is ripe. I
would advise those who feel this anxiety not to worry
about it at all.

You cannot tell, the first time you try your hand at
it ; but follow the directions about trying them, and
whenever the spawn does not flow easily, let the fish
go, and try another. Do not urge the si)awn too for-
cibly. This is the great fault of beginners. They are
so afraid that the fish is ripe, and that they will not
find it out, that they often kill it, if unripe, by using ex-
cessive force. Let me say that your danger, if you are
inexperienced, is not half so much of losing the spawn
as of killing the fish. I knew of a man who had thirty
trout, and who killed them all before the spawning sea-
son began, without getting an egg, by trying to force
the eggs. When the fish is ripe, the eggs will come :
that you may depend on, in nineteen cases out of
twenty. If they do not come and come easily in any
instance, do not trouble yourself about that fish ; let
her go. You will get her the next day again, if she is
not quite but nearly ripe. If you have any doubt at
all whether the fish is ripe, give the fish the benefit of
the doubt. In time you will learn to tell at a glance,

■| il

m

rii

1 I

n,i

l!l

II ;

114

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

and patience and practice will soon bring that time to
pass. To tell quickly and surely whether a fish is ripe,
is something that cannot be learned from books.

There are certain signs, it is true, which usually ac-
company ripeness in a female trout, of which the loose-
ness of the eggs in the abdomen, after tlxy have left
the ovaries, is the surest. There are others also, but
the specific signs are all fallible, and what an expert
tells by, is not one specified sign or another, but an in-
describable ripe look, which is neither color, shape,
nor condition of organs, but a something pervading
the whole, a /^w/ ensemble, which tells at aglance tha't
the fish is ripe, as in a similar way you tell that a
l)each or a blackberry is ripe. I'hi's you must learn
by practice. Books cannot teach it, fnit practice will.

Further Directions for Impregnating the Eggs.
The following additional suggestions may be of ser-
vice to the beginner in learning to impregnate trout

i&'^-

I. Use eggs thatflo7u easily, and no others. It is true
that there will be some spawners wliich, from an ex-
ceptional construction of organs, will not give their
spawn readily when ripe ; but in nineteen cases out of
twenty, when the eggs come hard they are immature \
and the best rule to observe, at least in beginning, is to
take only the eggs which come easily. Avoid all others.
If the first half come easily and the balance less so,
take the first half and leave the rest. When you
perceive the e^gs lying in rows under the skin, do not
try the fish at all. The ovaries are not open, and she
is certainly not ripe.

P

TAKING THE EGGS.

115

2. Use good milt and plenty of it. The thin watery
milt that conies in a little stream is not good. The
thick creamy milt which oozes slowly from the fish is
unripe. The best milt is that which has a medium
consistency and comes from the fish with a spurt.
This is the kind to use. Use plenty of it if you have
it to spare.

3. Make quick 7vork in impregnating the eggs. Have
everything ready beforehand, so as not to lose a mo-
ment's time after the fish are in the tub. Do not be
over two minutes with any one pan. By these precau-
tions you will secure absorbing eggs and active zo-
osperms and a good intermingling of both, even at
the minimum estimate of the period of their effective-
ness* You will also thus avoid the reabsorption
of milt by the males, which will sometimes happen
when they are disturbed.!

4. AHoia the eggs ample time to separate. It will
do no harm if you leave the eggs an hour in the pan

* It should be borne in mind that the eggs begin to stick
quicker and remain stuck together longer when exposed to a low
temperature. The zoosperms of the milt also are less active and
effective when very cold. M. de Quatrefages says that the sper-
matozoa of trout milt live the longest at a temperature between 41"
and 48° Fahrenheit ; but that when the temperature exceeds these
limits, the increase of the energy on the part of the animalcules
compensates to a certain extent for the shorter duration of their
vitality.

t Males having good and ready -flowing milt sometimes, when
frightened, seem to reabsorb it into the glands, so that it cannot
be pressed out naturally. By immersing the fish in warm water,
however, say at 70° Fahrenheit, the glands will be relaxed so that
the milt will flow copiously again.

u6

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

with the milt, but it re/// do harm to move them too
soon. Some authorities say that thirty minutes is long
enough to leave them, some say twenty minutes, and
one late authority says one minute.* 1 should r ither
leave them together forty-five minutes than less. It
depends, however, very much on the umperature of
the water, the adhesive period lengthening as the
temperature decreases. You are more likely to err
on the sajh side by keeping them too long together,
than by not keeping them long enough.

5. A'i/ise ihonm^^Jily. The eggs should be thor-
oughly rinsed before removal to the hatching boxes,
for the effete milt clinging to them eventually jjutrefies
and kills the eggs if left on them. They should
therefore be rinsed till the water in the pan is per-
fectly clear. Some authorities recommend washing
the eggs when first taken from the fish, to get rid of
the mucus enveloping them, which is thought unfa-
vorable to impregnation. There is no sort of sense
in this.

6. Practise to acquire dexterity iji handling the fisJi.
Time is so valuable in impregnating eggs, that it is
worth while to practise, as in any accomplishment,
for dexterity. Dexterity, when acvquired, saves time at
the very moment when time is the most precious, and
often secures the impregnation of eggs which would

* Mr. Samuel Wilmot, of Newcastle, Ontario, Canada, said,
at the meeting of the American Fish Culturists' Association at
New York, in 1877, that he thought the impregnation of the egg
was instantaneous, and in proof of this he stated that he had
met with excellent results from placing the eggs in the hatching
troughs as soon as they were mingled with the milt.

IJJI-

of

TAKING THE EGGS.

n;

Otherwise be lost. The difference between a skilled
export and a novice in this respect is astonishing.
The former will run through a large lot of fish, and
spawn them all properly in a time that would seem
incredibly short to a bungler, who would very likely
consume half a day on the same number. The results,
also, of iiis manipulations, will present an equal con-
trast in the impregnation of the eggs. Acquire, there-
fore, as much dexterity as you can in handling the fish.

Closing Notes.

The spawning season for brook trout in New Eng-
land begins the first or second week of October. It
is earlier north of New England, and later south of it.
The length of the spawning period depends on the
equability of the temperature of the water. In ordi-
nary brooks, where the temperature of the water varies
with the temperature of the air, the spawning is over
by the middle of December, and often before * In
spring water, when the temperature is not affected by
the air, the trout sometimes continue to spawn all
winter. In Seth Green's ponds, the trout begin to
spawn the 12th of October, and continue spawning

* I think it miir.t be now admitted, in view of so much evi-
dence, that individual members of the Salmo family spawn in
the spring. How much is the rule and how much the excep-
tion we do not know. The Danube Salmon [Salmo luuho) all
do. See Artificial Fish Breeding, Fry, p. 52, There is also a
variety of salmon in the St John River, N. B , that come up regu-
larly to spawn in the spring. The same is reported of the Brit-
ish rivers Wye and Severn. See River Fisheries, <' Land and
Water," April 29 and May 20, 1871.

Il8

DOMF.STICATKD TROUT.

I

(

■il

1 : t

till (he 1st of March. At the Cold Sprinp; Trotit
Ponds, they bcj^in the same dny, the 12th of October,
and finish the first week in I)ecenil)er.

All two-year-old trout spawn. Some yearlings do,
and some do not. 'I'he main dependence of the
trout breeder for eggs is on trout upwards of two years
old. The eggs of the trout are large compared with
those of most fish, except the salmon. They average
about three sixteenths of an inch in diameter, varying
very considerably in size, the very largest containing
probably twice the bulk of the very smallest. 'I'hey
are sometimes colorless, sometimes orange hued, and
sometimes have a rich red tint.

The cause of the variation in the color of the eggs
is not positively known. It has been thought to be
hereditary.* It has also been attributed to the color
of the flesh of its parent, and to the nature of the par-
ent's food.f

A correspondent of Mr. Buckland says that the
tints cannot depend on the color of the parent's flesh,
because graylings' eggs have similar tints, and all gray-
lings are white-fleshed.

'I'he outer meml)rane of the egg is very elastic and

tough. 'Hie internal structure of the egg is as follows.

On the outside is the shell membrane, corresponding

to the hard shell of birds' eggs. Inside of this shell,

which is formed, as with birds' eggs, at quite a late

period of the development of the egg in the ovary,

is another membrane called the yolk membrane. This

* Massachusetts Fisheries, Report, 1S68, p. 31.
+ Fish Hatching, Buckhmd, pp. 19, 20.

PI

TAKING Till' DGGS.

119

is very different from the shell membrane, and is ciuite

delicate. This yolk envelope contains the yolk of

the egg, in which are several drops of oil, which form

the food that the younj,' alevin absorbs in ihe yolk-sac

stage. In the yolk also (loats the germinal vesicle,

which is a small cell, and which contains another set

of minute cells called the germinative spots or j)oints.

Here lies the germ of the egg, and the microscopic

opening called the micropyle, through which the

si)ermato/.oa enter in the process of impregnation.

When the egg dies, the membranes let in water,
which precipitates the contents of the egg in the form
of a soft, opaque, white paste. It is this which gi\es
the white appearance to the dead e^'cs.

The number of eggs to a fish is given as one thou-
sand to the pound, but it is often more than this, and
varies very much with the size of the eggs, chose hav-
ing small eggs yielding the most in number. I have
taken eighteen hundred eggs from a pound trout, and
once took over sixty eggs from a trout that weighed
just half an ounce immediately after being stripped.

The Effect of tul: Weather upon the Spawning
OF Trout on Different Days.

Trout seem to foel the changes of weather quite as
much as the air-breathing animals above water. In-
deed, I have a theory that the various conditions of
the atmosphere, which we describe by the words "raw,"
"chilly," "disagreeable," "pleasant," "agreeable,'"
"delicious," are also shared by the water, — certainly
the various electrical states of the atmosphere are, —

120

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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and that the fish in the water feel the difference as we
do. None know better than old anglers how much the
weather affects the feelings of the fish ander water, and
I am inclined to think that most of them hold very
much the same theory. It is at all events true, that in
the spawning season the trout are very much influenced
in their spawning by the character of the day.

An experienced breeder can tell in the morning, by
the wind, the sky, and the state of the air, how his
trout are going to spawn that day. Indeed, a person
sensitive to the changes in the weather can tell by
his feelings, with his eyes shut, whether it is going to
be a good day for spawning. A warm rain is the
most favorable condition for spawning. A sharp,
frosty night, followed by a warm, bright, sunny after-
noon, is the next best.* A warm rain, particularly,
brings up the fish upon the beds in swa ms.

This is partly owing to the increased volume of the
water, for a freshet always calls out the instinct in
trout and salmon to rush up to higher waters; but
it is not wholly this, for the action of the pattering
rain on the water hastens irresistibly their time of
parturition, and they would spawn more in a warm
rain, if the volume of water were not increased any.
On these favorable days it is noticeable that the milt
of the males is also much better ripened, as well as
the eggs of the female.

* Francis, I think, says tliat a cloudy clay is best for spawning.
My experience has been entirely to the contrary, unless it rained.
The explanation may possibly be that he saw them best on a
cloudy day, as they are less shy on such days.

TAKING THE EGGS.

121

A raw, chilly November day, when the air feels disa-
greeable, is the worst kind of weather for spawning, and
in some of these days they will hardly come up at all.

An increased current and volume of water have an
effect upon the spawning fish similar to a rain, per-
haps from the same cause, namely, increase of friction
in the water.

At any rate, the trout come up better when the
stream rises. This instinct the breeder can often turn
to his own convenience. For instance, if he must be
absent a day, he can keep the spawners back by turning
off the water as far as is safe ; or if he wants to hasten
the spawning on any particular day, he can do so
by turning on a powerful current.

The afternoon especially, whether rainy or sunny, I
have always found to be the best part of the day for
taking spawn.

To insure ripe eggs, I think once a day is quite
often enough to manipulate the fish.

Spawning in the Pond.

In the course of a few weeks the daily disturbing
of the trout on their nests will often, and I think
usually, drive them farther down stream, and induce
them to spawn in the pond. This of course results in
the loss of the eggs, and must not be allowed. The best
way to discourage it is, to throw in a shovelful of mud or
earth, wherever you discover them making their nests.

At my own ponds I have two sets of spawning
races, one below the other. I use the upper one
only, to begin with, and when the trout abandon this,

I 22

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

on account of being disturbed, they llill back to tlie
second raceway, where they can generally be kept
till the season is over.

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The Spawning Pans.

The dishes for stripping spawn into are usually
rectangular pans, or common milk-pans, with a
rectangular depression of a quarter of an inch or so
in the bottom. The object of this rectangular feature
of the dish is to enable the operator to count the
eggs, which of course is easily done for any one layer
by counting the number in one row, each way, and
multiplying them together.

It has been demonstrated that fish of the same
family can sometimes be crossed. The Chinese have
long been in the practice of crossing various breeds
of the carp. 7>out eggs have been impregnated
with salmon milt, and hatched, and salmon eggs im-
pregnated with trout milt have hatched.*

The question whether the progeny will ever repro-
duce, has not, I think, been decided by actual exper-
iment : but science, popular belief, and analogy all
bear uniformly negative testimony.

* In 1869 I crossed the yellow perch Perca {flavescens) with
the glass-eyed pike [Liiciopcrca), both percoids, using perch eggs
and pike milt. The result was an embryo which continued to
develop till the seventh day, when the development suddenly
stopped entirely, although the embryo did not die. At this point
it resembled the embryo of the same age of the yellow perch
proper.

TAKING THE EGGS.

123

Placing the Spawn.
This is a very simple process, After the eggs in the
pan are thoroughly rinsed, take them to the hatching
house, and set back the water in the hatching trough
so that It will be about two inches deep. Then pla*^e
one end of the pan below the surface of the water
and, drawing it slowly backwards up stream, gradually
pour the eggs out under water. If you give the pan a
sort of siftmg motion, it will distribute the eggs rather
more evenly. When the eggs are all out, take a
feather and separate and place them as you wish to
have them remain. It is best, on the whole, in placing
the eggs through the season, to begin at the bottom of
the hatching trough and work up, because by this plan
the shells and other waste matter coming from the
hatched eggs are not carried down upon the others
still hatching.

CHAPTER II.

HATCHING THE EGGS.

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HE eggs being taken and laid down in the
troughs, the next thing is to hatch them. This
is a long and slow process, and coming, as it does, in
the coldest season of the year, has, in the colder lati-
tudes of this country, some hardships connected with
it. For instance, the daily examination of the eggs in
a house hatching a quarter or a half million is some-
times a long task of almost still work, usually in a
room so large and damp that the stove has no effect
on its general temperature ; and when the mercury is
at zero or 15° below it, one can imagine what exposure
this work in ice and water must be.

On the other hand, hatching the eggs is the very
simplest and surest of all the branches of trout breed-
ing. Any one can hatch the eggs with the knowledge
now furnished from past exj^erience, by simply follow-
ing directions. It requires no skill or proficiency. It
is mere clock-work routine when the hatching appara-
tus is properly prepared. When you consider that the
eggs differ from the fish in these two points, namely,
that they cannot move of themselves, and that they
require no nourishment, you perceive at once how
much the care of them must be simplified in conse-

1 *

HATCHING THE EGGS.

125

quence. Indeed, the eggs kept in clean running water
will hatch themselves. Nature provides with the egg
all that it needs for its nourishment, and what is re-
quired of the breeder is simply to see that nothing
interferes with nature's work.

This negative task, however, of guarding the eggs
from danger, though, with the present improved appli-
ances for hatching, it requires no great skill, is not by
any means a sinecure, but, on the contrary, calls for
caution, vigilance, and labor, as will be seen by the
following general remarks on hatching eggs.

The main dangers to whicli the eggs are subjected
are four in number, and are all fatal. They are, —

1. Alga.* Fungus.

2. Sediment.

3. Living enemies.

4. Byssus.* Fungus (Septomitris clavatus.)
Carbonized wood f is a protection against the first,

fungus. The system of filtering is a protection against
the second, sediment. Tight covers are a protection
against the third, live enemies. The daily examina-
tion of the eggs is a protection against the fourth,
byssus.

It follows, then, that the dangers are all guarded
against by the provisions themselves of the hatching
apparatus, in connection with the daily examination of
the eggs.

It may be well here, however, to allude briefly to

* These are both fungi, but the first enumerated is usually
called, in trout breeding, by its generic name, fungus, and the
fourth by its specific name, byssus.

t See page 274.

126

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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the character and effect of the four sources of injury
mentioned.

I. Fi/Ngns* There is no word in the fish breeders'
vocabulary that is so associated with loss and devasta-
tion as the word "fungus." There is nothing with
which he has to deal that is sc ■ ■ :-*o,is and deadly
as fungus. This silent, invisible f; oure to come, if
any door is left open for its entrance. It often fostens
its irrevocable grasp on the eggs, without giving any
sign of its approach. Once present in the water, it
spreads over everything. It cannot be removed. ' It
never lets go its hold. It is fatal in its effects.

Most of my readers know that fungus is a vegetable
growth of a low order, which makes its appearance
almost invariably where there is water, and especially
on newly cut wood, on which it eventually becomes a
mass of nearly colorless or milky slime.t What makes
it so peculiarly noxious is, that each one of its cells,
whether detached or not, is a reproductive seed^
that is to say, a perfect reproducing plant in itself.
Consequently, when it is torn up anywhere, or broken
in pieces, instead of being destroyed, it only becomes
more powerful to injure.

So where any fragment of fungus falls, however
small, even if it is only one microscopic cell, it imme-
diately proceeds to grow, and produce other similar

* "Fungus, a large natural order of plants, comprehending
the microscopic plants, which form mould, mildew, smut, etc.
The fungi constitute one division of the Linnean class of Cryp-
togamia."— IVchsicr's Dictiomuy.

t On hard wood and knotty wood it is sometimes black, but
the common form of growth is nearly colorless.

«

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HATCHING THE EGGS.

127

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cells, and so on indefinitely. Therefore when it is
torn off or broken in pieces, as it constantly is, by the
action of running water, it is not destroyed, but ren-
dered tenfold more capable of injury ; for where one
plant existed before, now there are as many plants
as fragments. Thus having once found entrance, it
spreads over everything, and its removal is worse than
Hercules's task of killing the hundred-headed Hydra,
whose heads grew out as fast as they were cut off.

This fungus, if once present in die hatching water,
will certainly attach itself to the eggs, and when it
does, their fate is sealed ; you cannot save them from
its effect, as it never lets go its hold. It will surely
eat out the vitality of the embryo within, and will
either kill it wholly or will leave a puny, lifeless, trans-
parent creature, which wdl in all probability never live
to grow up. It cannot therefore be guarded against
with too much care.

If the eggs seem to hang together, or stick to the
bottom, or move about heavily, when they are agitated
with a feather, you should be on the watch for fungus,
for these are signs of it. It is detected for a certainty,
on the eggs, by placing a few in a clear homctopathic
phial, and holding them up to the light. If there is
fungus on them, it will be seen as a collection of very
fine, ethereal, colorless threads floating over the eggs
like streamers. If you see this, the pestilence has
come.

If it should by any accident form upon your eggs,
shut out at once all light from them ; this will check
its growth somewhat. Increase the current as much

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128

DOMESTICATF.F) TROUT.

1 'I i

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as you can safely, and make the water colder, if pos-
sible. You can never make good eggs of them again,
but you may arrest its spreading in some degree, and
save the lives of some of the embryos. An ounce
of prevention is, however, worth a pound of cure, and
in this instance it is worth a thousand pounds of
cure. Therefore char* every box, aqueduct, and trough,
and all the wood-work through which the water flows ;
then you will have no fungus. It will not form on
charcoal in the dark.

2. Sediment. This is a danger of no small impor-
tance, but it is nothing like fungus in its destructive-
ness, for it can be removed, it does not spread, and it
is not always latal. It is, however, a very bad thing,
and sometimes very troublesome. It consists of tht-
very fine dust which is held mechanically in all run-
ning water. As remarked in a previous chapter, it
may not be discernible in the WMter when examined
by the eye, but will show its presence after the water
has run a certain length of time over a given place, by
being precipitated as a light deposit of dirt or mud
over the spot. This fine layer of dirt, if it should
settle on the eggs, would suffocate them in time, or if
not in sufficient quantity to suffocate them would, by
interrupting the processes of absorption and growth of
the embryo at certain points, cause a deformity in the
fish when hatched. Many of the curved spines,
hunched backs, and spiral bodies of fish newly hatched
are caused by this partial suffocation of the embryo by
the sediment. The remedy for sediment, or rather its
prevention, as before observed, is the system of filters.

* See page 274.

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HATCHING THE EGGS.

129

■ the

These should be sufficient to arrest it effectively. If
they cannot be made sufficient, uien the stream is not
worth usinir.*

If by any accident sediment should get upon the
CKgs occasionally, the method of removing it is so
•smiple, that it need cause no alarm, if it is attended to
at once. This method t consists merely in watering the
eggs with a common garden watering-pot, at the sanv
trnie keeping the outlet screen clear, to let off the sed-
iment as It floats down. This plan, though so simple,
IS very effective. It will remove every particle of sed-
iment from the eggs, and leave them, as well as the
bed of the hatching-troughs, cleaner than before the
sediment was observed. The agitation also seems to
do the eggs good in other ways.+

I should water the eggs occasionally, even if there
were no sediment to be removed. The precaution

J* When the hatching water has so much sediment in it that
filtermg cannot make it safe for the eggs in the common hatch-
ing troughs, the water can still be used sometimes with grilles,
by washn,g off daily with the watering-pot the sediment which
collects on the eggs. The sediment will fall through the
openmgs between the grilles, and be out of the way of the
eggs. 1 he eggs can I)e safely hatched in this wav, but the
scd.ment must be closely watched and carefully kept off the
eggs.

t See page 68.

c-eltH^T '"""' '°"'""'" "'''''"''■' ''^" cl^veloppement des oeufs.
c est de les remuer souvent ; un repos absolu les tuerait neces
sa.rement." - Vinn-, E>.l.ryolo^ie ./.. Sa^„n,nes, p. 16

It should be said, in explanation of the alcove note, that Vo-t's
experiments were not conducted in running water. This does

talL r'"' '"''"''''' '''' ^''^'""""y ^-^ ^« *'^« ^ff'^^t of agi-
latmg the egg.s. °

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130 DOMESTICATED TROUT.

should be taken, however, to have the water about two
Miches deep, or the concussion of the falh'ng water in
the earher stages of the eggs will sometimes be inju-
rious to the embryo,

3. Living cneviies. So much has been already said
about this class of dangers, that I would pass them by
here, if I had not seen so much carelessness on the
part of trout breeders in leaving their eggs exposed to
these enemies. I am convinced that persons gener-
ally do not begin to realize the danger from this source,
and I have often wished, for their benefit, that a pic
ture could be drawn, representing all the enemies to
trout eggs directing their steps just after nightfall to
their nightly feast in the hatching-house troughs. It
is true they do not all come at once ; but if they did,
there would be in the picture mice, rats, weasles,
muskrats, minks, cats, frogs, snakes, lizards, evets,
caddis-worms, water-spiders, boat-flies, water-beetles,
and snails ; and then the picture would not include
ducks, geese, wild water-fowl, eels, large trout, and
countless other fish which would come in the daytime
if they could get at them.

Yet persons imagine that, because they do not see
these creatures feeding on the eggs or young fry in
the morning when they open the hatching-house, they
have probably not been there. But it Is just the
reverse. The probability is all the other way. It is
even a certainty. Just imagine for a moment that a
starving mouse has strayed into the house some freez-
ing night ; it will not be long before he will find the
eggs, and will make a feast on them. How can you

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HATCHING TIIK EGGS.

131

•suppose tliat the next ni.^^ht, when he gels hungry
agam, he will net return t<, where he left a rich supper
the n,,ht before? Dc, yot, suppose there is one
chance ui a hundred of his not eoniing? There is not
even that small chan.e. U the mouse is alive the next
night, and has not been driven away, he will come back
to h.s feast as sure as darkness comes on, and so he
u-ill continue to do every night of his life while the egjrs
last. And yet I hear people say, in the coolest way
imaginable, of their unprotected spawn, " f guess noth-
ing will come to take the eggs to-night." Why not
only IS the warm hatching-house an attractive place to
these creatures of prey in the winter, when the e-'cr.s are
hatchmg, because of its comparative warmth, but they
are every one of them impelled to these eggs by the
strongest of animal instincts, namely, hunger. How
then, can the eggs escape, if they are exi,osed ?

The only protection that I believe in is covers
J raps and poison may or may not remove the cause
of loss before the loss comes, but tight lids make the
thing sure, Have tight lids, fitting close, over all your
troughs, and ycni may sleep in peace at night for all
the n^jury that rats and mice and other outside enemies
will do your eggs.

4. Bj'ssus. This is also a fungus growth, like the
other, but it comes from the eggs themselves, and not
from external sources, and it is not so much to be
feared. This plant is created by matter decaying in
the w^ter ; so that whenever a fish egg loses its vitality
and begins to putrefy, byssus commences to grow
^V ith trout eggs in water at 40° or 50° degrees Fahren-

132

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

heil it generally appears within forty-eight hours after the
egg turns wliite, and often sooner, and the warmer
the water the quicker it comes. It is never quite safe
to leave the dead eggs over twenty-four hours in the
hatching boxes. The peculiarity of hyssus is, that it
stretches out its long, slender arms, which grow rapidly,
over everything within its reach. This makes it pecu-
liarly mischievous, for it will sometimes clasp a dozen
or even twenty eggs in its Briarean grasp before it is
discovered, and any egg that it has seized has received
its death-warrant.* Like the alga before mentioned,
every cell is reproductive; and it should, on that
account be carefully handled. The remedy or protec-
tion is the daily examination of the eggs with feather
and nippers. If this is Hiithfully performed, the byssus
will never come.

This examination of the eggs is a very considerable
part of the trout breeder's work in winter, and demands
to be .treated at considerable length, which I shall en-
deavor to do in this connection.

If your hatching streams would run just as you
wanted them to, if the filters were all right and would
remain so, if the eggs were all impregnated, this daily
examination would be a very easy task ; but as this is
too much to expect, you should be prepared to make
quite a labor of .his daily duty, and the following sug-
gestions may be of some service in performing it. On
entering the hatching house, look first at the out/el
of all the hatching compartments. You will soon learn
to do so instinctively. They will tell you whether the
various streams are running right or not ; for if the

* Agitating the eggs thoroughly in a vessel of fine sand and
water is a remedy.

HATCJIINO THE EGOS.

"33

oullct IS runninK right, the inlet mt.st be also, of neces-
sily. If ,inyih,„jr is wrong in the flow of the hatch-
ing streams, follow them up from the outlet till you
chscover the cause, an,l, when you ha^^e, reumve it,
and also, >f praclieahic, the /„„//,////„ of i,s occurrin-r
agaui. If the streams are running right next .-x
amn,e the filters. If they are c,ogg«| u; or too .lin;
for safety, take them out, ehange and clean them
accordmg to <hrections given under the head of Kilters *
Kemove them carefully when they are taken from the
ank, so as not to shake the dirt off the flannel into
the water, an<l try to keep the rear one clean enough
not to reqmre changing at all ; for when you remove
•ut one, the 5edn>,ent in front of it has free access to
llie gravel, and some of it may get through to the eggs
1 he eggs clann your attention next ; you proceed to
hem w,th leather and nippers. The fcLhe! you n I'd

pick out the de:ul ones. A feather from a turkey's

of 11 7 '"' ■'" •"'""""■ ^" "'"'-- ''^ke a piece

a^i eighth of .an meh ,n width ; bend it exactly in the
mu die spread the ends by hamntering, and you hav
as good an .nstrument, I believe, as there is for pick-
ing out eggs. Other things are used, as, for inst.^nce,
the bulb syrmge, and a miniature spoon ma.le of a

handle. These have the advantage over nippers for
pickn,g out &.. eggs, that they do not hur. the eggs

• The tanks should be dr.iwn off and thoroughly washed^'out'
whenever much sediment begins to collect in thetn '

134

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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but for picking out dead eggs, there is, in my opinion,
nothing better than the common steel nippers just
described. Nothing certainly can be surer and
([uicker in its operation in an experienced hand.

Your first question, when the eggs are to be picked
over, will probably be, How can the dead ones be dis-
tinguished from the live ones ? But the anxiety which
every new operator feels on this point is wholly need-
less, for you cannot mistake them. The dead ones
will turn as white as milk, and can be as easily told
from the live ones as white quartz from gray peb-
bles. You will even perceive the dead ones distinctly,
as soon as yon open the boxes. You will at once
remove them with the nippers. To handle the nip-
pers rapidly and safely is quite an art, and reminds
one of playing at jack-straws. But as the required
skill will soon come with practice, I will say no more
here, than that you should be careful at first not to
touch the live ones with the nippers, and by all means
not to bruise them by any pressure from above. In
time you will learn to hit the live ones, while picking
out, without hurting them. But till you have acquired
this knack, you should be on your guard.

As it is only the unimpregnated eggs that die (except
by accident), the amount of the work of examining
the eggs depends almost wholly on the percentage of
impregnation. This is obvious. If one hundred per
cent were impregnated, there would be none to pick
out, and the work would be nothing. If ninety nine
per cent were impregnated, the work would be very
slight. But if not more than fifty per cent were

HATCHING THE EGGS.

135

good, then the work would be increased fifty-fold
The difference in the labor would be very great as
this little estimate will show. Suppose half a million
eggs are taken, and fifty per cent are empty. It takes
about a minute to pick out twenty eggs ; then to pick
out fifty per cent of five hundred thousand would take
over tvvehe thousand minutes, or two hundred hours
or twenty days of ten hours each.

It is therefore very desirable to get a large percentacre
of mipregnated eggs, if only on account of the work
It saves, as well as for weightier reasons.

During the first few days after the eggs are placed
there will not be many white ones to pick out, unless
they have been injured in being taken. You must
not be elated at this, for it is no sign that the un-
changed eggs are all good, or nearly so, for the empty
ones will not turn w]^,ite to any extent for two or three
weeks, or more, and some will not die till all the -ood
ones are hatched. But you are no better off for it
On the contrary, I think I have noticed that the better
the impregnation of any lot, the sooner the empty ones
of that lot died ; probably because the eggs were riper
I'heir turn will come, ho'.vever, to all the bad e-gs •
and when the time fairly sets in for them to die, Then
the work will begin in .'arnest, and unless you have a
small stock or a very good impregnation, there will be
work of no trifling character. To stand or sit in the
damp, unwarmed hatching house for a long time in mid-
winter at this still work, is in our northern latitudes a
severe task, and trying to the hardiest constitution.
It IS to be hoped, however, that my readers will have

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DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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few empty eggs, and a large stove near by, to warm
themselves at.

The method of procedure in the daily examination
of the eggs is, as before remarked, very much like
playing at jack-straws. You begin first with the loose
and uppermost eggs, then set more free by agitating
the water with the feather, then pick out the loose ones
again, then agitate the pile once more, and so on, till
they have all been spread and all picked out in that lot.
Leaving these evenly distributed, you pass on to the
next, keeping account of the number you pick out,
so as to know how many are left, and so on till all
are examined. Strange as it may seem, this work,
after all, has a certain charm about it, especially when
you think what a vast wealth of life moves under the
touch of your feather ; and it, moreover, affords an
excellent opportunity for quiet reflection, so that if
you can pick over the eggs without suffering too
much from the cold, it is not so unpleasant a task as
it seemed before you began it.

The progress of the eggs in hatching will be watched
with the liveliest interest. The simplest way to ex-
amine their progress minutely is to take out two or
three eggs, and j^lace them in a homoeopathic phial filled
with water. Hold the phial horizontally towards the
light and above the eye. The contents of the eggs
then become clearly visible, and can be examined at
leisure, and a magnifying lens applied if desired. This
is Seth Green's method.

Another way is to take a small pane of window-glass,
and, by fastening narrow wooden sides to it, make a

'A

HATCHING THE EGGS.

13;

shallow box with a glass bottom. Pour in a little water,
and put the eggs to be examined in the water ; then
by looking from above or below, but especially from
below, you can see very distinctly what is inside the
egg. This method obviates the distortion sometimes
produced by refraction in the homoeopathic pliial.

You will soon be very anxious to ascertain how
large a percentage of the eggs is impregnated.

It has been usually thought that the impregnated
eggs could not be told from the empty ones previous
to the formation of the embryotic line, which is the
spine of the fish, and which appears when about one
third of the period of incubation * is accomplished.
This, however, is not strictly true, because there is
a period, within forty-eight hours of the taking of the
eggs, when the good eggs can be distinguished from
the worthless ones. The distinction is this, that in
the unimpregnated eggs a small annular disk, with
a much smaller round dot in the centre, will be seen
at the top of the egg, and will remain there until
the eggs turn white, while in the impregnated egg
the disk wil' disappear within twenty-four hours.
The eggs, then, which after the first day present the
disk, are unimpregnated. Those in which the disk is
not visible are impregnated. The explanation of this
is as follows.

* The word "incubation" from in and mho, "to sit on,"
has been used in reference to the hatching of Ijird's eggs by
steam, and seems to be equally allowable in this application for
the hatching of fish eggs. There is no sitting upon the eggs in
either case.

138

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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At the end of a few hours, more or less, according to
the temperature of tlie water, the germ of the egg rises
to the top in both the fertilized and the unfertihzed
egg, which look exactly alike. The germ in the un-
fertilized egg, however, undergoes no change whatever
from this time, while in the fertilized egg a process soon
begins which is called by the French embryologists
'' sillonnemeut;' or furrowing, and by English writers
"segmentation." This process begins bv the sinkinir
of a deep furrow tin-ough the centre of the germ, divid-
ing it into two equal parts. This is followed by an-
other, bisecting the first, and another and another, until
the subdivisions have been continued indefinitely, when
the germ again presents nearly the same appearance
as at first. While this '' sillonncment,'' or segmenta-
tion, is going on, the original disk formed by the germ
in the impregnated ^gg disappears, and cannot be
seen at all, thus distinguishing it plainly from the un-
inipregnated egg, which still presents the germ disk as
clearly as ever. Therefore at this period the unim-
pregnated eggs can be told from the impregnated
ones by the one presenting the distinct germ disk,
while the other shows no trace of it.

The percentage of impregnated eggs can now be
told approximately ; but as the light must be favorable
in order to tell which eggs have the germ disk visible
and which have not, and as it is not a good plan to
handle the eggs too much at this stage, it is perhaps
(juite as well to be patient and wait till the tissues of
the fish are firm enough to allow the egg to be han-
dled, and the clearly marked eye si)ots leave no doubt

HATCHING THE EGGS.

139

as to which eggs are impregnated and which are not,
before attempting to decide with much exactness on
the percentage of impregnation.

As remarked above, a fine dark line near tlie mid-
dle of the impregnated e^rg will be observed, on close
examination, about the end of the first third of tlie
hatching period. Soon the whole form of the fish will
become cloudily apparent, and then the black eye-
spots will appear, first one and then both. Now is the
best time to tell what proportion of the eggs are im-
pregnated. Vou can form some estimate, j^erhaps, be-
. fore, by taking out a few in the phial, say ten, and
countmg the impregnated ones in it. If, for instance,
nme are visible, then you infer that ninety per cent are
good. But this method is very deceptive, and can-
not be relied upon, both because the number is too
small to base an estimate on, and also because the
specific gravity of the empty ones being a little I'ss
than that of the full ones, it sometimes happens that
a twirl of the feather will throw the empty ones
together in a hole, and the impregnated ones toc^ether
in another pile, on the mechanical principle which
leaves sand, marl, and vegetable matter in a brook in
different spots by themselves. In taking out three or
four in a phial for examination, you may happen to hit
upon one of these piles or the other, and so get a
deceptive sample of the eggs in general.

l^he best way to get the ratio of the good to the
worthless ones is to take out several hundreds or a
thousand after the eye-spots show plainly, and pick
out the empty ones. Count both, and add its propor-

Ill'

ill

ilil

,' if

w;

h

U 'ill

■II'

hi

B

140

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

tion of previously removed eggs to the number of
empty ones, and you get at the proportion of impreg-
nated eggs. This, however, only answers for the par-
ticular box from which these were taken. To obtain
the percentage of the whole season's yield, this opera-
tion must be repeated with each box or compartment.
It will be well to observe here, also, that it is a good
plan, as soon as the impregnated eggs are unmistaka-
bly distinguishable from the empty ones, to take them
all out into pans, and remove all the empty ones
before replacing them in the hatching-boxes. The
work of picking over will be done much easier and
quicker this way, and it has this great advantage,
that it is done once for all, and you are for the rest
of the season relieved of the burden of care which
the daily necessity of removing the empty ones in-
volves.

The time required for hatching depends chiefly on
the temperature of the water. Seth Green's rule is
that at 50° Fahrenheit trout eggs will hatch out in
fifty days, and every degree warmer or colder makes
five days' difference in time ; warmer w.iter shortening
the period, and colder water lengthening it. Green
also says, that if the fish are hatched in fifty days, the
yolk sac remains thirty more. If in seventy days, the
sac remains forty-five days.

11! I

HATCHING THE EGGS. I4I

Mr. Stephen H. Ainsworth's table is as follows : —

Average tem-
perature of
water.

O
37

38i

39

40^

41

42J

43*

44

45^

48
50
52

Appearance
of spawn as

fig-3-

No. of days to \f°- o^.days to

first formation !'^^'''"'^"''"°^
of trout. eyes and red

blood.

43
29

28
27
21
19
17
16

15

13
II

10

8

7
as fig. 7.

81
64
62

54
49

42

37

34

31
29

26

23
18

15
as fig. 12.

No. of days to
liatciiing.

165

135
121

109

96
89
81

73
65
56
47
38
32

No. of days
after hatching
to feeding.

77
Co

46

30

Although results somewhat varying from these fig-
ures will be obtained in different waters, they may,
nevertheless, be regarded as a safe guide in general.
I will only add that in my own experience I have
found that the yolk sac requires more time for its
absorption in proportion to the time of incubation ; I
should say quite a third more.

As the development of the embryo advances, the
care of the eggs will become more and more inter-
esting. They will, however, lose their bright crys-
talline look, as they lie in the water, and will assume,
collectively, a dull brownish hue; but when exam-
ined separately, it will be seen that this does not

142

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

l!i:

HY

arise from any unHivorable change, but from the
embryo lliickcning and darkening in the shell. This
(level()])ment and the filiing up of the shell with
the embryo proceeds rai)idly till about the same
time has elapsed that was required for the eye-spots
to appear, when the whole figure of the fish, thick
and black and fully formed, wdl be seen, usually
lying quiet and motionless, but occasionally stirring
with a little spasmodic leap or wriggle. The time of
their release is now near at hand, and you may expect
to find a newly hatched trout or two 'in your earlier
hatching boxes any day.*

An inexperienced person might suppose that all
trout eggs will produce fish that are just alike when
hatched. ]5ut this is very hr from the fict. 'i'here
is just as much difference in a brood of newly hatched
trout as there is between the brawniest and puniest
of a litter of pigs or brood of chickens. Some will
be large, strong, and fiill of vigor; others will be
small, weak, and inactive. It is a desirable thing to
be able to know how to tell a lot of eggs that will
produce good fish from a lot that will produce poor
fish, and it is very easy to learn. If (he eml)ryo in
the egg is seen to be dark, firm, thick, clearly tlefined,

* As you will piohahly want to procure specimens of eggs
and fish at (liffcrent stages of growth, it is a good plan^to
have a set of houufpathic phials in readiness, and some alcohol
One part alcohol to three parts water is a good jMeserving
mi.xture at this stage. This mixture will congeal, hut will ncit
expand in congealing sufficiently to burst the bottles. More
alcohol with the water will destroy the delicate tissue of the
embryo.

i

Kfcii

W.i

HATCHING THE KGGS.

143

and heavy-looking, and hatches late, the egg will pro-
duce a healthy, hardy, broad-shouldered trout, and a
good feeder. If the embryo is seen to be thin, light,
transparent, and hatches before its time, it will pro-
duce a puny, weakly, thin-bodied fish, and a poor eater,
which has not five chances in a hundred of grow-
ing ui).

Do not lie anxious to have your eggs hatch early.
If they hatch before their time, it is a bad sign. If
the embryo remains long in the shell after forming^
and hatches late, it is a good sign. Que sure con-
sequence and indication of the presence of fungus is
the premature hatching of the egg, before tlie embryo
has become well hardened within the shell. Beware
of eggs that promise to hatch too early, for they are
very likely to be fungussy ; and out of a thousand fun-
gussy eggs it is an even chance if one embryo lives a
year.

The microscopic changes in the eggs from day to
day are presented in the accompanying drawings by
Professor Agassiz.

15

■I

I

'i ^

' 1

I. , t :

::

144

DOMESTICATED TKOUT.

HATCHING THE EGGS.

MS

These plates represent eggs of the Core^i^nus pahra in differ-
ent sta.ncs of their growth, as seen under a powerful magnifier.

No. 15 represents a spoiled cyg.

No. 20. Tile enihryo ten days old.

No. J.?. Front view of embryo eighteen days old.

No. 99. An egg two days after impregnation.

No. 101. Appearance of first furrow second day after impreg-
nation.

No. 102. An egg showing development of furr-jws.

No 107. Mulberry form of the embryo.

N. loy. iMubryunic germ immediately after the disappearance
of the furrows.

No. 125. Trojoction of the embryo prepared with acid, 8th day.

No. 133. Projection of embryo prepared with acid, 17th nay.

The letters denote as follows : —

a Shelly membrane ; l> Y(jlk ; c Germinal vesicle : d Volk globules ; t Oil
drops ;/ Albumen ; g Volk membrane ; h Yolk vesicle ; / Head of the em-
bryo ; j Yoik cavity; k Trunk of embryo: / 'I'ail ; m Dorsal keel; « Dor-
sal fur ow : o Ocular lobes ; / Dorsal cord ; q Vertebral divisions ; r Sheath
of dors..: cord ; i' Cephalic bow; / Nuchal bow ; u Trunclial bow ; v Epider-
moidal stratum ; .r I'rocencephalon ; y Mesencephalon ; z Epencephalon.

As too much caution cannot be observed in trout
culture, I hope the reader will pardon my repeating
here the cautions already given : —

To keep the covers down carefully ;

To change the filters when dirty ;

To take out every dead egg once in twenty-four
hours ;

To use the watering-pot freely, if sediment settles
on the eggs ;*

To guard everywhere against fungus.

Transportation and Packing of the Eggs.

Transportation of the eggs. No one need have any
fear about being able to transport trout eggs safely.

* See page 68.

m

146

DOMMSTKJATKI) 'INOUT.

I hey have been sent to Knglan.l and California with-
out loss, and salmon e^ffs shipped from Kngland have
reached Australia alive. I have sent e^.s to Kansas
and K urope safely, and one hundred and seventy thou-
sand salmon eggs from the writer's Salmon-Iireeding
Kstabhshment on the Mirimichi came eight miles by
private conveyance, one hundred miles by sta-e one
hundred miles by rail, two hundred miles by streamer
across the city of Ibston by wagon, and one hundred'
and twenty more miles by rail b.f.,re reaching their
destination, where they were found, on opening, to be
III good condition. Indeed, when trout and salmon
eggs are carefully packed, thev are about as sale in
the moss which encloses ihein as they are in the
hatching boxes, and the only risk to which they are
exposed in transportation is rough handling ; and I
have observed that they will stand a good deal of
that. A few, say a dozen in a thousand, will perhaps
die on the way ; but excepting these, they will, as a
rule, arrive at their destination unhurt. Injurv to
any greater extent is the exception.

On the tag or label which accompanies them should
always be distinctly written,—
That they are fish c<z2S :
That they should be handled carefully ;
That they should be kept in a cool place ;
That concussion will kill them ;
That they must not be allowed to freeze.
Packing the eggs. It is a sort of paradoxical fact
that fish eggs do not require much water for hatching,
but, relatively, plenty .1 air. Consequently, when

3.
I

WW"-''

HATCHING THE EGGS.

H7

packed in wet

moss, the conditions of hatchin<r a

supplied, n.iniely, a little moisture and plenty of
air. Moss is at the same time so soft that it will not
bruise the eggs. Hence, wet moss is just the thing
to pack tish eggs in. The moss containing the e^-s

111" &C>

can be packed ;n anything which admits air and is
not injured by moisture.

For packing in large quantities, a basket answers very
well. Fish eggs have sometimes been sent in small
quantities in a perforated percussion-cap box, and in tin
snuff-boxes. If sent by express without an attendant,
the basket or box containing them should be packed
m a still larger basket or box, containing hay or
shavmgs or sawdust, to soften the force of accidental
concussions, and to keep the temperature of the ecrcrs
equable. ''^

The usual way in practice to pack the trout eggs for
transportation, with small quantities, is that adopted
by Seth Green, which is to pack them in circular tin
boxes, not over three or four inches in depth,* with a
* A circular tin box 6 inches in diameter and 4 inches deep is
supposed to be able to hold about 5,000 eggs ; but the best way

i!

I

■i

148

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

perforated bottom to let the air in, and to pack the
boxes themselves in a tin pail, somewhat larger, and

to fill in with sawdust.
This is a simple, com-
pact, and safe way, and
is the best now known,
unless it is Mr. \Vil
mot's method.* The
packing of the eggs in
moss should be done
as follows : Till a large
pan, a little deeper than
the packing-box, with
water. Make a bed of
moss about half an inch
deep on the bottom of
the box, and sink the

Wllniot's Packing-Box. i • ^i c .

box m the pan of water.
The bottom layer should be a single bunch of some
kind of the finer common mosses, which are found
almost anywhere in the woods. The subsequent lay-
ers should be the damp rank moss which grows in
swamps, and is known by the name of Sphagnum.
Then take the required number of eggs from the

is not to have any rule about it. Make your tin boxes to match
the size of the pails in which they arc packed.

* Mr Wilmot's method of packing fish eggs is a very excellent
one. His appr.ratus consists of a cylindrical can of tin, say fifteen
inches in diameter, having two walls rr sides, one within the
other, on the refrigerator principle. The annular space between
the two walls is filled with sawdust, to preserve an even tempera-
ture within. The cylindrical space enclosed by the inner wall is

hi .

1* .-■ i

HATCHING THE EGGS.

149

hatching-troughs,* and pour one layer evenly over the
nioss.t This can be done with a spoon, or still better,
])erhaps, as Green suggests, with a ladle, the mouth
ol the ladle in pouring being made to rest on the rim
of the box under \/ater,:{: so that the eggs will not
come to the air at all.

One layer of eggs having been placed, put in anoth-
er thin layer of moss. This layer, as also the others

filled with shallow circular trays about an inch deep, all of the
same size, resting one upon another, an'^ of a sufficient diameter
to ht nicely to the inner wall of the can. Each one of these shallow
trays or pans has a circular hole through the centre to admit a
movable iron rod, which runs from the top of the can to the bot-
tom of the last pan, to which it is fastened. The eggs are packed
in moss in the shallow pans, and each pan as i"t is packed is
strung on to the perpendicular rod, as beads are strung on a
string. The first one, of course, going to the bottom of the can,
the next resting on it, and so on till the top of the can is reached.
The upi)er end of the rod now serves as a handle, bv which all
or any number of the jians can be raised at once out of the can,
and by unstringing the pans, so to speak, each one with its con-
tents can be examined.

* Any strainer of convenient shape will do to take out the
eggs with. If they are much scattered, first collect them to-
gether in a heap with the feather. A skilful person will take
them out safely with a large table-spoon.

t Theodore Lyman recommends placing each laver of e-crs in
a fold of mosquito-netting, to keep them from mi'xing wiu" the
moss, and so facilitate the unpacking of them. Thh is a ^reat
uuprovemcnt. By all means use the tnosquilo nMng. Stationary
racks are also sometimes placed above each layer to catch the
pressure of the supervening eggs and moss.

} All moving of eggs should be done under water when prac-
ticable. '

I

150

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

succeeding it, should be carefully picked over, and
all grass and roots removed, so as to make as soft
and delicate a packing as possible.

After the second layer of moss, place another layer
of eggs, and so on, alternating till the box is filled,
taking care to keep the box and to conduct all the
operations under water, for it should be always borne
in mind, when fish eggs are moved, that the secret of
moving them correctly is to keep the eggs in the
ivafcr, where, of course, they ought to be.

After the top layer of moss is placed, take the box
of moss and eggs out of the pan, and set it where the
superfluous water will drip out through the perforated
bottom. If the moss settles much with the escape of
the water, fill up to the top again with moss. Then,
when the cover is soldered on in one or two places,
to prevent displacement, it is ready to be packed in
the pail of sawdust, the cover to which should be kept
in its place by being well wired down. When the
label is fastened on, the eggs are ready to be sent off.

■

\

W - '

it* i f

CHAPTER III.

CARE OF ALEVINS* OR TROUT FRY WITH TUF
YOLK SAC ATTACHED.

SOME morning when you go to the hatching boxes
with the nippers to look over the eggs, you will see
a long, thin, dark object, like a little splinter of wood,
lying among the eggs, which you will perhaps attempt
to remove with the nippers, wondering how it came
there in the night. The first touch of the nippers will
show it to be a living creature, and you will experi-
ence, if you are a beginner, the exquisite sensation of
knowing that your first trout has hatched. Soon
others will follow, only one or two to the thousand at
first, then more, till the hatching period reaches its
culmination, when the eggs will hatch in great quanti-
ties daily, after which the number will decline again
at very nearly an im-erse ratio of progression." A
warm rain will accelerate the hatching very much, as
it does every other process of trout-life. More, per-

* I am aware that this French word, "alcvin," means young
fry ; but as there is no distinctive English word to designate a fish
during the period of the absorption of the yolk sac, and as the
word has been employed by at least one English writer (Francis,
Fish Culture, p. 99) in the present application, though not, I
believe, by American writers, I take the liberty to use it in this
treatise to distinguish the trout fry with the yolk sac attached.

152

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

i i'

I i

I

haps, will hatch in one clay, during a warm rain, than
in the three subsequent days.

The newly hatched fish are about half an inch in
length. The yolk of the egg is still attached to them,
from which they are nourished by absorption till it is
all gone and they begin to feed. The period of ale-
vin life is about two thirds or three fou'-ths the length
of the period of incubation.

Its duration, like that of the egg period, depends on
the temperature of the water, and it often happens, in
water of a fiilling temperature, that the yolk-sac period
lasts longer than it took the eggs to hatch.

On the contrary, with eggs hatched late in the
spring, as in the natu.al brooks, with a rising tempera-
ture, the yolk sac remains on a very short period com-
pared with the hatching of the eggs, — probably in
some instances not one quarter of the time.

During the period while the young fish are breaking
the shell, the bottom of the troughs becomes quite un-
clean from the collecting of cast-off shells and other
causes, and it is a good plan to use the watering-pot
freely at this time ; and as soon as it can be done
without injury to the young fish, the bed of the troughs
should be covered over with a layer of fresh clean
gravel.

The alevins lie quite still the greater part of the time
at first, sometimes on their sides, sometimes flat on the
sac. Occasionally they vary the monotony of this quiet
life by aimless sallies of a few inches through the water,
apparently in great excitement, but with no particular
goal in view. The exertion will soon bring them to

i

CARE OF ALEVINS.

153

the ground again quite out of breath, with their little
hearts beating very fast, as is not surprising, considei-
ing their age, and that they carry about a burden
twice the bulk of their bodies proper. They require
no watching nor care of any kind for the first few days.
They do not try to get away, they do not require to be
fed, and if the hatching apparatus is well arranged, and
throws a good supply of water over them, ve;y few
will die. Indeed, the yolk-sac period is one of the
healthiest of the trout's early life.

They seem at first to be possessed of no particular
instincts, but lie still near the spot where they were
born, and do nothing. 'I'his, however, lasts only a few
days.* They are soon seized, sometimes very sud-

* The following notes are taken fiom the writer's diary, Janu-
ary, 1869.

The embryos observed, were hatched from salmon eggs
brought from the Mirimichi River. They were kept in a warm
room, at a temperature that would probably make one day an
equivalent of two or three days in the hatcl.ng trough at 41;^

First day. Eggs hatehed to-day. Young f^sh cjuite vigorous.
Yolk sac plump and full. Body proper, thin, and delicate, and
with cloudy outline.

Second day. Change very slight. Outline a little more distinct.
Body darker. Sac not quite so plump.

Third day Changes of yesterday slightly intensified. Beating
of the heart very percejnible. Main artery distinctly seen.

Fourth day Form of yolk sac decidedly changed. ' Body firm-
er and darker. Eyes very clear. Motion of fins quite per-
ceptible.

Fifth day. Fish much livelier. A new movement of the tail
observed.

Sixth day. Yolk -ac very considerably changed, and contract-
ing towards a point at the lower end. ' Othe^r blood passages
clearly perceptible.

154

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

*f! i '

(leiily, with i singular and irresistible instinct to hide
under something. If they do not find anything in the
troughs to get beneath, they all try to hide under each
other.

From this moment they are never at rest day nor
night, but, gathering together in large bodies, will seek
some dark corner, and pass their whole existence in
one incessant and inetfectual struggle to get under
each other and out of sight. In this struggle they
crowd together in swarms, like bees. 1 have often seen
a solid V rithing mass of them, over half an inch deep,
which could almost be covered with the hand, and
which could not have numbered less ihan ten thou-
sand*

This instinct to hide is so strong that they will
dive head first, with all their might, into the gravel,
and insinuate themselves into holes and chinks where
you would think it impossible for anything to get,
and where sometimes they can never get out again.
Tiien woe to the little creatures if there are chinks

■

Seventh day. Bodies acquiring decidedly more solidity. Sac
more pointed.

Eii:;hih day. Fish decidedly harder, darker, and firmer fleshed.
The herding-together instinct shows itself for the first time to-
day.

* It has been thought by some that this crowding together is
hmtfiil, but I never knew a single fish to be injured by it, though
I have sometimes turned more than twenty thousand in together
at this stage. Contrary to some authorities, T keep the alevins
in shallow water and a strong rip])le. It tiiey were in deep water
with a slow current, I think there might be danger of injury from
excessive crowding.

1 ■* !

Si; i :

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CARE OF ALEVINS.

155

or holes in the hatching troughs wliere they can so
entrap tliemselves, for they will certainly do it.
The instinct is so ceaseless that it seems to drive
them on farther and farther, without any thought
of turning back. I have seen a thousand at a time
white and dead with suffocation under a pane of
glass in the hatching trough, whither this instinct had
pushed them on and on to this fatal termination.
Here arises a serious objection to the use of hatching
troughs with uncemented glass linings. The glass
prevents the growth of fungus to some extent, it is true,
but there is always danger of the alevins getting un-
der the glass and becoming suffocated, as in the case
just mentioned ; and so invincible is their instinct to
do this, that they wiU constantly try to return under
the glass, even when they are just taken out white and
almost dead with suffocation. If, however, the reader
should happen to use loose glass linings, or any lining
or hatcliing bed of any kind which the young crea-
tures can get behind or under, he is here cautioned to
examine every day, and see if any are hidden in dan-
gerous places, and, if so, to liberate them at once It
is true that after the eggs are all hatched the linings
can be taken out, but as this is so difficult to do, with-
out burying some of the fish under the gravel, and as
it also releases the fungus behind the glass upon the
young trout, the remedy is almost as bad as the dis-
ease ; and besides this, it is no remedy at all for the
earlier-hatched alevins, which must necessarily be ex-
posed to the danger some time before the glass is
ready to be taken out.

156

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

And while the patent charcoal troughs* can be had,
it is not necessary. This irresistible instinct, which
drives the alevins past all obstacles to secure a hiding-
place, does not seem surprising, when we reflect that
it is the only instinct, as well as the only means of
self-preservation, which these very clumsy and perfectly
helpless creatures have to protect themselves against
their myriads of enemies.

Up to the time when the first half of the yolk-.^ac
period is passed, there is not much danger of loss,
except from the little creatures' getting suffocated as
just described, because they remain at or near the
spot where they were born, and do not roam about
much. But after the first half of this stage is over, a
new instinct makes its appearance, and it is accom-
panied with a new danger, which is both alarming and
insidious. This second instinct of the trout is to fol-
low a current of water wherever they can find it ;
usually, but not always, following the current up
stream, and diving into any corners, however small,
where their delicate perceptions detect the entrance
or exit of a current of water. Then woe to the trout
breeder if his troughs are not perfectly tight ! for if
there is a loose joint in the box, or a nail-hole or aper-
ture under or about the screen where water comes in
or out, these little creatures will be sure to find it,
and one by one will go through it in thousands, even
if the crevice is not much larger than would admit a
snow-flake. If a beginner were told how small a
crevice a six weeks' trout will go through, and has
gone through, he would say it was simply incredible.

* See page 274.

CARE OF ALEVINS.

157

f

Great vigilance is now required ; and wherever there
is a suspected place, a fine wire screen should be
placed below it to catch any that escape. I once
noticed a drop or two of water trickling from the head
of one of my hatching troughs, and immediately placed
a large screen under it. ^I'wo days afterwards 1 found
nearly a thousand young trout on the screen, altliough
I did not then, and could never afterwards, discover any
hole for them to get through. The wire netting at the
regular outlet should also be particularly watched, as
the constant cleaning of the screen wears out the wire,
and may make a fracture in it before it is suspected.

The trout at this age are the incarnation of perver-
sity. They will go just the opposite wny from which
you want to have them, and if there is any place where
you do not want them to go, they will be sure to col-
lect in it in vast numbers, and when you try to drive
them away they will dive their heads into the gravel
and stick to the spot with a truly wonderful tenacity ;
or if you succeed in forcing them off a little way, they
will return with redoubled momentum, and charge
again and again, with a persistency which is as sur-
prising as it is annoying. As the tissue of their struc-
ture is such an exceedingly delicate one that they can-
not be pushed forcibly, even with a feather, they would
be very difficult to manage if you wished to have them
leave any particular spot where they had gathered,
were it not for the knowledge of one instinct that they
have. This instinct is to avoid agitated water. They
have a great dislike to troubled waters, and will usually
leave with one accord any spot where the water is

'/i\

J nil

158

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

14

ft

It i I i

violcMUly disturl)ed, and if they have had a good stirring
up will not gcncmlly rclurn to it soon again, rhcrctbre,
when you wish to dri.., clieni out of a hole or corner,
agitate the water violently with a feather, or, better
yet, dip up a few cups of water and pour into the
corner from a little height above. 'I'he effect will b*'
magical, in a few moments the place which it miglv
have taken half an hour to clear otherwise will be
willingly deserted.

Though so very frail at this stage, the alevins will
stand the cold wonderfully. I have frozen them sev-
eral times so tliat ihey were glued tight on to the ice
and coukl not stir, and in most instances it did not
seem to hurt them at all. I have taken pains to keep
these "frozen thaws" by themselves, where th-ey could
be watched for some week,^ afterwards. In some in-
stances they appeared as well as any trout of their aw.
and showed no signs of being injured by the freezing.

If, however, they are frightened while they are
freezing in or thawing out, they will, in trying to
extricate themselves from their icy fetters, tear them-
selves so that they will afterwards die.

Alevins will ilso live a long while without change
or aeration of the water, if the temperature is low.
A hundred young alevins will live a day or two in a
gill of water at 34°, incredible as it seems. This is
consequently a very favorable time to transport them.
As they can stand the cold, you can, by reducing the
water to a very low temperature with ice, send them a
great distance in small bulk without change or aeration
of water.

CARE OF A LEVINS.

159

The alevins are also very hardy, as respects general
causes of sickness or injury in their everyday hfe.
If you have run a gooc' ripi^le of water over the egi^s
when hatching, and have kc\){ it up with the young fish
after hatching, your loss in the yolk-sac stage will be
very slight indeed, sometimes almosi nothing.

A few will die in the act of emct ing from tlie sliell,
and some will have what, for want of a better name,
might be called the />//h' sn'r/Z/'u:;* which is fatal ; but
with these excei)tions you will lose very few indeed
from disease during the yolk-sac period.

Some will be born with curved spines, or with two
heads or two vertebral columns, but they are likely to
live until the feeding period. Tt may be well to add
here, that now is the time to c>*llect any monstrosities
that you may wish to preserve in spirits, such as
double-headed fish, double-bodied fish, and the like.
The perfectly formed fish are the most beautiful
and most curiously formed in reality; but you will
probal 1y w;int to preserve some of the misshapen
freaks of nature, nevertheless, and now is the time to
do it. In this instance there is no cruelty in it, as
these deformed creatures woul all die a lingering
death before long, if left to them Ives. I never knew
any of the misshapen fish to grow up, except those
whose spines, after a curve or apparent joint, ns//me,
or learly resume, the original line of the vertebra.
These w , sometimt grow up and do well, even
where there are two deflections or joints in the b -k.
I sent one of that description to market year before

* Green calls it the " dropsy."

I

•■spr"'^-'

i6o

DOMESTIC ATI'I) TROUT.

I i!i

last that was three years old, whieh, froni haviiifr a
(lark skin and a crook in his back, my friends had
nicknamed the " Black Crook."

The alevin stage is, on the whole, the easiest time
for the trout breeder of the trout's whole life ; and if
everything is right at the outset wlien the eggs hatch,
the alevins will be almost no trouble at all.

At this stage there are no eggs to pick over, no
mouths to feed, not much care as to the amount qF
water supply, and none of the anxiety about their lives
which comes a little later. This rest in the cares
and labors of the trout raiser, however, is only the lull
before the storm. No sooner is this stage over, and
the trout get well to feeding, than work and danger
begin again, as will be seen in the next chapter.

f

Ir

m

I:

CHAPTER IV.

RKARINC I'm; VOUXC; FRY.

Section I. — I'rooress of thk Youxo Fry, and
(Ienkrai, Dirkltions.

WI*: have now come to the most pcrijlexin-,^ and
the most inscrutable of all the branches of trout
raising, namely, growing the young fry. Mow to hatch
the eggs, which would hatch themselves if simply let
alone by their enemies, was a problem comparatively
easy in its solution, although this was a grand achieve-
ment at first, and reflects great credit on those who
pioneered it through, the more because it was suc-
cess in hatching the eggs that first popularized the
art of fish culture and laid the foundations of the
present wide-spread interest in it. But to make the
young trout live, which have equally delicate and more
complex organizations than the eggs, to find them the
food which is wholesome for them, while it is wholly
artificial, to anticipate wants which are not even
known, to discover derangements of organs, when
the organs themselves are microscopic, and to avert
diseases without a glimpse of their causes, — in short,
to make creatures live, so frail that a touch will almost

kdl them, and that seem to die without a cause, this

was a field of study apparently so obscure and intan-
gible that it presented great difficulties.

N|

162

DOMESTICATF.n TKOUT,

Here the triumi)hant skill whieh hatched the eggs
successfully was baffled ; and it seemed tor a time
as if the wonderful art which had ])roniise(l so much
was to come to a stand-still at this gulf between the
eggs and the yearling trout, a gulf which seemed as if
it could not be bridged.

Those who made the earliest practical experiments
in this country will undoubtedly recall, wiih me, the
anxiety which was at one time felt lest the difficulties
of bridging this chasm would prove insurmountable.
This task has, happily, now been performed. Rearing
young trout is no longer a problematical thing, it is a
fait acco)upH.

The question is not now, Can young trout be raised ?
but How many can do it, and uiuler what circum-
stances can it be done successfully?

As the yolk sac wears off, the dense masses of little
alevins begin to separate, and assume a more indi-
vidual existence. They seek to avoid, rather than
to crowd, one another, and their fuis being dfxcloped
sufficiently, they can now rise and balance them-
selves in the water. The awkward, unwicldv body
has acquired the graceful, symmetrical foini of a fish,
and each individual, taking a place for himself, heads
vigorously up stream, and soon shows by his move-
ments that he is on the lookout for food.

I have noticed that it is almost always a m'tter of
anxiety to beginners how they will know when it is
time to begin to feed the young fry. This anxiety is
wholly unnecessary, because when the trout are ready
to feed, they will let you know it plainly enough by
taking the food which you offer them.

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

163

You need not give yourself any trouble about the
matter, til! you see them all up in the water, balancing
themselves nicely, and heading bravely against the
current. If you now throw in a little food, or any
fine particles, indeed, of anything whatever, they will,
if they are ready to eat, instantly turn out of line to
seize the particles floating by them.

If they do this, you may know that it is time to
feed them. If they pay no attention to what they
see m the water, let them go for that day, and try
them again the next, and so on, till they leave their
i)laces to snatch it, and from that time feed them reg-
ularly every day. Once will be enough tlie first day,
twice the second, and, after that, four times a day for
two months. From this time they should be fed two
or three times daily until cold weather.* I think the
best food for them at first is liver, and curd made
from sour milk, mixed in about equal proportions,
or. still better, with two parts liver and one part curd'
The young fish at this age, as may be sui)posed, can
take only the finest particles of food. The curd
therefore, should be made as fine grained and moist
as possible. The liver should ;,!so be reduced to the
smallest possible particles. This is accomplished in
various ways, but the way that I have found the most
satisfactory and the most expeditious is to grate the
liver on a common tin lemon-grater or chee^e-grator.
Vou must be careful to have the holes small enouo-h
* Young living perch and suckers would probably make the
best possible food for very young trout fry, and could be obtained
Ml vast quantities. See Ai.pendix IX.

'fi[l

1 64

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

11^

m

I; :f

,' i I

i

at first to admit only very fine particles; they shouM
not be over one tenth of an inch in diameter.

The prater should be placed horizontally on a piece
of board or marble slab, and the liver grated on it ;
what goes through will for the most i)art be fine
enough for the fish to eat. There are other ways of
preparing the livei, I am aware ; but you can prepare
as much this way in ten minutes, as by any other
metliod that I know of in half an hour. It was for-
merly ihou'iht best to feed the liver and curd to the
fish through a small fine screen, so that no i)articles
should fill to the bottom and remain unconsumed
because of being too large, but since the discovery
of the use of earth in absorbing the foul matter col-
lecting on the bottom this precaution is unnecessary ;
still there is no objection to it, except that it is not
so simple and makes more work.

The method of feeding adopted at the Cold Spring
Trout Ponds is to mix the curd and prepared livei 011
a small paddle, say eighteen inches long and three
wide at tlie blade, with a common case-knife, taking
care to pulverize and separate the particles with the
knife very thoroughly. The blade is then dipped in
the water and the food moistened. It is then mixed
and ])ulverized still more with the flat blade of the
knife, very much as a glazier mixes putty, or a painter
his paint, on a pallet. When sufticiently moistened
and separated, to prevent any adhesion of the parti-
cles the paddle is again dipped in the water, and
little bv little the food is washed off, till the fish have
had enough. When you first make your appearance.

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

165

the fish, wheiher from playfuhicss or from actual fear,
will dart away and try to get out of sight, but the
I'resencc of the food in the water will soon attract
them again, and they will swarm around it from all
quarters. If you have plenty of time and patience,
and not too many fish, you can collect them all in
one or two places, by waiting for them to come up ,
but if you have a great many and need to be expedi-
tious, you will probably resort to feeding more rapidly
and in several places. You can begin feeding, if you
like, with the yolk of eggs, boiled a half-hour and
pulverized very fine. This is sometimes more con-
venieni: and accessible, when you have only a few fish,
than the liver and curd feed, and some persons con-
iinue to use the egg for several months; but this is
not recommended. It is more expensive, it makes
the worst possible corruption when it does sink to the
bottom and foul the water, and I think it is not so
wholesome or nutritious as a mixed meat and curd
diet. Liver alone answers very well, but neither egg
nor curd alone will do. It would be a great impro\x-
ment, in the way of feeding the young fry, if you could
prepare some self-acting contrivance, which would
feed out the reciuired amount of food gradually and
continually all day, as, for instance, a closed box of
hue wire netting, partly filled with food and placed
imder a fall, in such a way that the water will force
out the food, little by little, all day.* llie box should

* This idea has liecn carried into execution by Ilerr Otto
Ilammerle, an Austrian hsh culturist in Vorarlberg, who has in-
vented a feeding-niaciiine which is constructed on the principles

i

1 66

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

be macl^ so that it could be taken apart and the net-
ting thoroughly washed and cleaned every day, as

just mentioned. A cut and description of this invention, which
llerr Iliiniinerle has kindly furnished me, are herewith given : —

^elbfttlnitiiic THM-vidUiniii ^w Ts'nttmnu} t'cr SovcUen in
fiuiftlid}en 5if*5»du xHuftaltcn.

'iUi- 3?cfttHT cincr uvar flcincrcn fuiirtUchcn n-ovcUciuuitt^5lnftvilt babe
!* wiAn vcvMumt, ■i).^MtaUc^ fix^ tcututcn A-iutcvci iu-vctni? ut wcvtcn,
intt babe ncbcnbci Pic bctanntcucu iin-vtc Mci'cv ^^JlbtbctUniii Per Vautwirtt)^
Ktaft mit i^VLM'u-m ;uttn-ciTc aclcfcn, uuD actval1^tct auf ticfem (iJcbictc inbiv=
lidM't iivfabnuiacn ut 'ammcln.

t£c' atna immcv I'cbr m uitb aufmitntcrnP, bi<< i* utm ftapitcl tcv fitnft^
Ititcn i^ntttcniih) fcv ,"^-ifdH- tarn; fa bltcb i* Hm\ abcr alIrf^ tmmcr ftcrfcn;
cc* ftcUtcn tut SdMvtoriiifcitcn m, unP i* sUaubtc f*Pii ihmi bcr finiitlidHni
(Mrcf^Utd^t mcincr Mnikn abftcbcn ut niiiffcn. (£o war ini ^JlMittcv 1^7:5
- 7 », ale id^ mid^ auf Mc fommcnDc ^iAvutvcvioPe vLM-bcvcitctc, ta tarn miv
taC ncuc \[i3crf ■' nomesticatcd Trout" i>on ^ivtiiiifton 3tonc in Die .g)anb,
iiH-utcc* mi* ivicDcr cvimuUcrto mciiu-n iytfdH'n aufutbdfcn.

la i"dn-cibt a^cvv Sumic auf 3cttc !.');{ fcinco 5iH'vfci? : „(£^^ n\irc ciit
ilviM''cv ALH-n\-bvitt fiiv tic ."vuttcrunii tcr juuium Aifdntcn, cine fclbiUbatitU'
iKM■rid^tuna ut cvfintcn, mUU Dcni'clbcn Die nbtbiije 'Dfabrunij vci^elmafns^
in fleincn SwifdHnuanmen Den aanu'u laa bint^nrd^ ntfitbrcn untrDe."
Tut bcmitbte mid^ nun, Die TsDee DcvJ beriibmten amcrifanif*en Aifd>utd>tcrd
bcftnieiUi*rt uiv ^^luc^fiibvuni^ ut brinaen, unD conrtruirtc beilicaeuD pboto-
lUav^bivtc AUttcrmaf^inc. ^i?acbCcm id> nun u^ci Osabre binDur* metne
IVafdnne mit ;inM''cm ^i^ortbcile benui.ue, nnt» fie fiiv jeben ^•if*ui*ter fiir
unentbcbvlii-b fintc, nnll i* fie bicrmit utm ^}htl3en fitter ^ur allgemetnen
Menntnifj briniuni.

ric tiinrid'iunsi Dec5 "iiiauiMnd^cnc beftebt:

'Tali einem ^ii.\^ffevraMHni, nnldn-^ Die iUn'ridUunii treibt.

^J(ui? einem ^aitdicn, mUU<i Dai< Auttev (fcin ([(bait) aufnimmt. T<ii
Aiaft*cn nnrD ut \'^'^'(^ tvittbcilen mit ^iBaffcv aui^efitUt, DaC ;\-ntter {nnetn==
iienebcn nub, wdbrenb Dai< ^)}?afdnnd>en im (^^anjU' ift, vunt Dcm im iUift^en
votivcnDcn 5^1ed^riibvcr i\lctdunaFiii mit Dcm 5iViffer vermeni-(t. Xcv ©affer-
llanb im •ila|ld)en foU wcminjli* ijleidi evbaltcn b(etben ; bieo unvb mit bem

I

REARING THE YOUNG FRY. 167

Otherwise it would soon become so fou! as to be

m^m am SlaiuUn ^cn^^ct )ut cine -UMiUmc, ivclrfu' fut bur* tie
^cuHiUuu^_ fco ii^aiTcn-aDdH>i,c von ^dt ;n Jctt offnct, unb flicptbabei nm
tm i)3a„er etm... gutter a«.. nan rc.n.lirt ta. Ccfrnen ber Jllap

Self-working Macliine foi- feeding Trout.

■I

1 68

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

injurious. Such a contrivance would save a great

iiibcm man md)x obcr n>cnio;er ■Ji^iffcr auf ba<? JBaiTcvvabdjcn t'licpcu (ain,
mit bcm an bcr 'JBaffcvtcitunis Dcfint'liitcu .©alme.

Urn bac* 'Jlnbanacn von AUttcvtbcid'bcn am untcrn Ibci!c bi\^ .ftaitdvncJ
mib bci' .Ulatrc ;u vcvbittcn, >virb bunt bav? auiu-bvad^tc f>{o(n-dHm mit
-BM'a bic 'JUnlunoffnuna bcc< .Uaftdnmc bcftani^ii; atnu'iVitlt.

3nm i^^ricbc bcr ivwicn J^wttcr 2.^onid>tuni3 \\t ba^ 'fOaffcr cincr circa
^nnn He brct (icntimctcr locitcn I'ifobrc ninbii^

■r'avJ Wai\tind^cn fdl ftctv fc(n- rein iicbaltcn ivcrbcn, itnb foil baffclbc,
mc jcbc anbcrc mcd'anifd^c ■i^LUTidnuna, von 3cit i,\\ Jcit oicfdnnicrt i»cv =
ben (am bcilcn mit Sdnvcincfctt), bamit c(? (ciditcr laitft.

T)Cii 'i)l<\\<bmdKn foil UH'nn mi,>a(id>, unb tu^nu;^ (^5cfall vovbanbcn x\l,
circa brctf;;,;, (icntimctcr itbcr bcv Cbcrfladu^ bc<* SBaffcr^? bciiS 23anin<? an-
i^cbradjt wcrbcn.

SCmt^cilc bicfcr 5>orrid)tuno|:

Tia^ y^uttcrmafdMudHm Ui\n nur i^an^ wcnii^, b. 1% ba;? nbtbiiu^ (gutter,
in fu'-'cn 3citraumcn ben is-ii\tdHm ^ufcMiimcn ; bai? 3"iittcr unrb babcr voU-
itanDii^ vcru'brt, unb baburd^ bic OHfabr von iuTi^iftuniicn burd) iJcrwcfuni^
Dcr AUttcrrcfrc auf tcm Wrunbc fcbr bcbcutcnb vcrrimjcvt.

Xac* i^affin muf^ uid^t ii'^ on ijcrciniiU wcrbcn.

llJan cruclt cin rafcbcrc;? unb i^lcicbmafuiicrcc* ©ad^citbum bcr ^^-ifd^du-n.
©cnn 5. 'i^. bai? 'lifafd>in*cn aHc ^wci 'Dfinutcn cincn (Sf4i.iffc( voK J-uttcr
ben J^irduinnt utfiil^vt, fo fann man anncbmen, baf? jcbcm, auib bcm fdMX'iid^^
ftcn ^J^ifdH'bcn, (sJclCiUMibcit i^cbotcn ift, ben .?iuUsU'r >n ftiUcn.

Tae Ui^affcr, ivelcbcc* auf bac* JBaiTerrabdn-u falit unb baburd> bic ^OV"
ridUuni^ in i^cwcintuf* crbalt, ftiiru von bemfcltcn iuv? 3^^aiTin, wirb babci
voUftanbiiH ^'rtbcilt, fcbivamu'rt nd) mit i'uft, unb unrb al|> fiir bic
i^ifd^cben voruisUidn Tac? ''?}fafdundH'n ift in J^oIiU" beiTen bcfonberi? fitr
fohte ^Jlnrtalten, wcldn' nur ^Z^ucUivaiTcr baben, febr ut emvfcblen.

t'iX bic (nitterunii burd^ biefeci 'l^fafdnndn-n febr cr(ciduert unrb, To fi.ninen
'i^ifdsuittcr. wcUi^i bic juniU' 3?rut au^fclH-n \w\im, baiTclbe fo laui^e be*
nittu-n, bie bic f^clca;cnbcit ^um ''^(ucifct^cn paffcnb Ift, wai mtr fe(ir vor--
tbcilbaft crfdunnt.

Dornbirn (in JBoralbcrij, Deflcrrctd) ), im 3anuar l87r>.

Ctto dammcrle.

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

169

deal of time and trouble in feeding, and seems to be

[Translation.]

Self -^uor king Mackiiic for feeding Trout in Artificial Fish Breed-
ing Establishments,

As proprietor of a small Trout Breeding Establishment, I
have not neglected to become a member of the German Fish
Society, and Iiavc also read with great interest the celebrated
works on this branch of husbandry, and have endeavored to col-
lect all the information possible in this direction.

All was favorable and encouraging until I came to the com-
mencement of the artificial feeding of the tish, but then I came
to a standstill. Diliiculties placed themselves in my way, and I
began to think that I should be obliged to give up the propa-
gation of my trfjut. It was in the winter of 1873 and 1874, as
I was preparing myself for the coming spawning season, that I
came across the new work, " Domesticated Trout," by Livingston
Stone, which again encouraged me to succor my little fish.

On p. 153 of his work Mr. Stone writes thus : —

"It would be a great improvement in the way (jf feeding the
young fry, if you could prepare some self-acting contrivance
which would feed out the required amount of food graduallv and
continually all day."

I tried my best to carry out the ideas of the celebrated Amer-
rican fish culturist, and constructed the enclosed photographed
feediiig machine. Now, after using my machine for two years
with great advantage, and fniding it for all fish culturists indis-
pensable, I wish herewith, for the use of all, to bring it to gen-
eral notice.

The arrangement of this machine consists of a small water-
wheel which works itself.

A small box which receives the food (finely chopped) is filled
two thirds full with water, the food put in, and while the machine
is in motion efpially mixed with the water by means of a rotating
metallic stirrer. The height of the water should always remain
the sanu if possible. This is accomplished by means of the
pipe in the box 1:»y which the outflowing water can be arrested.

On the outside of the small box is a lever valve, which by

I/O

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

m.

a more natural and wholesome way than to gorge

means of the motion of the little water-wheel opens from time
to time and some of the food is given out with the water. The
opening of the valve is regulated by letting more or less water
How into the water-wheel with the faucet found on the conduit.

To guard against the adhesion of the little pieces of food to
the under part of the box and the valve, the discharging opening
should often be cleanetl with water passed through the tube.

To work the whole feeding machine a pipe from two to three
centimetres in diameter is reciuired. The machine ought to be
kept very clean, and should be lubricated from time to time, as
all mechanical contrivances should be, in order that it may run
more easily.

The machine should, if possible, and if there is enough fall
of water, be placed about thirty centimetres above the surface
of the water in the basin.

/l(k\iiif(ii^rs of this Mac /line.

The feeding machine allows but little food to come to the fish
at short intervals. The food is therefore entirely consumed, and
consequently the danger of poisoning by putrefaction of the un-
eaten food on the bottom of the basin is very greatly diminished.

The basin need not be cleaned very often.

A rapid and equally developed growth of the fish is obtained.
Since, lor ex;unpie, the little machine conveys to the fish two
table-spoonfuls o€ food every two minutes, it follows that an
opportunity is offered even tu the weakest fish to appease its
hunger.

The water which falls on the little water-wheel, and by means
oi which the machine is kept in motion, tumbles into the basin.
Thereby the water is separated and aerated, which is also of
great advantage to the fish. Thus it follows that this machine
is much to be recommended for those establishments which only
have spring water.

The fact that feeding is made much easier by this machine,
so that fish culturists can use the same until the opportunity
comes to let the young fry free, appears to me very advanta-
geous.

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

171

them at intervals of three or four hours, and keep them
in abstinence the rest of the time. When the young
fry have eaten enough is a question not easily settled,
although it has been asked very many times. I used to
think that they would not eat too much, and I cannot
now say that I ever knew of an instance of a death
caused directly by over-eating ; and, as a general thing,
I still think there is more danger of not feeding
enough, than of feeding too much. On the other
hand, overfeeding may possibly increase the liability
to disease, when the fish are very much crowded. I
do not believe that when there is plenty oi room and
water, they will ever eat enough to hurt themselves j
but when you have many confined in a small space,
I would advise the exercise of some caution about
overfeeding.

The most destructive instance of the ravages of
disease in my experience was with the best-fed irout
I ever had. The contents of two boxes, twenty thou-
sand young fry, were attacked by parasites, which
swept them all off in one week. On Monday morn-
ing they were the most robust and best-fed trout I
had ever seen of their age, and on Saturday night the
whole twenty thousand were dead. No others were
attacked. I do not know that overfeeding had any-
thing to do with the appearance of the parasites. I
only mention the coincidence for the benefit of future
observers, and would add that I think that over-
crowding the fish had m.'ch more to do with their
death than overfeeding. As a rule then, I repeat, you
need not be afraid of the young fry's eating too much.

1/2

DOMESTICATED TROU'l

t'

liiu

Their digestive organs arc wonderfully active, anu
they will digest* almost as fast as you can feed them,
and you will need a good deal of patience to iced till
they refuse to eat. I never knew any healthy young
fry of mine to decline eating but once, and then I had
them fed incessantly for two hours, at the end of
which time they gave up beaten. The young fry will
repay you well for feeiling them well, for there is
hardly any creature which shows the effects of good
feeding so quickly and strikingly as young trout. They
appear sometimes to grow, almost like tlies, on ample
allowance, and one or two gooil meals will make a
hungry young trout seem to double his bulk, and this
is not wholl) an illusion either. But although they
are not likely to eat too much, they will not only at
this age, but at all ages, take too large pieces of food at
a time, and will sometimes kill themselves in this way.
When you find a trout dead, with his head much
swollen laterally, and both eyes forced outwards, you
may know that he killed himself by bolting his food.

We have said nothing so far in this cluipter about
removing the young fry from the hatching troughs,
and, indeed, this removal is not necessary for a week
r r two. The young fry will do as well in the hatch-
ing troughs, if the water is raised an inch or two, as
anywhere else at first, but they must be thiitucd out
very soon after they begin to i^ed. If you engage in

* IJcrtram compares the digestion of some fishes' stomachs to
the action of fire. Harvest of the Sea, p.

Lyman savs of pickerel, that they arc " mere machines for the
.issimilation of other organisms." Mass. Fisheries, Report,

187-. P- 17-

I

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

^71

the business of selling young fry, this thinning out will
come nuturall) n the course of your sales, ai. 1 wii
need n^ ,: )• 'f)n ; but if you do not sell them

o^\', you III >».it enough from each box or

trough to lea\ : < nly a safe number togetlier. The
nu" ''er which it is safe to leave in a given space
yoi iuust learn by experience, as so much depends
upon the water sui)ply, the character and temperature
of the water, and other circumstances, that the numi)er
cannot be set with much definiteness for all places.
Vou need not lowever, be afraid to keep two hun-
dred to the square foot, if they are shaded, till the first
of May. By that time thf'v will be ready for their
summer quarters. You will notice that the young
fry in the troughs, soon after beginning to feed, will
seem to divide into two bodies, one consisting of the
larger and stronger ones, at the head of the trough
just below the fall, and the other consisting of the
smaller and weaker ones settling down towards the
outlet screeri.

The division into these two classes will l)e main-
tained with more or less distinctness through the vear
and afterwards. The cause of the separation is, that
some are really weaker and smaller than others, and
these will avoid the more violent water and the pres-
ence of the larger ones, who would drive them away
if they tried to stay with them. This division of the
two classes becomes more marked as they get a little
older, because the weaker ones are driven back and
are obliged to take the food, the water, and the range
that are left them by their superiors, who are all the

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174

DOMESTICATED TKOUT.

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time getting the lion's share of everything. The effect,
of course, is to increase the contrast more and more
every day. This effect can, however, be offset, in some
degree, by taking pains to give better care and kad
to the lower ones, and this should always be done.
Indeed, by feeding the lower ones more tlian usual,
and neglecting the upper ones, you can bring them
somewhat together in point of locality, though never
in point of size. I think that it is also a good way
to take out all the lower division, and put them in an
enclosure by themselves. They will never be as large
fish as the others, but they will then, at any rate, be
freed from the tyranny of the larger ones, and will im-
prove correspondingly.

You may notice, too, that sometimes some of the
lower young fry get against the screens, and perhaps
die from the effect of it. TZ/c/v /s no need %uhatcver of
this. If they get against the screens, it is because
they are weak, and you may know that their weakness
has come either from their being too much crowded,
too little fed, or from being actually sick. The remedy
for the first and second is obvious ; and the third case
ought not to have occurred ; but in all three cases
more feeding will bring them up. They are weak, and
need to be fed to be made strong again. Therefore,
when the little creatures get against the screens, or
show a tendency that way, feed them more, and con-
tinue doing so till they come up strong again. Do
not turn down the water, as is sometimes done, when
they are weak and get against the screens, for this
only makes them weaker ; but keep the water on, un-

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

i;s

less it was too violent to begin with, and make tiie
hsh come up against it by feeding, which they will
do if not sick or too crowded.

There is a little trick which should be practised on
them when they show this tendency to collect too
much at the lower screen. It is well known that trout
seek the deeper places and darker bottoms of any
shallow stream. By taking advantage of this instinct
you can make most of your trout stay where you wish •
so when they collect too far down the trough fill up
the lower end about half an inch or an inch deep
. for a foot or so from the screen with light-colored
sand. This will make the water more shallow here
and the bed of the trough of a lighter sliade, and the
fish will abandon it at once for deeper and darker
places farther up stream. The force of the current
IS now, of course, increased near the outlet by this
change, and an inexperienced person might suppose
that if the young fry were collected down near the
screen in slow water, they would be carried down
much more by swift water. But this is an error. If
the fish are not sick, their desire to get out of the
shallow, exposed place will make them stem the cur-
rent till they find a ploce above it less objectionable
to them. The worst possible thing vou can do, if you
want to keep the young fry away from the screens, is
to make the water slower by deepening it at the
screen. It has just the opposite effect from that which
is sought.

For the first two or three weeks after beginning to
feed, — we are now supposing that the young trout

" !(ii

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176

DOMESTICATED TKOUT.

I',"'

remain in the hatching troughs, — the appearance of
things is very bright. Indeed, there is no more hope-
ful time in the trout breeder's year than that when the
young fish just get to feeding well. The dangers and
hardships of the long winter's hatching are over. He
has a fine lot of healthy, thriving trout. They feed
well, they look well, and do not show a sign of a pos-
sibility of their dying. Everything goes on swim-
mingly, and unless he is more than human, or less, he
will invariably draw the flattering picture to himself
of what these thousands of tiny things will be three
summers hence, each weighing a half-pound apiece or
more. It is certainly an elating prospect.

But behold, at the end of about three weeks, an ap-
palling change comes over this happy vision. It comes
on very unobtrusively in the beginning, and the first
sign of it which you discover is merely the gathering
of two or three fish in a corner where the water is
stiller than the rest. On examination, you observe
nothing unusual about them, except that, to use an
expressive Dutch-Americanism, they appear " logy,"*
avoid the running water, and eat languidly, or per-
haps do not eat at all. This seems a very trifling
circumstance ; but to an experienced eye it is start-
lingly significant, for it is sure to be the forerunner
of wholesale disaster. The next day the number of
disaffected ones will be increased to a dozen, perhaps,
and very hkely some of them will be heading down
stream. This number will steadily increase. Soon
they will begin to drop down dead, by ones and twos

* From the Dutch /og, dull, stupid.

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

177

at first, and then by dozens, then by hundreds, and,

unless some remedy is applied, seventy-five per cent

will die the next month, and perhaps all ; and many of

them — we are still supposing that they have remained

in the hatching troughs— will have a little round ulcer

just on the top of the skull, which, when pricked, will

discharge a thin, watery fiuid. This is the stage, I take

it, where Green's book says of their dying, that the

cause is not known, nor the remedy. I must disa^^ree

with him. The cause is known, and the remedy is

known also. The cause of this mortality is twofold,

In the first place, the food which has been given them

lias to some extent, however carefully it may have

been fed out to them, fallen to tbo bottom, and has

formed a thin layer over the gravel, which has now

had time to become putrescent and has fouled the

water with its exhalations.

In the second place, the diet upon which the fish
have been kept, although the best known and very nu-
tritious, is deficient in some element indispensable to
the health of the trout. It is like the experiment of
feeding the dog wholly on olive oil, — the most nutri-
tious thing in the world, —but which soon brinjrs on
an ulcerating disease that kills him in not many weeks.
The remedy for both these causes of disease is the free
application of common earth, and it is a certain and
eff^ective one.

I was led to this discovery somewhat in this way :
I found my young fry dying by thousands, as just
described, and those that were left losing their appe-
tites and avoiding the current. I felt sure that the

\'t

178

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

I<"'

S'

fine, thin film of mouldy matter which could be seen
on the bultoni was fouling the water, and I removed
the fish to clean the troughs. This revived them some-
what, and they began to eat again, but they lacked
their natural vivacity and looked lank and ill-favored.
I then began to reflect carefully on the matter, and it
occurred to me that their artificial food might be want-
ing in some tonic element, indispensable to health,
and that liver and curd and nothing else might be to
trout what olive oil and nothing else was to the dog.
The symptoms certainly indicated it.

I might have got no farther, but I noticed that some
of the young fry, which by accident happened to be
where the mud was occasionally disturbed, did better
and appeared thrifty. I also remembered that the wild
trout in the natural brooks are never so lively and
voracious as just after the streams have been mud-
died by a shower. Then it suddenly flashed upon
me, that mud or earth, with its multiijlicity of constitu-
ents, might possibly contain the deficien_ element.
At the same time, I remembered the great absorbing
power of earth, which might perhaps al)sorb the foul
exhalations from the bottom, at the same time that ••
supplied the needed tonic.

I shared the common prejudice against muddying
the water where the trout were ; but the crisis was an
imperative one, and I determined to solve the problem.
I poured in earth, enough to cover the bottom half an
inch, making the water so thick with mud that every
fish was obscured with it. I watched anxiously for
the water to clear, to see how they came out of it.

I

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

riie effect was mn^Wcal. It had revived them all.

179

change for the belte

was decidedly noticeable at

once.

In twenty-four hours the sick ones were nearly them

ays they were all better fish

selves again, and in two d
than they ever were before

On another occasion large numbers of my youno-
fry had become sickly and were failin^^ rnpidly. They
l^ad begun to collect against the screens, and there
was evidently a bad time coming very soon. This was
on the 5th of March. This tmie they had been feed-
ing only about two weeks. I applied the earth plen-
tifully, with the same effect as before. On the 7th
they were much improved. On the 8th they were all
well agam and off the screens. Earth or mud is the
last thing one would suppose suitable for a fish so
associated in our minds with pure, clean water ; yet it
IS an indispensable constituent in the diet of young
trout, and unless they get it, either naturally or artifi-
cially, they will not thrive. I repeat once more, we
are supposing the young fry to be in the hatching
roughs still, and supplied with water from the sprinc^
Oi course, if they are nourished with brook-wnte^,"
which brings down more or less mud with it, this dis-
ease will not break out, and the fish will not require
the artificial introduction of earth ; but they must get
! ^" '°'^f ''^-^^ '-^'^^1 unless it is already in the water
It must be furnished artificially, or the fish will Ian-

w LI loll*

I am not prepared to say what kind of earth is the

i8o

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

if.,

.J "I

best, but I think that the earth from just under a toler-
ably rich sod is as good as any, if not better. It is a
very good way to put the whole sod in the trough or
box. The fish will get off of it what they want, and
the presence of the vegetable growth in the water is
favorable to their health.

Muck I have sometimes thought the best, and it is said
to be the most powerful of earth absorbents, but I have
also had misgivings that the muck sometimes had
something injurious in it. It may be only a fancy,
however. At all events, the earth just under a fresh
green sod answers the purpose, and is good and whole-
some. The application of the earth should be renewed
as often as the fish seem to require it, and, indeed, it is
best not to wait till they show signs of wanting it, but
to give it to them often, and keep sods in all the time ;
and whenever you perceive anything in the troughs
that is likely to foul the water, throw a handful of earth
over it.

If you have a pride in keeping a clean gravelly bed
to your troughs, you can cover over the earth, after a
day or so, with clean gravel, and it will look as well as
before ; but you must give them earth again soon.

As the spring advances the young fry will continue
to grow, and one day's routine in taking care of them
will be very much like another through the summer.
This does not imply, however, that the work is mo-
notonous or dull. On the contrary, it is exceedingly
interesting, and the more closely you observe them the
more interesting the care of them becomes. You will
learn to distinguish individuals from one another, and

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

i8i

to notice individual peculiarities ; and it will be a source
of great pleasure to see them growing daily in strength
and stature, and taking on by almost imperceptible
degrees the ways and appearance of mature trout
Indeed, you cannot spend an hour or so a week more
prohtably than by studying the little fellows minutely
with your eyes as close to the surAice of the wat^r as
you can get. This is the way to study them ; and if
you want to obtain an insight into the nature of trout
and have signal success in raising them, this is the
thmg to do.

The young fry in their growth probably will not
keep pace with your wishes at first. Still they are
really growing rapidly, and if their apparently slow
progress makes you impatient, take out one of them
any time in the summer and compare it with one of
your preserved specimens of a day old. You will be
gratified wuh the contrast, and will see that they have
doubled their size many times over, though they Ivid
appeared to remain nearly stationary. They are also
getting their flesh hard and solid, as you may see by
taking out a four weeks' trout on a piece of board or
glass and letting it dry, and doing the same again in
the summer with a six months' trout. 7'he first speci-
men will leave hardly more than an impression of the
fish's form, as thin as tissue. The second will show
solidity as well as figure.

The young fry will continue to grow and require
more food until winter sets in. In the mean while
they will demand constant watching and care the
nature of which will be described more fully in the

l82

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

next chapter, and also in the one on the diseases of
young trout.

Section II. — What to do to make Young
Trout live.

«

I. Have healthy, well-fed breeders. When a young
trout drops down dead during the first few months of
his Hfe, a beginner is apt to think that the cause origi-
nated the same day or the same week, wliich is as
unphilosophical as to suppose that deaths among the
human race, resulting from feeble constitutions or
hereditary consumption, were caused by something
that happened the day or the week on which the death
occurred.

To discover and remove the causes of death among
young trout, we must go back of the young fish's life,
back of the eggs themselves, to the breeders wliich
produced the eggs. This is self-evident, and yet it is
often overlooked. In order to have healthy fry, you
must have healthy eggs. To secure healthy eggs, you
must have healthy, well-fed breeders. The progeny of
puny, half-starved, half-suffocated fish cannot be as
strong and healthy as those of well-grown, well-fed fish,
with plenty of range and water. Therefore, if you
want your young trout to live, give your breeders a
good supply of water, feed them well and regularly,
and keep them m good condition, especially from May
to November.

Large eggs, on the whole, are better than small ones.
They produce larger fish ; and, other things being equal,

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

183

you

the larger fry, it is observed, thrive better than the
smaller ones.

Now the secret of getting large eggs is not to use
large-sized breeders, for a two-pound brook trout pro-
duces no larger eggs than a half-pound brook trout
though they are more in number. Large eggs are thj
result of keeping the breeders in water that warms
up m the spring and summer. It is true, if it becomes
too warm, say above 70^ it is injurious ; but water
that stands at 65° in the summer will make hu-er
eggs than water at 55°, and very cold spring warer,
■say at 45°, wdl always develop small eggs. The rea'
son is obvious. \\'e know the rule is throughout the
annnal kingdom, that warmth, when not extreme, fa-
vors growth, and as the temperature of the fish's
body corresponds to the temperature of the water* it
naturally results that the eggs developed in the warmth
of 65 will be larger than those developed at the cold
pom t of 45°.

2. Da^chp strong and healthy cm!>ryos in the e^r,r
You must not suppose, when you find your trout dy-
ing m April and May, that the mortality is necessarily
caused by something that has happened since they
hatched. The causes may date back half-way through
the period of incubation or more. I have seen trott
embryos with the eye-spots just appearing, which I
knew could not live three months after coming out,
although they hatched like other eggs, and seemed like
* The temperature of the fish's body follows the temperature

1 84

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

other. trout for weeks. The reason was, that they were
sickly and feeble embryos, which had not vitality
enouLjii in them to grow up.

In order to have strong and healthy trout that will
live, you must have strong and healthy embryos to
begin with. This is so obvious, that it seems trivial to
mention it. Yet I have seen persons treat eggs in
such a way that the fish from them could not possibly
live to grow up, and wonder three months afterwards
what made them die. To insure strong and hardy
embryos, the suggestions in the chapter on hatching
eggs should be carefully observed. The eggs should
not be crowded too much. They should have plenty
of water, though not too much, running over them.
This water should be in constant circulation. The
two kinds of fungus, al^"* and byssus, should be abso-
lutely excluded. All sediment should be kept from
the eggs, and, in the writer's opinion, they should be
hatched in the dark. If you observe these rules, you
will have strong and healthy trout from your eggs, and
of these rules I should say that the most important
are, to avoid fungus and still water.

3. Pnnndc a suitable place for the young fry lolien
they hegifi to feed. We remarked that the hatching
troughs would do very well for the young trout for
the first few weeks after feeding. This is true, if the
fish are thinned out sufficiently, and a clean layer of
gravel or sand put over the winter hatching bed : but
the hatching troughs are not favorable to growth, and
usually are not so convenient for feeding as other
places in which the fish might be kept. It is therefore

1

REAkING THE VOUNG FRY.

185

desirable to change tlicin before summer, and it is very
importaiU to put tiiem in a suitable place when they
ni-e changed ; and to etiect this the following points
should be secured, namely: —

'I'iie young trout, when removed from the hatching
troughs, should be kept, —
Where they will feed well.

Where they will be safe from their natural enemies.
^\'here nothing can get in and notiiing can get out.
Where no fungus can come to them.
Where the water cannot run over.
Where they cannot remain permanently out of sight.
^\'here the water supj^ly cannot be cut off by accident.
^^'here the fish can have new, unused water.
^\here they can find shade.
Where there is plenty of room.
The first six points were fully unfolded in the chap-
ter on rearing boxes; so I will here simplv refer the
reader to that chapter, and pass on to the considera-
tion of the remaining points.

It is essential that the young fry be kept where there
IS no possibility of the water supply being cut ofi^, even
by the most unexpected accident. It is \\\q pass ibi lit v
tliat you want to guard against, not the probability.
My excuse for mentioning so obvious a principle is,
that persons are so careless about this very thing.'
Though they may have expended hundreds of dollars
to get their fish where they are, and have taken pains
to have everything else safe, they will sometimes
leave a faucet or a spout in such a way that it is quite
possible for some accident to close the fliucet or mis-

It':

1

1 86

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

Uti ,'. 'I

' I

Hi

■

HBfpc

^P

■^^Sfi

-ili

Bi

i

place the spout, and cut off the whole supply of water
from the fish below.

I recall new several instances in which most disas-
'■•ous results ha\e been so caused. This point is tlie
more important, because the consequences of neglect
are so very fatal ; in the hot weather, when the younij,
fry are being raised, two hours without change of water
being often sufficient to kill a whole box or pond full.

They should be kept where new, unused water will
run over them. 'I'his is very important. At first,
when they b-^gin to feed, the elTete matter coming
from them is very slight in quantity, and harmless ; but
it rapidly increases with the growth of the fish, and
becomes a prolific source of impurity and disease, as
can be easily comprehended when it is considered
what the amount must be from one thousand to ten
thousand fish feeding almost hourly.

The water, therefore, that is used for the nursery,
should be fresh from the spring or brook, and should
not be that which has run over other trout above, un
less the stream has run far enough to purify itself.

The place in which they are kept should be well
shaded. Sunlight fosters the growtli of fungi and con-
fervas, and predisposes the young fish to some of the
diseases to which they are subject ; and when disease
breaks out it makes bad matters worse. The young
fry should be therefore guarded against it, as well as
the eggs. Shade never killed a trout vet, voung or
old. Sunlight has killed a great many. It cannot be
denied that trout often come out \-oluntarily into the
sun, but they should nevertheless always be placed so

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

un

as

18;

that they can take their choice, and not be obliged to
stay m the sun because there is no shade.

Their place of confinement must not'be too much
crowded. Be very careful to guard against this, and
do It >n season. It ^"s very injurious to keep youn-^
trout too close together. They .IH not grow as^welh
he water breathed over so many times becomes vi-
tiated ; the foul matter thrown off by the fish in-
creases the evil ; and in time disease will break out
among them, and rage all the worse because of the
very thing that caused it, nan.ely, the overcrowding

Anything which combines all the points above men-
tioned will answer for a nursery for the young fry, wheth-
er it IS a pond, or trough, or rearing box, or what not.
I recommend the use of a rearing box, because it
^foes embrace these points. Anything else that does
will answer as well, but it will be a rearing box still,
either on a large scale or a small one. It is the com-
bination of principles which makes the rearing box,
and not its name, or form, or material. It should be
added here, that is a good plan to keep water plants =*
in the nurseries of young fish. I will not say that it
IS indispensable, but I think it is very important in-
deed.

Trout consume oxygen, and return carbon. Water-
plants consume carbon, and return oxvgen. By put-
ting plants and fish together, therefore; we avail our-
selves of one of nature^s great universal agencies in
balancing vital forces against each other, and main-

* For list of water plants suitable for trout ponds, sec Appen-
ilix ill. p. 295.

'ftil

1 88

DOMI'.STICATF.n TROl'T.

m

If!

It"

t;iinii\Li; the equilibiium on which the continuance of
or<;anic h(e clei)en(ls.* This is a good a priori reason
in itself. Besides this, we liave the facts that the phmts
(h) in practice improve the water, [)re\ent thsease, give
sheUt'r to the young fry, and furnish more or less nat-
ural food foi- them. The)' also absorb much of the
feculence of the fish for nutriment. f

The larger the young fry grow, the larger the place
they can be trusted in ; and it is ne\er desirable to keep
them in a smaller place than perfect safety requires ; for
the more range they ha\e, other things being equal, the
better thev will do. Accordinglv, as the\' continue to
grow, increase their range, and 1)\- the ist of Septem-
ber or a little later, when they take their food like old
trout, that is, spring for it from their lair and whirl,
they can be put into a pond suitable for larger trout,
and treated very much as the larger trout are treated.
]^y this time they are much hardier, and less susce])-
tible to invisible sources of injury ; they do not stay
away alone and get lost, tliey are better able to take
care of themselves ; you can throw them their food
very much as you i\o the larger fish, and they can

* Self-pit serving aquaria have been ediUrived l)v liiiiiiL; tlie
sides ami hottDin ol' a tank with tlie most owuen-givins' water
plants, so that the fish (;/<>/ trout) confined in them liave lived
without a changt> of water. I am told hv a gentleman who lias
liad experience with Harmim's acpiaria, that the fish kejit in these
self-preserving tanks without change of water thrived better
than those in the ordinary tanks which had water running through
them all the time.

t Tiic introduction of fresh-water snails accomplishes the same
end, but snails arc destructive to fish eggs and very young fish.

i>. »iu'

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

189

he liustrd ill a trout [)oiul proper. Tlie pond, liovv-
vcr, must he, covered, and the fish must still be pro-
tected from rats, minks, snakes, antl especially herons
and kin-lis'iers, which will destroy great quantities of
them, if allowed to.

4. 7'<f/.r ^1^00 J cair of the fish. Now, having bred
from a healthy stock, and having developed strong,
iieallhy embryos, and having provided a suitable place
for the young fry, only one thing more is required for
success, and that is to take good care of them.

If you take good care of trout, I think there are
nuiety chances in a hundred that you will raise them.
I know that there is a good deal of scepticism (I beg
the reader to excuse the digression which follows)
about the practicability of keeping young fry alive
through the hrst si.v months of feeding, and I am
aware that some of the best authorities say that a con-
siderable jKM-centage will die unavoidably during that
time. Mr. Stephen PI. Ainsworth, in a letter to the
writer, once said that a considerable jjercentage of the
eggs when im|)regnated were premature, and conse-
quently i)roduce(l an imperfectly developed fish which
coitU not live. Tlieodore Lyman, in the Report of the
Massachusetts Committee of Fisheries, 1870, says:
" All remained remarkably healthy till May, when a
certain number were observed to be weakly. It is
likely that they were naturally sickly, and, when the
yolk sac was gone, they had not enough vitality to
feed."* And Seth Green speaks in his book on trout
culture as if there were necessarily a great mortality
* Massachusetts Fishcnes, Report, 1870, p. n.

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DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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among the young fry, and says, " We don't know what
IS the matter with them, nor how to cure them."*

Now I wish at the outset to express distinctly my
deference to authorities so high, — indeed, I know of
none higher, — but I must, nevertheless, venture to
disagree with them if they mean that there is any
necessary inherent cause of death in the young fry
which cannot be removed. Some will die, say five
per cent, though it ought to be less than this, of weak
constitutions. They are born into the world so weak-
ly constituted that they cannot stand the wear and
tear of life, and must die. I admit that there may be
l.erhaps five per cent of these necessary, unavoidable
deaths ; but that the rest come into being already
doomed to premature death, or that young trout have
any mysterious or pccnliar inherent cause of death in
them, any more than }oung calves, or pigs, or chick-
ens, I do not believe. In the jiresent state of infor-
mation of the art, young trout fry may be more liable
to accidents than other young domesticated creatures,
and it may be more difficult to guard against their
diseases ; but this is another thing. Careless breed-
ing may, and careless hatching certainly will, pro-
duce a progeny of young trout of which ninety per
cent will die ; but this is also another thing. Careful
breeding and hatcliing will produce trout which are
just as likely to live, in my opinion, as the same num-
ber of lambs or chickens ; and if the young fry die, it
is not because of any mysterious, innate cause peculiar
to them because they are trout, but it is because they
* Trout Culture, p. 42.

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REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

191

were killed, deliberately killed, by external causes,
just as much as Iambs or chickens are killed by
storms, or ])y parasites, or from starvation or poison
It IS true that they are killed from ignorance of their
wants, and not from wilful neglect, but it is the same
thing abstractly, -the cause of death is external and
removable, and not innate and necessary. 'j'JKir
wants are peculiar, of course, and more occult and in-
tangible than those of pigs and colts, and to a begin-
ner it will sometimes seem as if they died without Ijc-
ing diseased. But if they were as large as pigs and
colts, and could be studied as easilv,^! do nouhink
their wants would be found to be any more mysteri-
ous or peculiar ; and if the causes of disease could be
magnified, so as to be observed and studied clearly, I
think that no more trout would die when nothing was
the matter with them.

I am furthermore convinced that study and expe-
rience will eventually clear up this subject, notwith-
standing the difficulties which surround it, and that
at some time it will be known how to raise trout and
make them live, as well as it is known how to 'raise
turkeys and chickens. I believe that there are energy
and mtelhgence enough now interested m the cause
to accomplish this end. I take this ground, partly
because any other is unphilosophical and uncompli-
mentary to the intelligence of those who are study-
ing the art, and partly because the facts of experience
confirm it. Who that sees the healthy young fry and
yearlings and two-yea/ Kls in Dr. Slack's ponds in
New Jersey, or at Mr. Dexter's at West Barnstable

192

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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it

or Mr. Furman's on Long IsLukI, can doubt that
others can raise them in other places and make them
live.

The beginner may accept these axioms in raising
trout : —

1. No trout dies without a cause.

2. The causes of death are discoverable.

3. 'J^hey can, in most instances, be removed.

My own experience has invariably been to confirm
these principles. I lost in my apprenticeship days as
many young fry as any one else ; but with every death,
say over five per cent, there appeared a distinct assign-
able cause, present or remote, which could be re-
moved or avoided next time ; and the more I lost
the more I became satisfied that the causes of
death among the \-oung fry could be discovered and
avoided.

My later experience has added confirmation to this
opinion. And now, since I have used charcoal troughs
and tanks altogether, deaths among the young trout
have been, among some lots, rare occurrences, and in
general have been no more frequent — over the five
per cent weak ones — than among the yearlings and
breeders.

In one charcoal trough, in particular, containing
over five thousand, there was, in the season of 1870,
less than one per cent of deaths from all causes in
three months. It has been the same this year (1871).
In one box of a thousand I have not taken out ten
dead ones in three months. I attribute this in a great
degree to the use of charcoal in hatching, but it con-

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

193

firms the theory just advocated, that the causes of
death can be removed.

This has been a long digression, I know. I beg
the reader to excuse it. I was saying that if you
took good care of the young fish, hatched and ])ro-
vided for them as has been suggested, there were
ninety chances out of a hundred that you would raise
them. This remaining contingency, however, of tak-
ing good care of them, is no triHe. It involves constant
vigilance and a very faithful attention to all the con-
ditions upon which the life and growth of the young
trout depend.

As any further directions as to the care of them
would be a repetition of what has already been written,
I will merely advise the beginner to be always on his
guard against accidents and dangers ; to visit the fish
the first thing in the morning, and the last thing at
night ; to carry out Alacbeth's resolution, " to make as-
surance double sure," even if it seems like taking a
"bond of" certainty. And now, hoping that the reader
will have the best of luck during this delicate period of
the trout's career, let us pass on to the consideration
of the unpleasant but important subject of the diseases
of young trout.

Section III.— Diskases of Trout Fry.

We are now come to the department of trout cul-
ture which is the least known, namely, the diseases to
which young trout are subject. This is an almost un-
trodden field of study,^ where little is known, and
* The art of raising horses and other domestic animals has

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nOMFSTICATED TROUT,

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Still less recorded. It is important, however, that this
department should not he overlooked, partly because
no art which has for its object the cultivation of any
creature can be considered perfected without ;i
knowledge of its diseases ; and, especially, because
the diseases of young trout are often clandestine in
their o])eration and epidemic in their effect, so that,
when the ravages of disease break out, they are pecu-
liarly widespread and Hital, and rapid in their work.

I therefore venture, though with some timidity, to
give the reader the little knowledge which I have
gathered on the subject from observation of the trout
under my care, with the hope that others will follow
in the same path, and supplement my scanty notes
with more valuable information ; and I wish to say that
I claim neither appropriateness in the names of the
diseases mentioned in this chapter, nor perfect cor-
i-ectness in the diagnosis. I only give the plain re-
sult of my incidental observation, without pretending
to great thoroughness or scientific knowledge of the
subject.

The diseases and causes of death which have come
under my notice among young fry are as follows : —

1. Fungus on the e^of.

2. Partial suffocation of the embryo.

3. Strangulation of the embryo in hatching.

4. Seth (Green's dropsy, or blue swelling.

books on their diseases, and we know where to go to find horse-
doctors and dog-doctors and the like; but no book has been
written on tlie diseases of young trout, and I suppose there never
was in all the world such a thing as a fish-doctor.

*;1

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KliARING THE YOUNC. FRY.

195

5. Deformity at birth.

6. Fungus on the surface of the body.

7. Constitutional weakness.

8. Emaciation.

9. Starvation.

10. Ulcers on the head.

11. Animal parasites.

12. Fin disease.

13. Black ophthalmia.

14. Irritation of the optic nerve.

15. Inflammation of the gills.

16. Black gill fever.

17- Fatty degeneration of the vitals.

18. Spotted rash.

19. Strangulation by food.

20. Cannibalism, nibbling.

21. Overheating.

22. Suffocation.

23. Paralysis.

I. 77/;/^//. o;i the egg. This is the most insidious,
the most devastating, and the most obnoxious of all
the diseases of young trout, and the first in order of
the causes of death. It blights the embryo in the e-^g
Once present in the water, it spreads unseen over 111
the eggs, and is sooner or later fatal. The effect of
njngus has been already described in the chapter on
Hatchmg the Eggs, p. 127. We mention it here again
among diseases of trout fry, because it sometimes does
not /'///the eggs, but causes them to produce prema-
turely a weakly young fish, which usually dies before
summer.

196

DOMESTICATED TROl'T.

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For causes, sif;ns, and remedies of fungus, \vc refer the
reader to pp. 126, 127, 128, 274.

2. J\irtial siijjihiitiou of t/ic embryo. Il soiiielimcs
liapi)ens that the embryo will be partially suffocated
a short time before tiie c;L;g hatches, so tiuit, although
the embryo will be born alive, it will die soon after.
The cause of this, of course, is not giving the eggs air
enough, either from oxercrowding them or not having
enough circulation in the water. The remedies are
obvious.

3. Straih^tilation in lialihiii}:;. Sometimes the em-
bryo dies just in the act of hatching. I have attributed
it to the strangulation of the embryo by the shell of
the egg. h may be from other causes. There is no
remedy that I know of, and the instances of death
Irom this cause are not numerous enough with trout
to make it a \ery serious matter.*

4. Sctli Greens dropsy, or blue siuellini^ of the xolk
sae. This is a very noticeable disorder among the
alevin trout, and, being an affection of the yolk sac, is
of course confined to them.

The sac becomes swollen to three times its usual
size. The outer membrane shows \ery thin and trans-
parent, is seen to be filled with a bluish liquid, and,
when punctured, discharges a thin, watery liuid. Seth
Green's book calls it the dropsy ; it affects only a

* Mr. rarnaln-, of Troiitdale Fishery, England, says he has
noticed this cause of death particularly in the char [Salino iinibla),
and he attributes it to the tough shell of the char egg and the
peculiarly round and full form of the yolk sac, which makes it
more difficult for the char to liberate itself from the egg than
for other fish.

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RKARING THE VOUNG I-KV.

19;

few llsh and is not contagious. I know of no sp(>cial
cause and ,10 remedy. Green says tiie fish can he
somelimes saved by tapping the sac and letting 0,,^
the dropsical matter ; but i doubt it, and think the
disease is ahvays fatal.

5. IX'fonnity at birth. Some trout are born with
curved spinas, spiral spines, double heads, and with
bodies more or less imperfect. 'J'he proportion of
these to the whole is generally small, though the num-
ber of deformed spines will be made considerable by
careless hatching. Unless the deformity is slight, the
fish will not live long after {^^t^Xnvr^, although a'^do'uble
h.sh, with two distinct vertebral columns and separate
tails, and united only at the sac, will survive for some
time. If the deformity is triHing, they sometimes live.
I have killed several grown-up trout with somewhat
bowed and crooked backs. Careful hatching is the
remedy for deformed spines, or rather the preventa-
tive.

6. Fungus on the surface of the body. This cause
of mortality is distinct from fungus on the n^g, as it
attaches itself to fish hatched from perfect eggs. The
fish usually get the fungus on them when quit^L^ youn-
by rubbmg it off the sides of the box or pond in whicli
they are confined. It sometimes floats down with the
water and gets in their gills. It is always fatal, and
usually very destructive. It cannot be too carefully
guarded against. There is no remedy for the disease
after it attacks the fish, unless it is salt water.* It can
be prevented only by shutting off any possibility of

* See Appendix T,

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198

nOMKSTICATI'.I) TKOUT

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fundus <j;ro\viiii; in the h.itcliinj; troughs or i.oininj; ii)t(i
tin- water. This can be done hy llic u^c of c;uboni/.c(l
Imii^lis * and aiiuediicts throughout.

7. Conxtittitional unuikncss. This is an evil which
ifl the necessary lot, we suppose, of a certain propor-

ion of all cionieslicated creatures that are born into
the world. This proportion, in the case of doniesti
rated trout, can be reduced very much by careful
breedin<; and hatching ; but there is, nevertheless, a
limit as with other creatures, beyond which the causes
lie too deep and too far back to be controlled. What
l!ie limit is with trout is not kiiown. 1 think Mr.
Ainsworth's opinion is, that the percentage of loss from
this cause is very large with artificially taken eggs.
I think it is much less, and with care in developing
strong and healthy embryos need not be over five
per cent, 'i'he constitutionally weak ones may be
distinguished from the rest by being at birth thin,
puny, undersized, and looking as if they never would
come to anything. There is no help for them, but the
number of them can be much reduced by care in the
develoi)rnent of the embryo.

8. Kimuiation. Many of the young fry are usually
observed to wear away without any visible cause.
They do not wholly decline food, but grow iniaiier
and thinner every ilay, till at last they die.

This emaciation, although the effect of disease, is
classed here among diseases, because the causes are
not known. If sufficiently studied, the disorder would
probabh' > t. found resolvable into some of the other
discas' r. >: e nn ntioned. These attenuated fish may

* See page 274.

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KKAKING Till- YuUNG FRV.

199

not always ilie, but I -lo not tliiDk tli.-m worth tliL
trouble of raisin-. / |,o best thni- to d., with Ihrni
is to turn (hcnj out into a natural brook, and jci ihcni
shift for themselves. 'l"hey may co.ne to something
there. They never will in the nursery.

9. Slanuitum. This, Seth Green thinks, is a proIilU
cause of death anion- the very young fry, and it <loes
not follow that they will escape because their keeper
takes pains to feed them ; for, if eonfn.ed in ponds
of considerable size, they will often wander off where
they can find no food, and from shyness and ignorance
will not come up to lake it when offered, 'i lie con-
sequence is that they are soon carried against the
screens, or drop down dead from exhaustion, forty-
eight hours of fasting being enough to reduce very
young fry to a state of extreme weakness.

I have often thought also, that, when very hungry,
they will eat things which do not agree with them,'
and so hasten their death.

The remedy for the danger of starvation is to con-
fine the trout where they will take their rations regu-
larly and {^c(\ them faithfully. Then you will not lose
any from this cause.

10. Ulcers on the head. This disease has already
been mentioned in the chapter on growing you.ig
trout. It usually attacks the fish, if at all, when they
are young, and always comes when the water gets
foul from decaying food, and when the fish have no
earth. Great numbers died of it before the use of
earth as a remedy was discovered. As this disease
progresses, the fish becomes lank in body, its head

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DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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1

swells and grows soft, and an ulcer ai)[)ears on the
top of the skull, which discharges a thin, watery fluid
when punctured. It is not contagious, but always
fatal. The remedy is found in prevention. It is to
keep the water pure, and give the trout plenty of
earth.

r I. Animal parasites* This is a very alarming and
destructive cause of death among the young fry, and
all the more because the parasite attacks the best
and fattest and healthiest fish. They come suddenly
and unexpectedly, sometimes as early as the rst of
Ma)-, and fust show themselves as a little bunch of
whitish jelly-like matter on the back or sides of the
fish, in most cases not far from the dorsal fin. At
first the fish does not appear to mind it much, and
feeds and remains in good condition for a day or two.
But soon after he seeks an eddy where the water is
still, refuses food, and dies within a week. This dis-
ease is flital, and whether contagious or not, it is cer-
tain that whole boxes are attacked at once, and in the
instances within my experience every fish was de-
stroyed in ten days, none esca[)ed ; it is the most
fatal and insidious disorder that I ha\e encountered
in raising young fry. The microscope which I used
for examination revealed nothing but a gelatinous
protuberance on the body of the tish. I have sup-
posed it to be the eggs of some water insect floating
in the water, but provided with the i)ower of attaching
itself to whatever it fell upon, like the eggs of perch

* vSee AppcMidix I. for account of another class of animal
parasites, not discovered when this chapter was written.

P li
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REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

201

and other fishes. I have therefore called it an animal
parasite, though figure observation may prove this to
be incorrect. At lirst sight one would take it for the
kmgus, which is so common among injured hsh ; but a
little examination shows it to be quite different, affect-
ing the fish differently, and, what is the worst feature
about it, attacking perfectly healthy, uninjured trout ;
the largest and most ijromising being among the first
ol Its victims. In my experience, the parasites liave
not, I think, originated always or usually in the en-
closure where the hsli were, but somewhere above in
the stream, where they are generated, and whence
the\- Hoat down to where the hsh are which they
fasten upon. The fish that are affected cannot be
saved, but the spread of the disease may be checked
by prompt measures.

Therefore, as soon as the presence of this disease
is discovered, take out the affected ones and throw
them away. Then change all the others to a new
place where you can depend ui)oii the water, and lose
no time in doing it.

12. Fm disease. At all stages of growth during
the first six months, the fins of the young fish may
sometimes be observed to be mutilated. Occasionally
as many as one fourth of them will be found to be so
affected. Sometimes the fins will be simply a little
frayed at the edges, at other times the fin will be
seen to be nearly gone, and will present a fungussy
edge. The affected ones will usually gravitate towards
the outlet screens, and will be the weaker and smaller
ones of the lot, but occasionally a large and vigorous

■frrrn^-.

202

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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one at the upper end will have a fin or two half gone.
'I'his disorder is not always fatal, by any means, for
some will recover; but if either of the pectoral fins are
nearly destroyed, or if fungus has set in, the trout
will jjrobably die.

One cause of this disease is the biting of other fish.
Yoimg trout, like cub bears, are irritable in their na-
ture, and do not like to have others come too near
them, but will snaj) and bite their companions when
they show a disposition to crowd. The result is that
their fins frequently get mutilatetl, and present the
appearance just described. They show this irriiable-
ness especially when they are left unfed for a while
and get very hungry, the hunger, perhajDs, having a
double agency in making them bite at each other.
'I'his unnecessary cause of the evil should at least
be avoided. When you discover any young trout
with injured fins, take them out and put them by
themseiv-es, where they have plenty of room, ])lenty
of water, and plenty of food. Some will die, per-
haps half With the others the fins will grow out
again, and the trout in a few months be as well as
ever.

13. Black ophthalmia. This is a strange disease.
You sometimes observe a fish becoming very black
and inclined to sei^u-ate from the rest. He is some-
what emaciated, refuses food, and is less easily fright-
ened than the others. If you examine his eyes, you
will see that the tissue of the puj)il is more or less
destroyed and his eyesight much injured, which is the
cause of his not being friglitened at your approach-

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REARING THE VOUNG FRY.

203

The emaciation continues, the blackness of the skin
increases ; the fish hnally becomes totally blind and
dies. I know of no cause or remedy, though I
have noticed that more cases occur where the water
iias become somewhat foul, and once I thought a fish
affected with this disorder recovered on being removed
into better water, but 1 do not feel certain of it. I'he
disease attacks young and old alike, and is not conta-

gious.

14- Irritation of the optic nerve. Fishes, as is well
known, have no eyelids to protect their eyes from
excessive light. It is therefore a very serious thing to
young fry, that have been used only to the dark, to be
•suddenly exposed to the glare of the sun ; and it some-
times haijpens that when they are so exposed, and
cannot escape from the sunlight, their brains become
hurt, they assume most unnatural positions and move-
ments, and after darting about frantically, like crazy
creatures, for a few moments, they die. I have sup-
posed that the unaccustomed light produces an irrita-
tion of the optic nerve, and have so named it.

15. Injlammation of the gills. This corresponds to
inflammation of the lungs in animals, and it is the re-
sult usually of crowding too many trout into too small
a space, without a sufficient change of water. Their
gills or lungs have too much work to do, and this, with
breathing over the impure water, produces inflamma-
tion, It is a lingering disorder, more in that particular
like consumption in higher orders. The affected fish
may contrive to live for some time, and eat the same,
but will not grow any; they will become attenuated, and

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DOMESTICATKI) TROUT.

finally die. I am inclined to think, however, that tlie
disease is not always fatal, but that a change to puie
water and [)lenty of it will often effect a cure. The ap-
plication of earth in this disease seems injurious, rather
than beneficial, probably owing to the irritating action
of the sandy particles on the inflamed tissues. Vou
can detect the disease before death by looking directly
down on the fish from above. In a jierfectly healthy
tish the gill covers completely cover the gills, and shut
down closely over them, in i sick fish the gill covers
do not wholly conceal the gills, which are visible
through the whole respiration of the fish, and appear
swollen and infiamed. After death the fish looks so
much like a perfectly healthy fish, that an inexperi-
enced person would say there was not a mark of dis-
ease upon it. Deaths from this cause are very pro-
voking to beginners, for the fish seems to them to die
without any cause whatever.

16. Black gill fever. There is another disease of
the gills, which is more rapid in its action, and to
which I have given the above name because it seems
to resemble a fever, and because the gills of the fish
turn black. I have not had many cases of it myself,
but I believe it is usually fatal ; others who have ob-
.served it think that it is contagious. I know of no
remedy.

1 7. Fatty degeneration of the vitals. Sometimes when
you examine a young trout that has died without a
visible cau.se, you will find an abnormal accumulation
of fat about the vitals, and nothing in the stomach.
This is probably the cause of its death. There is, as

f,

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REARING THE VOUXJ FRY

20'-

%

IS ux-11 known, a corresponding disease among higher
orders, called fatty degeneration of the lieart. '^Dr.
Slack of the 'lYoutdale Ponds speaks of this disease
among trout, and says that a constant diet of curd will
produce it.

18. Spoticd ras/L I once gave an abundance of
water-cresses {Nas^urt/ii„i officinale) to a lot of young
fry that had been kept wholly without vegetable food'^
In forty-eight hours their bodies were covered with
brown spots, and within the next forty-eight hours
most of the fish died. I cannot say for a certainty
whether it was a rash coming from within, or a parasite
coming from without. I have called it spotted rash
for want of a better name, and have noted it for fiiture
observers. Whatever it is, it is certainly very fatal.

19. Siraugnlatioii by food. Trout of all ages will
sometimes take too large pieces of food, which they
cannot disgorge, and which they cannot swallow, and
therefore get choked to death. You will see them
in the pond with their eyes protruding, and head
very much swollen laterall}-, and the offending morsel
sometimes projecting from the mouth. I'he situation
is usually nital, but not always ; they will sometimes
recover, after having had a frightfully swollen head and
eyes ; sometimes you can save them by pulling the
piece of food out of their throats.

20. Cannibalism, nibbling. This is a frequent cause
of death among the young fry. Trout are cannibals ;
they will always eat each other, if they can, when they
are hungry ; and this can be taken as a rule, that a trout
of any size, if hungry enough, will eat a trout of half its

206

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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/tv/^'-///. A trout a foot long will eat a trout of six
inches, or a trout two inches long will eat a trout an
inch long. Cannibalism is something, too, which
grows on trout; and after having once tasted flesh of
their own kind, they, like human cannibals, prefer it,
and, refusing their ordinary food, they will lie in am-
buscade in holes and corners, where, feeding on iheir
weaker fellows, they thrive and grow better than the
rest. This makes the evil doubly mischievous, be-
cause from their new habit of hiding they are less
likely to be discovered, and their increased rate of
growth is daily putting a greater difference in size be-
tween them and their companions, and making them
more formidable. Careful sorting is the remedy, to-
gether with regular feeding. If\liese rules are 'ob-
served, there will not be much trouble or loss from the
trout M//M^ one another. But there is another form
of cannibalism, which, though less repugnant, is more
injurious, namely, nibbling. The young fry when they
first feed are very voracious, and will nibble at the
tails and fins of those in front of them, and, if allowed
to get very hungry, .vill often do a great deal of injury
in this way, especially if much crowded. The younger
they are, the more they are given to the habit, but they
finally outgrow it. The remedy is to give them regu-
lar feed and plenty of room.

21. Ovcyheaiiug. This simply means being kept in
water that is not cold enough. As summer advances
and the weather grows warmer and warmer, the wa-
ter m )our brook sometimes grows too warm for the
trout to live in. If that is your coldest brook the

REARING THE VOUNG FRV.

207

consequence is inevitable. The trout must die This
cause of death is trying, because you can see the
trouble and know what is conu'ng, but cannot help it
If you have colder water, remove the fish to it without
delay, and take the first hours of the morning in which
to do It, when the water is coolest ; use ice \u convey-
ing them. If the heat is only exceptional, vou can do
some good by the use of ice placed in the inlet I
have saved some in that way ; indeed, as long as the
ice lasts you are safe, but it wastes very rapidly in run-
nmg water, and therefore is often unavailable 'J1ie
dangerous point of temperature lies somewhere be-
tvveen 70° and 85° Fahrenheit. I have known water
to be fatal at 72° or 73°, and I have known trout to
live m good vigorous water at 78°, but danger is near
when the mercury begins to be above 70°.

22. Snjfoaitiim. This is simply the result of want
of air, from the water having been breathed over too
much. The cause and remedy are obvious. I will
only say that the colder the water the slower trout
breathe.

In case of suffocation, the fish should not be given
up because it appears to be dead, for suffocated trout
are often restored, even after life seems to be entirely
extinct. The way to do this is to aerate the wator in
which they are contained as vigorously as possible
I he effect is often very startling, as well as gratifying
in bringing to life fish that appeared dead.

In concluding this chapter on the diseases of young
fry, I would recommend to the trout-breeder to ex-
amine his trout carefully every day, and to be always

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208

DOMESTICATED TKOL'T

on the watch for the ap|)earancc of disease, wnn, when
he detects its presence, to rn-t promptly on the maxim
in the beginning of Seth Green's work on fish culture,
" Never put oft" till to-morrow what you can do to
day." The progress of disease among young trout
is often so rajjid, and so epidemic in its character,
that you cannot be too vigilant in discovering it, or
too prompt in suppressing it. I would add, also,
that you must not suppose because none of your fry
are dying that no disease is in progress, or that dis-
ease has just set in when the fish begin to die. On
the contrary, in some instances the disease or offend-
ing cause may have been at work for weeks before
the first fish actually dies from it. Therefore be vigi-
lant and prompt in guarding against the first approach
of evil.

23. Paralysis. There is still another disease to
which young fry are subject, "nd I should call it par-
alysis if I thought that fish were subject to this dis-
order. It attacked one lot, and only one, of my
alevin trout. They had been hatched about a month,
and the yolk sac was nearly half gone. There were,
perhaps, about two thousand in the compartment.
Sixty or seventy were attacked. The first time I
discovered that anything was wrong was one morning
when the water was being agitated with a feather.
The well ones immediately headed with all their might
against the current as usual, while a few, only fifteen
or sixteen at first, were observed to lie perfectly mo-
tionless, and to move unresistingly with the current,
and finally to collect in a heap in the centre of an

-I !

REARING THE YOUNG FRY.

209

eddy. On examination they appeared to be perfectly
lifeless; but they did not — and this is the singular
part of it — they did not change color, as dead fry of
this age invariably do. The next day, and for two or
three days, they continued to look like live fish as
they lay still in the water, and to appear like dead
fish when more closely examined. After three or
four days one or more white spots were seen near the
heart, and these finally extended all over the body ;
but the entire white change did not come on for a
number of days, and always began internally and
worked outwards. Sixty or seventy were affected in
this way. All died ; but the others in the com-
partment did not seem to suffer at all, and remained
alive and well.

Section IV. — Filling Orders for Young Fry.

Filling orders for young fry in the spring is part
of the trout-breeder's business, and promises to con-
tinue to be, on the principle that people will buy their
young fish to save hatching them, as people buy young
cabbage-plants and tomatoes to save starting them.

A few words about sending off the young fish may
be of service to the beginner.

The first thing to do in preparing to fill an order
for young fry is to arrange temporary boxes to put
them into after they are counted. These boxes should
have a stream of water running through them, should
be provided with an ample screen for an outlet, and
should be light and portable, so that they can be
lifted, and the fish and water poured from them when

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210

i)OMr=:sTicATEn trout.

wanted.* The boxes should he perfectly clean, so
that there will be nothing but the fish and the water
to pour out. The next thing is to count them. To
do this, net out a quantity from the hatching-troughs
into a pan of water. I'lace this pan sit'' by side with
a large can or pail of water. Then take a dipper and
dip up a few fish from the [xm and ])ass them over to
the pail, counting each dipperful as it is passed over.
You had, perhaps, better begin with only four or five
in the dipper at once, but with practice you will be
able to count seven or eight or more at a time as you
pass them over. It takes from half an hour to an
hour, according to your dexterity, to count a thousand.
It is a good plan to score every hundred, so that, if
you lose your count, you will not have to go back fiir
to recover it. It is very easy to forget your count, and
very provoking to be obliged to count over again two
or three thousand because of forgetting the exact num-
ber ; but if you score every hundred there is no danger
of being driven to this. The temporarv- box for the
night should be in place when you begin to count
them, so that the counted fish will not be obliged to
stay long in the pail or can. If there is a large num-
ber to send off, they should be counted the day before,
and placed in the boxes, fed well, and covered over
for the night. They will then be in good condition to
start the next day, which is a very important point.

* In transferring young fry from one receptacle to another, it
is easier and safer to pour theni o/er, water and all, than to net
them out. If the fry are very thick, it is sometimes best to
transfer part of them with the net, and pour over the rest.

u

KEAKING OF THE YOUNG FRV.

211

In the mo.nin- feed them nsain, and when it is time to
start, transfer them to the tank or can whieh is to rarry
tMem. For small quantities, say i,ooo or 2,000, I use
a t.elve-allon tin can. For larger quantities, sav
5,000 or more, T take a seventy-gallon tank, a drawing
of which may be seen in the Massachu. .tts Report of
the fishery Commissioners for .868, Plate III Fi.^ 6
The tank has a pump attached ; but this is not wo,1<ed
^vhcn small f,sh are carrie<l. I use also a hundred-
gallon la.ik tor moving still larger quantities.

The tank for carrying hsh, when tilled with water
IS very heavy, and should have four iron handles on'

Conical Tank for the Transportion of Young Fry.

DOMl'STICATKH TROUT.

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the sides to f.uilit;itt' luovin;;. It imist tv t hr made
too large round, or it will ikM go into the door of the

Conical l':mk for the Transportation of Young Fry.

express-c;ir, which wou'd be found to be a very seri-
ous difficulty.

The best form th;U I have found for a tank for trav-
elling with live fish is the couicnl one given in the
accompanying plates. The advantage of the conical
shape is, that the water, on being agitated by the mo-
tion of the car or vehicle in which it is carried, aerates
itself by spurting up the sides of the cone and falling
back int(^ the tank, in consequence of wTiich the tank
becomes, when in transit, a self aerator.

The tanks are sometimes made of wood and some-
times of tin. The measurement of three different sizes
used at the Cold Spring Trout Ponds are as follows: —

I. Ilciglit 48 inches.

Diameter of bottnni ....

Diameter of opening . . . • 17

Diameter of toiJ .... 9

29.] "

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KKAKING OF THE YOUNG FRY. 21^

Hfij,'lit

38.) inches.

25

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4

30.i

'9
II

4

4t
II

<l
It
(I

ni.iiiiftcr of bottom .

• • •

l>i;inictir ot Opening .
Diameter ol toj)
3. Height. . . .'.*.'
Diameter of bottom .
Diameter of opening .
Diameter of lop ....
A A, (' C. Tank.
A, I!, A. I,i(| to tank.
A A. Junction of tank with lid.
In travcllinjr Ion- distance.s, I take, besides the
tank,* a water-pail, a bag of ice, tin dipper or i)elloNvs
and a .sponge, 'i he iee will be all needed bcfoie jii'du'
If the weather is warm. The pail is a eonveniuire 'm
various ways, the dipper or bellows t is for aeradn-
the water, and the sponge is for the floor of the car"
If the water slops over. I!e careful to have plenty of'
help when you load into the car, and also at e'very
change of cars, for, different from other merchandise,
an up.set is often a total loss.-t

Keep the temperature of the wat-r very low all day
with ice, — using large pieces when standing still, and
small pieces when in motion, as the large pieces arc
then apt to bruise and kill the fish. ])o not chancre
the water rn route, but give it a thorough aeration once
in half an hour. The aerating will i,e sure to keep
* The Trontdale Transit Tank i.s recommended a.s an excel-
lent thing to carry live fi.sh in. See Dr. Slack's Catalogue of
fi.sh cultnnsts apparatus. A common flot.-barrcl, well soaked
w,th floats on the top of the water to prevent slopping, is a verJ
good nn]n-omptu affair for carrving live fish.
_ t A common hand firc-bellows is as good an extempore aerat-
ing machine as can be found.
I See Appendix II., on Journeys with Live Fi.sh.

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214

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

thrni alive, wliili' [hwc is nhvays a risk of killinc^ them
!)}' usiiii; water with wiiich yoit are not acquainted.

It is best, I think, to accompany the i^.sh all the
way, and see them safely in the hands of those to
whom they are consigned, though, where there is no
change of cars to the end of the route, I sometimes
leave them tlie last fifty miles, with a small fee, in the
hands of the exi)ress messenger.

Alevins require less air than older fish, and no food,
consequently more can he taken in less water than
when older, and the risk of loss is correspondingly
less, making the alevin stage the best time for trans-
portation. I'ui, as you cannot sell all your fish at the
alevin stage, you will i)robably have occasion to trans-
port the young fry at various ages. This is always
practicable ; only it should be remembered that the
older they are the more water they require.

A thousand alevins can be carried in a gallon of
water, kept very cold. At the age of three months I
allow a gallon of water for each two hundred feeding fry.

In brief, then, when you transport young fry, count
them the day before, start them in good condition, go
with them, keep the water very cold with ice, do not
change it, aerate it regularly, and do not upset the
tank, and you will find the fish will do almost as well
on a journey of twelve or twenty-four hours as if they
were at home in the stream. I have carried ten thou-
sand young fry, four months old, all day in hot weather,
from 5 A. M. to 6 p. m., in fifty gallons of water, without
change, and with a loss of only seven fish out of the ten
thousand. See Appendix, on Journeys with Live Fish.

CHAPTER V.
GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

Skctfon I. — Trout in General.

Scientific Description of the Salnw Fontinalis. By
David JIumphreys Storcr*

SALMO I-ON'I'INALIS. Common Trout. Mitch-
ill, Trans. Lit. & Pliil. Soc. o{ N. V., I. p. 455.
Salmo nigresccns. IJhick Trout. Raf., Jchth. oiiien.,

P- 43-
Red-spotted Trout. Doughty, Cabinet of Nat. Hist.,

I. p. 145, I'l. 13-
Salmo fontinalis. Rich, Fauna Boreal. Amcric, HI

p. 176, PI. 83, fig. I., PI. 87, fig. 2, head.
Salmo fontinalis. Common Brook Trout. Storers

Report, p. 106.

Salmo fontinalis. Speckled Trout. Kirtland's Report,
pp. 169- 194.

Salmo fontinalis. Brook Trout. Thompson, Hist, of

Vermont, p. 141.
Salmo fontinalis. Brook Trout. Dekay's Report, p.

235, 1*1- 37, fig- 120.
Baione fontinalis. Spotted Troutlet. Dekay's Report,

p. 244, PI. 20, fig. 58.

* A History of the Fishes of Massachusetts, by David Hum-
phieys Storer, 1867, PP- 322, 323, 326.

2l6

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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Salmo fontinalis. Brook Trout. Ayres, Bost. Journ.

Nat. Hist., IV. p. 273.
Salmo fontinalis. Common Brook Trout. Kirtland,

Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., IV. p. 305.
Salmo fontinalis. Common Brook Trout. Storer,

Mem. Araer. Acad., new series. H. p. 444.
Salmo fontinalis. Common Brook Trout. Synopsis,

p. 192 ; Cuv. & Val., Nat. Hist, de Pois., XXI. p.

266.

Color. — The upper part of the body is of a pale
brown, mottled with darker undulating, reticulated
markings ; the sides lighter, with a great number of
circular yellow spots, varying in their size from a small
point to a line or more in diameter, and many of them
having in the centre a bright red spot ; sometimes, the
yellow color surrounding them having ))artially disap-
peared, they secin distinct from the circular spots, or
are surrounded by a dull bluish halo ; these red spots
differ exceedingly in number in different specimens,
in some three or four only are observable, and those are
situated below the lateral line ; in others, twenty or
more are seen, scattered above and below the lateral
line indiscriminately, presenting a beautiful appear-
ance. The body beneath is white, yellowish-white,
slightly or dark fuliginous. Head above darker than
the back of the fish. Gill-covers golden, and fuligi-
nous. The dorsal fin is yellow with irregular trans-
verse black bands. The first ray of the pectorals and
ventrals is white, the second dark-colored, the remain-
der of the fin is red. The first ray of the anal fin is
white, the remainder generally red. The caudal fin is
of a dirty reddish -brown, mottled vvitli black spots.

U ,

GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

217

Descriptfon. — Body elongated, compressed. The
length of the head is about equal to one fifth the
length of the fish ; the top of the head is flattened ;
the snout is obtuse. The eyes are large and circular.
The distance between the eyes is equal to one fifth the
length of the head. The jaws are equal in length ;
the gape of the mouth is large ; the teeth are sharp
and recurved ; the teeth on the tongue are larger than
those of the jaws ; there are teeth also on the palatines
and romer. 'I'he scales are very small ; those on the
lateral line, which pursues a straight course, are larger
than those on the rest of the body.

The quadrangular dorsal fin is situated upon the
anterior half of the body; the adipose fin is quite
small, and near the tail.

The pectorals arise in front of the posterior angle
of the operculum ; their length is equal to one quarter
of their height.

'I'he fan-shaped ventrals commence opposite the
middle of the dorsal fin ; when unexpanded, their ex-
tremities together form a sharp point.

The anal fin arises in front of the adipose fin, and
is higher than it is long.

The caudal fin is deeply emarginated.
The fin-rays are as follows : D. 11, P. 13, V. 8, .\.
II, C 19.

Length, eight to twenty inches.

Labrador: H. S. Storer. Maine, Massachusetts:
Storer. Connecticut : Linsley, Ayres. Vermont :
'I'hompson. New York : Mitchill, Dekay. Pennsyl-
vania: Dekay. Ohio: Kirtland. Lake Huron: Rich-
ardson.

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DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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Generai, Remarks about Trout.

The trout has always stood at the head of tlie fresh-
\vater game fishes in the jjopular estimation. The
fickle public may change its fiivorite some time for a
more admired successor, but up to this time the trout
has distanced all rivals. This honorable place he has
gained and held, not by accident, but by merit. He
deserves to rank by himself //-j-/, for where has the
trout his equal ? There may be fish of nearly as fine
flesh as the trout, but they have a repulsive coat, like
the pout ; or a coarse appearance, like the bass ; or a
disagreeable one, like the mascalongc ; or are full of
bones, like the shad ; or have no game in them, like
the mullet ; or fail somewhere to match the excellent
points of the trout. There is not one of them that
for perfect faultlessness can compare with the trout.
This is his special peculiarity. He is faultless. He
surpasses all other fish in grace of form, in beauty
of coloring, in gentleness of expression, in fascina-
tion of manner, in gameness of spirit, in sweetness
and firmness of flesh, and in general personal attrac-
tiveness, and to excellence in these points he also
combines faultlessness in all others. Hence it is
that he is the favorite among fishes, and deserves to
be so.

Trout are peculiarly suited to domestication, being
very hardy, easily tamed, convt niently confined, satis-
fied with plain food, well adapted to artificial breed-
ing, prolific enough to increase rapidly, and having a
sufficiently high value as live game, or as a table lux-

11,1

GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

219

my, to make it worth uhile to raise them. I will not
attempt any exhaustive description of these beautiful
fish here, as they are so well known, and have been so
thoroughly described in books on angling and on tish
in general, but will confine myself to the ftw general
remarks which follow.

The vision of the trout is incredibly sensitive to
motion and to colors, but not to distinctions of form.

As to their sensitiveness to motion, it may be safely
said that a company of soldiers standing motionless
on the bank of a trout brook would not frighten the
trout in it so much as the moving shadow of one of
them across the water.

Their sensitiveness to colors is seen every week at
the ix)nds where trout are domesticated, especially
when their keeper changes a dark coat for a light one,
or leaves it off altogether. The appearance of the un-
accustomed light coat or white shirt will often frighten
well-tamed trout intaa panic.

Trout do not appear to see their food at any great
distance in clear water, — I should say not over a rod,
and in roily water but a very short distance, some-
times not a foot. Trout can see somewhat in the
night, but I think not in as dark nights as some writ-
ers have stated. If the sky be clear, they will de-
tect an object on the surfoce of the water, projected
against the sky, better than in the water, projected
against the banks. A moving light above the water
in the night will frighten trout; a stationary light in
the water will attract them, and apparently slupefy
them, for they are easily captured while staring at it.

2 20

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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The eye of the trout has very convex lenses, ar.d is
not provided with Uds or any other shield whatever
from the hght. This makes bright sunlight sometimes
fatal to young trout which have passed their embryo
I)eriod in the dark. 'I'he eyes are situated above the
line of the widest part of the he ^ •. pd are a little
l)rotuberant, thus enabling them to ..bove, before,

behind, and around, but not below them. Hence
they cannot feed off the bottom, except at random.
They will dart at a piece of food on the bottom, hit or
miss, if they have seen it fall ; but you can see that
they feel for it with their mouths, rather than catch it
with their eye, and their movements are also then very
bungling compared with their swift, certain aim at any-
thing above them in the water. 'J1iey will sometimes
poke the food off the bottom with their noses high
enough to see it, and then they will take it as well as
ever.

The peculiar position of the eyes of the trout has
been sometimes overlooked in the controversy of fish-
ing down stream 7vrsus fishing up stream. But it is,
nevertheless, not true, as advanced in the argument
against fishing up stream, that the angler must neces-
sarily throw his line over the fish's head to attract his
notice to the bait, and so be liable to frighten him ;
for the trout can see the bait if above and consider-
ably behind him, and will whirl and take it so placed,
if disposed.

Opinions are divided about the sense of hearing in
trout. I think that there never was a controversy in
the world in which assertions on the subject were

GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

221

as

more positively made on the one side, or more flatly
denied on the other. Scott says, very decidedly, in
his Fishing in American Waters,* "Fishes hear; of
this I feel quite sure," and quotes instances of 'fish
coming to be fed at the sound of a bell. Seth (Jreen
says, in his Trout Culture,! that trout cannot hear,
and that "they will not stir a fraction of an inch at
the sound of a gun fired one foot above their heads."

I will not say that trout cannot hear ; but this I will
say with the greatest positivencss, for I have tested it
repeatedly, that they are not frightened at noises, how-
ever loud, nor do they pay the slightest attention to
them. Vou may place your mouth directly o\er the
trout in a pond, and if they do not see you, you may
scream with all your might, or ring a bell as' loud as
you please, and the trout will not mme a fin to show
that they are either frightened or attracted, or that
the^ have in any way noticed it. You may even fire
a revolver, or, as Green says, a gun, very near them,
and if they do not see the flash or feel the concussion
they will not notice it any more than if they were
stone-deaf. J

* Fishing in American Waters, p. 38.

t Trout Culture, p. 58.

t Although trout do not hear they are exceedingly sensitive to
oncus' ions. The following description of the ear of u fish is
given l)y J. V. C. Smith : " Fishes have no external ear, nor is
there any visible opening, except in the skate. But there have
been so many quarrels between anatomists on the subject that
all the skates in the ocean would not pay for the paper which has
been wasted about a little hole in their head. Therefore, we
shall be careful about getting into the ring. Fishes have just so

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222

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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On the other hand, if you are in the habit of calling
the trout with a bell to be fed, and have found that
they come at the ringing of it, go to the pond some
day at feeding time with the tongue taken out of the
bell, and shake it as usual. The trout will come to be
fed exactly the same, though not a sound is made.

The nerves of smell in trout are large, and the sense
of smell is probably well developed. Hence the use
of fragrant oils and strongly scented bait in fishing for
trout.

Habitat.

Brook trout abound chiefly in cold, swift-running
gravelly brooks ; but they thrive in all pure cold wa-
ters which contain sufficient air. Hence brook trout
are found in many ponds and lakes, which apparent
contradiction of terms has fre(]uently led to confusion
among those unfamiliar with fishing. I may be, there-
fore, excused for saying, by way of explanation, that
the name " brook trout " is not contined to trout caught
in brooks, but applies to all of the varieties of Salmo
fontinalis, whether found in brooks, ponds, lakes, or
rivers. Their range is very extensive, covering a wide
belt from one end of our continent to the other. In
phrenological language, their locality is very large,
which gives them a s_trong attachment to places. In

much acoustic apparatus as constituted the central portion of the
car in man, viz., the vestibule and semicircular canals, but the
whole is boxed up in the solid bones of the skull, so that sound
propagated through the water gives a vibrating motion or tremor
to the whole body, and which, agitating the auditory nerve, pro-
duces the sensation of hearing."

I

GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

223

brooks, certain individuals wil! take up particular
licles or rapids for their abode, and occupy them for
months, and sometimes, I am inclined to think, for
years.

In lakes and ponds, the shoals of trout have, like
perch and other fish, particular resting places, where
they stay regularly. This is one reason why a person
acquainted with their haunts will go out and catch a
string of trout, while others, with better tackle and
equal skill, will fish a whole day for them in vain.

The largest trout in brooks are found in the deep
wide pools in the warmer waters. The smallest ones are
found in the cold, narrow mountain rivulets near their
source. The largest brook trout of all are found in
large lakes, where range, space, feed, warmth of water,
and perhaps inherited tendencies, all combine to pro-
duce a larjie race.

Trout, like other fishes, have small brains compared
with the higher animals, and are very slightly sensi-
tive to pain.

They have a rapid digestion, which, though not
equal to that of a pickerel,* and some warm-water
fishes, makes them susceptible to very quick growth
indeed under favorable circumstances. Trout have
this peculiarity also, that they vary from one another
in their personal appearance to an endless degree.
No two trout aie alike. Every trout has its individual
markings, as much as human beings, whicli distin-

* Most fish have a rapid digestion. Eertrani compares the
digestion of some to the action of fire. Harvest of the Sea
p. 4.

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DOMKSTICATKD IKOUT.

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Kuish it from all other trout. A mullet cau<;ht in a
laki- looks like all the other mullets of the 1 ike, so
uilh the while-hsh ami others ; but eaeh trout has its
individual uiarks whieh distin.<,niish it from all others,
'i'iic trout also of dirierent brooks and lakes all differ
from one another, so that the sln^ams in which they
are cau-Iit ean frequently be told by the looks of the;
fish. Their different loealities in the same stream also
nlieet their ai)|)earance. Over a li-ht _L,na\elly bot-
tom the trout i;ro\v lii^ht-comi.le.xioned, and they vary
throu«,di all shades of eomple.xion, from this to the
dark slimy trout, almost as black as a bull head, which
is caught in shady places over black, muddy bottoms.
And what is still more remarkable, trout have the
chameleon gift of almost instantly changing their tint
within certain limits.*

They do not, strictly speaking, change their color,
because a black trout will remain a black trout and a
silvery trout will remain a sihery trout wherever you
expose them ; but a complete change comes over
their whole complexion, so to speak, as if the light to
vvliich they are subjected were diffused through them,
so that, in passing from a dark, muddy bed over li'dit
gravel, they will in less than a minute take the general
hue of the gravel, and 7wVe Tfrsa in passing from
gravel to mud.f

Tlie natural food of trout is very various. They
are carnivorous from choice, though omniv^ rous in

* The black bass and some other fish have ihe same power
to some extent.

t This change takes place, not in the scales, but in the skin
imderlying the scales.

Il

OROWINO TMK LAKGE TROUT.

*•"$

cmcrgenry. Tlu'ir food, when wild, consists chiclly
of water insects, smaller f.sh, Iarv;i,., f.sh eggs, Crusta-
cea, and the /lies and insects which fall from the air
nito the water, -all of them together forming an
astonishmgly extensive variety. 'J'hey also eat each
other, and there are some individuals which adopt
cannibal hal.its altogether, and remain hidden like
spiders, in dark holes and corners, and onlv emeP^e
to devour their like. ' '^

The quality of their food affects the growth and ap-
pearance of trout, and it is even thouoht that the dif-
ference in the color of their meat is sometimes caused
by certai.i kinds of i^d ■ the fresh-water gammari or
pule.x bemg supposed especialh favorable to the pro-
duction of red-meated trout. Tiiere are different theo-
ries about it, however.

It is certainly true that their growth depends very
much upon the nature of their food. Francis, in his
Fish Culture, mentions the following experiment, of
which he says he once heard.*

" Equal nimibers of trout were confined for a certain
time by gratings to their several portions of the same
stream. The fish in one of the divisions were fed en-
tirely on flies, in another upon minnows, and in the
third upon worms. At the end of a certain period,
those which had been fed on flies were the heaviest
and in the best condition, those fed on minnows oc-
cupied the second place, while those fed on worms
were in much the worst order cf the three." f

* Francis on Fish Culture, p. 113.

t The result of these experiments should be received cau-

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'26

DOMESTIC ATRI) TKUUT.

I*M li

;i, ii. !

The ;ij;(' to which trout \\\v is not known. Sctli
(Jrccn s:ivs th.il tw(l\c vi'ars is probablv about the
average; a'^e, and that they arc in tin ir |)rin»c between
the a_L,H' of three years and ten yi-ars. i am inchned
to tiiink that liicy li\i' to a j^i'c.iti'r ai;c than this.
()ther kinds of tish in parks in the ( )id W'orhl are'
known to ha\e attaiiu'd enormous aijji's,* and to have
been e(|uallcd only in their longevity by the human
race before the Hood. Why should the trout be so
short lived ?

^[r. Lancaster, of Oxford, in a memoir j)ublished
last year, says that lish ha\'e ^reat tenacity of life,
and mentions a carp that reaclietl the a;_;e of 150
years, and a pike, 19 feet lon;j^, that li\('d in a lish-
pond in (icrmany 267 \ears.t lie sa}s whales are
believed to li\e one or two centuries.

The size to which brook trout ma\\i;row is \ery un-
certain, and when we come to the (|ncstion i f the size
of those that h i\e been actually cau^^lu we are on
mythical ground, 'i'he tiouble is, as(!reen mentions,
that many of the " lish stories " which are told are so

tiously, as it is cloiihtUil whether all the other niotlitying eondi-
tions were so exactly alilcc that tlio results were whollv due to the
(litTercncc of tuod. For illustration, a consiikiahle (liHereuee in
ton /'era fin;., or in the quantity of food, would affe' the condition
of the fish more than the dilTercnce in the nature of the food.

* I'ike and carp in artiiicial [londs have hcen repcateilly found
with uold linsjs in tiieir tins, and other !<inds of labels, on which
were found tlales that proved conclusivciv that one hundred years
hail elapsed since the inscription was made. — J. \'. C. SMITH,
/\(j'/. His. Muss. /''/s/ii'S, p. 57.

t The greatest wonder about such a fish, if he were in this
country, would be that had he escaped the poachers so long.

(JKOWING Tlir. r.AHr.K TROUT.

227

this

incredible* that they throw (hscicdil on even weil-au-
thentirated casesf 1 am fortunate enoii;rh, however,
throii^^h the Isiiuhiess of Ceorfje Shepard Page, Presi-
dent of the Ociuossoc Anghng Association, and R F.
Powles, Kscf., a member of the same Association, to
cite thri'c instances of unquestionable authenticity, of
trout {S<r/wo ftmliiuilis) actuallv cauirht, which weijrhed
between 9 and 10 pounils. Tiie)- are as follows. In
September, 1867, Mr. (k-o. S. J'agecau-ht at the outlet
of kangeky Lake, l'"ra)d<liii Co., Maine, two male
trout, one weighing 10 pouu'ls, the other i)), pounds.
In June, 187 r, 'I'heo. I,. Page, Ksq., caught a trout in
Mooseluc Maguntic Lake, in the same county, weigh-
>'ig 9j pounds. These are the largest brook trout in
regard to which I have succeeded in obtaining well-
attested statistics, after making in(|uiries in various di-
rections ; and I think it is safe to venture the assertion
that these trout, if nf)t the largest individuals ever
caught in this country, are representatives of the
largest type of the Salnio iiliitalis in the United
States.! 'i"he weight of trout is \v\\ deceptive. There

* A famous fish-stdiy teller (.; j said tliat he cut a hole
thiou>,rh the ice at Lake Mrie, lun 1,, ne tlian two inches across,
wilii his pocket-lsnifc, and presc , . pulled out a mascalonge
that weighed a hunched pcnuids. ( m being asked how he drew
so large a fish through so small a ole, he replied that he had
not thought of that.

t Trout Culture, p. 45.

t The following letter gives a fi
caught by Mr. Page : —

10 Wakren Sti,
Livingston Stone, Esq.

Dkak Sir: In reply to yours \ the Stli instant, making in-
qun-ies with regard to brook trou i have much pleasure in men-

r account of the large trout
, New YdKK, August 14, 1871.

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228

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

r 'i

is no safe test but the scales. The length is no guide,
for his depth and breadth will often in a short trout
more than compensate in weight for what is lacking in
length, and then again a lean trout in poor condition
sometimes actually does not weigh more than half
what he would when fat and in his best condition.
This is a great difference, it is true, but it is a fact. It
is said by medical authorities that a man cannot lose
over three eighths of his weight and live. It is not so
with a trout ; he can lose full fifty per cent and live.

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Section II. — The Commissary Department.

The question of food for trout is a very important
one, and I think, as a general thing, a very simple one

tioning three, caught in .September, 1867, by the subscriber at
the outlet of Rangeley l.ake, Franklin County, Maine, — this
lake being the head-waters cf the Androscoggin River : —

One 10 lbs. male,
One ()h lbs. do.,
One 8 i lbs. female.

The first and last were transported alive in a box of water,
aerated by an air-pump, to my pond in Stanley, Morris Countv,
N. J., but afterwards died in consequence of too high a temi)era-
ture in the water. The first weighed ten (10) lbs. by steelyard
within a half-hour after death. It is now in a glass case in my
office in New York. Ti.e 9.] lbs. trout was sent to General Grant.
Two of the trout from these waters I have sent to Professor
Agassiz, in 1863 and in 1S67, and in a personal interview he pro-
nounced them real Brook Trout [Salmo fontinalis).

Faithfully yours,

GEO. SHEPARD P.\GE,

Pres't Oquossoc Ang. Ass.

Hi

GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

229

too, though some printed remarks on the subject have
made it appear complicated.

The one correct thing to feed trout on,* as a rule, is
the heart, Hver, and hmgs of animals killed for market.
These combine the three desired points of trout food.
They are cheap, accessible, and nutritious.

'J'hey are cheap, averaging in the country about three
cents a pound. It is true that liver in thickly settled
places costs ten cents per pound, and if you should feed
the trout entirely on liver in those places it would be
very expensive feeding. JJut the lungs are quite as
good food for trout as liver, and better in some respects.
The lungs can be Ixjught in any community for two
cents a pound. Sheep's and lambs' plucks can also be
bought for the same. As a general thing, in the more
thickly settled places the lungs and sheep's plucks are
cheaper than in the country, because of the greater
number of animals killed in such localities. While
food can be bought at these figures, trout can be profit-
ably raised at half the present market-prices.

This kind of food is accessible. Wherever there is
a community of any size, cattle and sheep are killed
for its support, and wherever these are killed the
plucks may be procured, 'i'his class of food can al-
ways be obtained also at tlic great cattle markets, likt;

* Since writing the above a new kind of food has been used
with great success at the Cold Si)ring Trout Ponds, viz, English
Dog Biscuit. It can be obtained of Mr. Francis (). dc Luce, 18
South William Street, New York. It costs ten cents a pound,
and has many advantages over meat, particularly in being cleaner
and in not spoiling quickly, as meat does. I recommend its use
to all trout raisers.

m

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230

DOMESTICATED TROUT,

BriiilUon and Canil)ri(l<ie in Massachusetts, where it
can be bought so low, that, with a hundred miles' ex-
})ress-ch u"ges added, it will not cost over the average
price in the country of three cents a pound.

This fo'id is nutritious. The plucks of animals, be-
ing solitl fresh meat, are the most nutritious food in
the world for trout, and cannot be objectionable in
this respect. This food, I should say, then, should
form the chief reliance of the trout-grower.

'I'o prepare it f(^r the hsh, run it raw through a
common sausage-grinder, and it is then ready to feed
to them.

Various other things can be used for food, and the
best among these are : —

1. Other kinds of meat.

2. lave minnows.

3. Fish-flesh ground up.

4. Sour-milk curd.

5. Worms and insects.

1. Other kinds of meat. Trout, being carnivorous,
will always thrive on meat. Therefore, any kind of
meat, whether raw or boiled, which is cheap enough
and convenient enough, makes suitable food for them.
Horse-flesh,* young calves, and scant sheep would an-
swer for trout-food, and are also cheap.

2. Lh'e j/iinno'd's. These unquestionably form a
very desirable article of food for trout, and should be
given them when they can be afforded. They are natu-
ral food, and at the same time furnish a wholesome
change from the usual meat diet. In some favorable

* Paris lived on horse-flesh ; why should not trout ?

Hi.

GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

231

places they can be obtained in vast quantities, and ate
the cheapest food that can be had. 'I'hese are excep-
tional localities, it is true ; but m almost all brooks they
can be collected in considerable quantities by shutting
off the stream above, and netting them out of the little
pools in which they are trapped by the receding water.
The use of live minnows in large ponds has been
objected to on the ground that minnows, living on
the same insects and other food as the trout, rob the
trout of what they would otherwise get themselves.
This objection has some weight, it is true, in itself;
but it is more than offset by the value of the min-
nows to the trout. The minnows more than com-
pensate in themselves to the trout for what they
eat. I would give the trout all the minnows I could
get.

There is another objection which deserves more
consideration, and this is that in amateur trout ponds,
where large and small trout are kept together without
sorting, the habit of feeding on minnows may encour-
age the bad habit, in the trout, of feeding on each
other. In this case I would take a day or two for the
work, and sort the fish thoroughly, and then let them
have the minnows; but if this cannot be done, per-
haps the objection against the minnows holds good.

3. Fish flesh ground up. This is undoubtedly good
food for trout, and in some districts fish are so i^lenty
that it is the cheapest and most accessible food. For
instance, on the Mirimichi River, where smelts are used
to manure the land, or on the Missisquoi, where a large
sturgeon can be bought for a dollar, and perch for

232

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

ti, M>

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1*1 ■

nothing, these or other fish, killed and run through
a mill such as is used for grinding mackerel bait, would
answer quite as well as meat. Trout like meat l)est,
but thrive well on fish food.

4. Sour milk curd. This makes very good food for
trout, though they do not like it as well as meat.
It is easily prepared by pouring boiling water on
bonny-clabber and straining out the whey. What re-
mains in the strainer is the curd. When milk is
plent}', this food is very accessible, and also not ex-
pensive, and makes a very good occasional substitute
for meat ; but an exclusive diet of curd is thought
to be unhealthful.

5. Worms and insects. These, of course, with all
other natural food, are good for the trout. Give them
all you can get, which, after all, will not be much, com-
pared with the rest of their food, if you have many
trout. You can, however, breed maggots for them in
considerable numbers by hanging the meat over the
ponds and letting the files work in it. This is called
a maggot factory, and, though a good foo(l-i)roducer,
especially for yearlings, is to my mind very objection-
able about a domestic trout pond. If you have a pond
at a distance which you seldom visit, a maggot foctory
will do very well ; but where you go every day, it is a
nuisance. If you do use one anywhere, contrive to
cover the meat with a box. This softens the objec-
tionableness of it somewhat.

A few words more should be added here about the
care and preparation of the meat, where trout breeding
is practised on a large scale. At a, trout breeding

GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

^ZZ

the

establishment in full operation there are three distinct
sets of fish, the young fry, the yearlings, and the large
trout, and there should he a dog. These three sets
of trout require three different preparations of meat.
I'or tlie young fry the liver is used, and is prepared by
grating it on a cheese-grater, as described in the chap-
ter on young fry. For the yearlings the heart is used,
and is cut up in a meat-cutter, which will cut it finer
than the sausage-grinder. For the large trout the
meat that is left is run through the sausage-grinder,
except the coarser parts, which are given to the dog.
The heart is used for tlie yearlings, simply because it
will cut up better in the cutter.*

Starret's American Chopping Machine.

^^'hen, therefore, the meat is brought to the ponds,
it is first sorted ; the liver is cut off and laid aside for

* The cutter used at the Cold Spring Trout Ponds is Star-
ret's American Chopping Machine, and the sausage-grinder is
Perry's Patent No. 4. Both answer their purpose very well.

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234

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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the young fisli, the best part of tlie heart is cut off for
the yearhngs, ihe coarser pieces are saved for the dog,
and the rest is run through tlie grinder for the hirge
fish. This systematizes the whole thing, and disposes
of all the meat.

In the spring and foil you will have no trouble in
keei)ing the meat ; but in the summer and winter it is
different. The meat freezes solid in winter, and spoils
quickly in summer, and in the exceedingly hot weather
it is sometimes very troublesome. Your great protec-
tion against these evils lies in the spring water. Keep
the meat in the cold spring water, and it will not spoil
in the summer within a reasonable time, nor freeze in
the winter. It is true that remaining under water does
not improve its quality ; but the other advantages are
more than sufficient, at extreme temperatures, to offset
this objection. Do not feed spoiled meat to the fish.
If you ever have any on hand^ bury it in some place
set apart for that purpose.*

The trout feed differently at different seasons of the
year. In the spring, when the water beg'iis to warm
up, they are most voracious, and will eat a larger daily
allowance for their weight than at any other part of
the year. During the first half of the summer their
appetite does not diminish much, except when the wa-
ter gets heated. When this occurs, they do not care so
much for food. Mr. Ainsworth found that his trout in
New York stopped eating at 70". Mine continue to
take food up to 75°. Above that they are more or

* This place at tlie Cold Spring Trout Ponds has been nick-
named the "Potter's Field."

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! I

GROWING THE LARGE TROUT. 235

less indilTerent to it. As the spawning season ap-
proaches, the trout care less and less for food, and just
at their spawning time, and a week or two previous
they avoid it, and go without eating entirely When'
their spawning is over they eat again, and are (luite
ravenous on warm days, and where the temperature of
the water does not alter much they feed well all winter •
but in brooks or ponds where the water cools with the
season their appetite falls off, and when the water
drops to 36°, or less, they either scarcely notice the
food or take it very languidly. At this degree of cold
they are m a torpid condition, and there is about as
much difference between their spring and elasticity at
this time and in the summer, as there is between the
movements of a mud-turtle and a Scotch terrier after
rats. On mild days in winter when the sun warms the
water or after a warm ram, they will wake up from
their lethargy and eat as they do in summer. These
are the times when they will indulge their cannibal
instincts If they are not kd, and you should be prompt
on such days to anticipate their unusual appetite with
proper food.

Trout feed differently at different times in the day
In the winter the favorable time is the warmest part
ot the day. In summer they take their food best
about sundown ; they are very lively then both in the
spring and summer, and will leap out of the water and
lash the surflice with their tails in a way that is very
exhilarating to see.

When the keeper approaches to feed them, they will
come towards him, or will collect in their accustomed

liK

2'^6

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

fir. b-^

place of eating, if they have not been disturbed ; but
if they have been molested they will fly about in all
directions, stir up the gravel, reject their food, and act
as if they were crazy. This is a bad sign, and when
you see it you may know that it meir.is that they have
been molested and frightened durmg the night, prob-
ably by minks, herons, or men.

Once a day is sufficiently often to feed the large
trout. They will keep fat and grow rapidly on one
feed a day ; but I think they would grow somewhat
better if fed oftener and less at a time. There is not
mi'ch danger of their eating too much. Feed till they
decline the food, then stop. They will sometimes take
too large pieces, and so choke themselves to death,
and they will perhaps eat enough in the excitement of
feeding time to feel uncomfortably afterwards ; but
they are usually not gluttons enough to jforgc' them-
selves to a fatal rei)letion.

Experience will teach the trout grower how much to
feed daily to a given number of trout. This quantity
varies wiih the season, the quality, the quantity, and
temperature of the water, and other circumstances,
and cannot be stated definitely. Green says five
pounds of meat a day for a thousand three-year-olds,
three pounds for a thousand two-year-olds. I should
say this would be an average feed through the year,
bit in summer my two-year-olds and three-year-olds
eat much more. I think it is safe to say that under
favorable circumstances large trout of any age will eat
one fiftieth of their weight in the summer, that one per
cent of their weight a day will keep them in good

GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

237

condition through the year, and that they would do
very well on half that allowance. I have also ob-
sei\cd that with two-year-olds and three-year-olds five
I)ounds of meat food is an equivalent for one pound
of trout growth.

Skltion III. — How to secure the Large Trout

AGAINST Loss.

There is no domesticated creature in the world that
can be kept with so little loss as large trout, if care-
fully protected. Lideed, the loss is almost nothing.
The large trout keep healthy and vigorous at all sea-
sons, and very rarely die if properly cared for ; though
if they are carelessly exposed they will waste away like
dew before the sun. If you observe the following di-
rections, many of which are only repetitions of what has
been previously said, I think your trout will be safe ; —

1. Guard against freshets.

2. Avoid overstocking.

3. Guard against heated water.

4. Handle carefully.

5. Keep the trout well sorted.

6. Never let the water get foul.

7. Protect from natural enemies.

8. Protect from poachers.

I. Guard a^^ainst frrshcts. So much has been said
under this head in the chapter on suitable water, that
we will merely refer the reader to that chapter, saying,
i'l! passant, that the danger from this source cannot be
overestimated, and that the losses, when they do oc-
cur, are usually overwhelming.

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238

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

2. Aivid overstocking. There is no indiscretion ir
the world so easy for a trout breeder to fall into as
overstocking his ponds when he has many fish and not
much water*; but I need not say it is a fatal mistake.
'J'here is usually a very dry hot time in the summer,
which, if not a fiery furnace, is, at least, a watery fur-
nace for the trout to pass through ; and it is often hard
in the fall, winter, or spring, when the deceitful water
is cold, and there is plenty of it, to realize what the
inexorable exactions of this ordeal will be ; and al-
most without knowing it the trout breeder will some-
times get more trout into his stream than it will carry
through the summer. Therefore the beginner cannot
too carefully impress on his mind the simple truism
that no stream can be relied on for more than what it
will do in the hottest and dryest da\- of the hottest
and dryest season of the year, and this principle
should be acted upon. If, however, you ever hai),pen
to have on hand more than you know you can sum-
mer in your stream, there is a very simple way to get
over the difficulty, and one which I have often re-
sorted to, namely, to turn some of the trout out to
pasture through the dry time. I mean by this to
carry them off to some neighboring brook where
you have provided a temporary enclosure for them
through the dangerous crisis ; this is not a difficult
matter, and if you want the spawn from them in the
fall it IS expedient to do it, taking the precaution to
remove them on cool mornings when the transporta-
tion and handling will not be likely to hurt them.

* See remarks on water supply and droughts, pp. ii - 12.

GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

239

If you have too many on hand in the sprincr, and
have no means of pasturin^^ tJiem, then kill and sell
them for what you can get while they are in good con-
dition ; it is better than to have them die of the heat.
U you knosv of no one that wants them, then pack
tiiem in ice, and consign them to some good firm in
Fulton Fish Market, New York City, lo sell on com-
missio. Fresh b.ook trout are always in demand
there.

But if the dry time comes suddenly, and you are
caught with too many trout on hand and a short supply
of water, you have t vo remedies. One is to use ice;
if you are not in a very bad predicnment, a moderate'
quantity of ice, used three hours a day, — the hot
interval between i i>. m. and 4 p. m. being the worst
tune for the water, — will often save them. The other
remedy is to reservoir part of the water in the stream
above the trout during the cool of the night, and let it
on by degrees in the hottest part of the day; this will
answer to some extent, when the days only are hot. IJut
if the heat and drought are extreme and long coiitinued
and nights and days are both hot, then neither ice nor
reserves of water will save your trout in an overstocked
pond, and you must lose them. I will merely add that
a plethoric condition of the lish, and an uncleanly pond,
increase very much the dangers of the dry season.

3. Guan/ against heated loater. I'his point is some-
what related to the last, inasmuch as the water is usu-
ally the hottest at the dryest time, and the warmer it
is the less stock it will keep. But there is also danger
of the water heating up enough to kill the fish, even

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240

DOMESTICATED TKOUT.

vvlicn there is plenty of it and ilie season is not par-
ticularly dry. This point has also been discussed on
page 12, to which the reader is referred. I will re-
peat here that the extreme limit of danger is variable,
depending upon the quantity, quality, and rapidity of
the water, and also upon the degree of exposure to
the sun, and the condition of the fish.

The trout exhibited by the writer at the Mechanics'
Fair, at Boston, in 1S69, appeared easy with a mediuiii
supply of water at 68^ At 70° they were a little dis
tressed, at 73° much distressed, and breathing at ilu:
rate of 100 times a minute. Mr. Stephen J I. Ainsworth,
in a letter to the writer, says that 68° is the highest
temperature that his trout do well in, at 70° they stop
eating, at 75° begin to die, at 80° die flister, and at
90° all die. Seth Clreen's book says that trout will
die at 68°.* This may be the case in New York, but
it is not so in New England. Trout in our vigorous
swift running water will sometimes live through 75°.
Still I consider 75° very dangerous, and anything over
70° unsafe.

There is no remedy for the water heating up, except
artificial cooling. If you have ice enough, you can do
something in that direction in a small stream as long
as the ice lasts ; but it is a forlorn hope. However,
if you find the water heating to a fatal extent, and
think it worth while to try to save them with ice, first
diminish their rations or stop them altogether, make
the current as swift as posp'i/ie, and then do what you
can with ice. You will probably save some, if the
heated term does not last too long. But if your brook
* Trout Culture, p. 52.

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CROWING Tlir: LARGE TROUT.

241

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heats up so as to require the ai.i)Iic:ition of ice, in any
but very exceptional instances I should say select
another place for your operations. Ice may save the
hsh, but It IS paying too dear for the whistle, and it is
comnig a little too near danger to be desirable.

4. Jn^ndle thefsh carefuUy. Handle the fish care-
fully when you have occasion to handle them at all
which will not be often, except in sorting, in movin-i
from one pond to another, and in spawning. It makes
a great difference \n handling and carrying trout
whether it is hot or cold weather. In ^vinter you can
do almost anything with them, short of usin- actu il
violence, without killing them ; but in very hot weather
m summer, when they are fat and the water is warm
they actually seem to die before they are hurt.

Rough handling is very often the cause of death •
but ,t ,s a very unnecessary and inexcusable cause.'
All the handling that needs to be done can, ninety-nine
times in a hundred, be done without hurting the fish
Ihe suggestions given in the chapter on spawning
trout will perhaps be a sufficient guide on this point"
I would by all means dissect at least one fish, and find
where the vitals lie, and just how the viscera are
packed together inside. You will find you can, by
practice, squeeze a fish very hard, if you know where
the vitals are, without killing it. Alwavs be careful
not to scrape ofT the slime from the skin, for where
the shme is off fungus will grow, and the result is
death.

5. Keep your trout ivdl sorted. I know that it is
often said, " Feed your trout well, and they will not eat

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DOMK-STICATED TROUT.

each otlier." IV-rhnps tliey will not, />/// // /s not //-//-
drnt to trust f/wm. It is a risk, to say tlio least of it,
to keej) fish of dilTerent sizes in a herd t(\i;ether, and,
i)eing a risk, it ou<;h( to he avoided on principle. If
any one douhts whether actual mischief is done by it,
let him put five hundred trout of different sizes in a
pond for a year, and take them out at the end of that
time and count them over again. I think he will he
convinced. This is something that some trout growers
are altogether too careless about. They would not
think of keeping foxes and fowls together, even if the
foxes were well {^i^X, yet they run ecjual risk with their
trout, and think nothing of it. I have seen more than
one trout pond where it was only a question of time
about one half of the fish going down the throats of the
other half. The fact is, trout are by nature incurable
cannibals, and they 7<://7/ always gratify their natural in-
stincts, to some extent at least, and will sometimes
carry them to a very destructive length.*

My advice is, where you have ditTerent-sized trout
confined, to draw olf your jiond, or, if you cannot draw

* I once had some full-grown trout, of the peculiarly large va-
riety found in Monadnoc Lake, confined in a small pond, and
one autumn had occasion to remove them, and put in a number
of small brook trout. The pond was a covered one, and the
fish were not particularly exann'ncd through the winter. In the
spring, when the cover was removed, it was found that more than
one half of the brook trout had disappeared. A thorough search
of the pond revealed a large and very fat Monadnoc trout hidden
in a dark hole, where he had been overlooked in the removal of
the others. He had eaten at least cue hundred two or three
lunce trout during the winter.

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GROWING TIIF. LARGE TROUT. 243

it Off, succp out all the Hsh with a sweep seine, and
•sort them (Iiomuo^hly at stated intervals. In sorting it
IS well to remember that there is six times as much
mischief from having one large one with six small
ones than six large ones with one small one, because
tl^e one large one will eat up all the small ones, while
the whole of the other six can eat only the small one
I he most dangerous times, when the trout are not kept
sorted are just after a rain in the spring or summer,
and when the weather suddenly moderates in the win-
ter. In the first case the disturbrd water prevents
their taking their regular feed, and they get very hun-
gry in consequence, and in the other case the warm
winter days sharpen their appetites. In either case, if
you do not anticipate the cravings of their instincts
with your food, the smaller trout will pay the penalty
of their hves. It makes no difference with the lan.e
ones whether they can wholly swallow those they
kill or not. They seize them by the middle, whirl
them round as herons do, and swallow them head
down. If they cannot swallow the whole fish at first
they will begin digesting the end that is down, and
swallow the rest as it comes along.

I will also suggest the following precaution here
though it is a little out of place. If you have tuo
ponds on the same brook, one below the other, with
large fish in one and small fish in the other, mJke it
doubly sure that none of the large ones can by any
possibility escape into the pond of smaller ones. Do
not be satisfied with leaving things so that you //wi/c
this cannot Iiappen, but make it impossible by any

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DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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mishap short of an earthquake, for the possible conse-
quences cannot be exaggerated ; and what makes it all
the worse is that, should a large trout get among the
small ones, and adopt cannibal habits, he would keep
himself completely hidden, — such is the habit of can-
nibal fish, — and you might not discover him till his
ravages had been very disastrous. Fix \our })onds,
therefore, so that no freshet, or clogging up of the
screens, or other contingency, can make it possible for
the large ones to jump over, creep under, or in any
other way get into the pond of small ones.

6. Nei'c'r Id the water get foul. The source of foul-
ness in the water, whenever it occurs, is, of course, the
feed which falls to the bottom of the pond and the
effete matter coming from the fish. If these accumu-
late in any great quantity, danger is imminent. The
fish are, so to speak, on the edge of a precipice, and
the first warm day may bring great loss.

There is but one remedy for a foul pond, except re-
moving the fish and digging it out anew, and that is
the use of earth. This remedy, though the only one,
is a sure one. Earth, as is now well known, is a won-
derful absorbent of foul gases. Therefore, when the
bed of your pond gets foul, and it is not convenient to
clean it out, throw in a layer of three inches, or, if very
foul, of six inches of common earth. This will make
the pond as sweet and clean as it ever was, and the
fish, too, will be better for it. Do not be afraid of
muddying the water. Muddy water never killed a
trout yet, though thousands have died for the want
of it.

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GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

245

and

Beginners are here cautioned against drawing down
the pond, when it gets foul, in order to remove the
fish, for this is the very surest thing to make matters
worse. The water becomes thick with the offending
matter, when the pond is dmwn off, and it will cer*^
tainly sicken the fish and check their growth, if it does
not kill them outright. It is not so dangerous with
large trout as with young fry, thousands of which have
been killed by this practice ; but it is bad enough with
fish of any size, and never ought to be resorted to.

It is a good plan to keep a few moderate-sized
suckers or mullets (Qifos/omi) — x^mWets are the hand-
somer fish — in your ponds for scavengers. They do
good service at this work, they are perfectly harmless,
and will clean the bottom of the pond of whatever food
escapes the mouths of the trout. Every trout pond,
I think, should contain one or more of them.

7. Protect from natural enemies. The natural ene-
mies of large trout in New England are herons, fish
hawks, and minks. Kingfishers are also very destruc-
tive to yearlings, and will /v// two-year-olds, if they
do not eat them. Snakes also prey on yearlings, and
will sometimes swallow a two-year-old ; but these two
latter enemies are chiefly formidable to yearlings.
The best protection against the birds is to cover the
pond. A plain rack, made of inch-strips of pine, laid
about two inches apart, answers very well for this pur-
pose. The birds will not go through the slats for the
fish. The rafts which are put on the pond to shade it
are some protection against birds, especially king-
fishers ; but herons will stand on the rafts themselves.

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DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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and with their long necks reach the incautious trout
in their hiding-places underneath. Herons have very
capacious throats, a passion for fish, and a rapid diges-
tion. They are consequently very much to be dreaded.
They do their mischief evenings and mornings, but
mostly in the early morning ; and as they are not
very wary birds, you can usually shoot them, if you get
up early enough. They are waders, also, and, having
very long feet, they are easily caught alive, by setting
traps in the mud where their foot-tracks have been
discovered. I once caught a large blue heron so, with
five two-year-old trout in his throat. If you get one
alive, and are at all incredulous about their trout-
destroyinf^ capacity, keep him till he is hungry, and
then give him a panful of live minnows to eat. He
will soon show what herons can do in stowing away
fish, and will remove, I think, all scepticism from your
mind henceforth about the destructiveness of herons
among trout. The kingfishers are easily shot. They
generally come early in the morning, or about three
hours before sundow^n ; but, if not molested, they will
stay around all day, and increase in numbers very fast.
Approach them with a gun, if you can. If you are not
able to get within gunshot, lie in wait for them near
one of their favorite perches about the ponds, and
they will usually soon come within gunshot of their
own accord. You can also trap them, by erecting a
tall pole over the pond, and, setting a steel trap or
bird-trap on the top of it; it will not be long before
the kingfisher will alight on the pole to watch for his
prey, and will be caught. The same trick answers for

GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

247

hawks. Minks are not so easy to manage. The best
chance is to trap them on their way to the ponds
in the fall, as that is the time when they make their
way up the brooks. Green's method of trapping
minks, which is the best I know of, is as follows'^
"Make a box eighteen inches long by six inches
broad and deep, leaving one end open. Set a con-
mon game-trap (such as is used for catching muskrats)
in the open end of the box, in such a position that
when the jaws are closed they will be in a line with
the length of the trap. If it is set crossways it will be
apt to throw the mink out, instead of catching it Put
the bait in the further end of the box (a piece of meat
or a dead fish will answer for bait), set the trap and
cover It over with a large leaf Now there is only one
way for the mink to get at the bait, which is by walk-
ing over the trap." You will be very likely to catch
the mink in this way, though you will p,v bably get a
kw house cats first. When minks begin to infest
your waters, you will see the advantage of plank ponds
over earth ponds ; for in plank ponds the minks can-
not hide permanently, but must come and go every
time they make a meal off the fish. On the contrarv
in the earth ponds they will find some old muskrat-
hole or other place where they will probably take
up winter quarters; and when the ground is frozen
solid for a foot or two below the surface it will be
found very hard to dislodge them. It is almost im-
possible to trap them then, for two reasons. In the
first place, as they have a subterraneai passage to
their daily food they seldom appear above ground

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DOMESTICATED TROUT.

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where they can be caught or shot ; and, secondly, hav-
ing i)lenty of the food which they like best, namely,
live trout, you have nothing better to tempt them into
a trap with. Your only chance is this. Place a dry
plank on the north side of the pond, so that one end
rests in the water and the other slants some ways up
the bank. Put a steel trap on the plank, near the
lower end, and fasten it so that the mink, if caught,
will throw it into the water. Minks like to sun them-
selves in il.'.. winter, and though your intrenched ene-
my will not be baited into a trap, he will sometimes
step into one in trying to get to a dry spot in the sun.
If minks are so troublesome as to warrant the outlay,
enclose the pond on all sides and on the top so tightly
that a mink cannot get in ; then you are safe.

There is no way to manage the snakes but to kill
them ; but they are not so very destructive to large
trout ; and, if you keep off zW other enemies, I do not
think you will suffer much from snakes.

Poachers.

I know the prevailing opinion is now that there is
not much danger from poachers. I wish to lift up my
voice against this delusion. Your trout in an exposed
pond are just about as safe as your money would be
in it ; indeed, in some respects, not so safe, for there
are people who 7i'/// s/ea/ trout who would not steal
money. Yet persons will lock up their money in vaults
in banks, and then nc' feel safe, and will leave a hun-
dred or a thousand dollars' worth of trout in an un-
protected pond and think there is not much risk. It

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GROWING THE LARGE TROUT,

249

is a great mistake. I would throw every barrier I
possibly could between my trout and trout-thieves, and
would make my ponds just as secure from poacher
raids as the value of their contents will warrant.

Poachers are of three classes. First, the regular
thief. He steals the trout the same as he steals his
firewood and poultry, because he prefers to get his
living that way. He comes regularly, but, with a
thief's caution, by the least suspected path, and usually
takes just enough each time not to have them missed.
A year's steady work at it, howe\-er, will leave its
marks on your trout stock, you may tlepend. Possibly
the role will be changed some time, and all your trout
be taken off in one night and shipped to market and
sold. It is of no use to say that the law will keep
this kind off. The law has no effect on them. They
make a business of breaking the law, and if it docs not
keep them from other property it will not keep them
from trout.

The second class of poachers are those who steal
the fish partly for the lark of it, and partly because
they want the fish, and have not enough principle to
care whether it is i ight or wrong. The law restrains
these somewhat, and makes their visits scarcer, but
does not keep them off entirely.

The third class are those who have principle enough
not to steal other things, but seem to have such a
passion for trout fishing that a stocked trout pond is a
temptation they cannot resist. I will only say of these,
that the sight of their names in print would be a start-
ling revelation of what otherwise respectable persons
can be sometimes tempted into doing.

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250

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

With these tliree classes of poachers about, your trout
are never secure. So I would say, make the safety
of your ponds just as near a certainty as you can.
Do not trust to people's being too honest, or too indo-
lent, or too unenterprising to take your trout, for there
are dishonesty, cunning, and enterprise enough in the
world to steal them twenty times over, and it is
more than likely that these qualities exist in the very
neighborhood of your ponds. The true \)]an is to
put temptation out of the way of all by interposing
impassable barriers between the trout and the thieves ]
and as a guide to what may be done, I will give a
brief description of the safeguards employed at the
Cold Spring Trout Ponds. There is, first, an admis-
sion-fee to the grounds, and visitors are required to
register their names. This has a good effect in vari-
ous ways. It keeps the crowd unfamiliar with the
temptation, which is a good deal ; for persons who
have never seen the trout in the daytime are much
less likely to come for them at night than those who
have seen them often. Poachers might say of trout
w'hat Pope said of vice, —

When "seen too off, familiar with its face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace."

An admittance fee also makr^' the number of visi-
tors so small that any suspicious persons taking obser-
vations for a midnight raid are likely to be noticed.
At all events, it makes you feel safer than if there
were people around your ponds all day that you did
not know anything about. Finally, if a fee is objec-
tionable to your taste, you need not take it any oftener

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GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

251

than you like. Giving notice that one is charged will
answer tlie purpose.

_ Secondly, a copy of the statute in re-ard to poach
ing IS placed where all can read it. Tliis has a good
effect, for a quiet contemplation of six months' im-
prisonment, as the penalty is in New Hampshire, or
$ 100 fine, as it is in some other places, is a serious
damper on the ardor of at least some minds possessed
of poachmg proclivities.

Thirdly, a tight board fence eight feet high (and it
should be higher), closely spiked at the top, surrounds
the ponds of large trout. This, it is true, will not
prevent a resolute thief from climbing over and getting
the fish, if he has made up his mind thai he will have
them, but it nevertheless reduces the number very
much of the dangerous ones, and limits them to the
very enterprising only. There are a hundred poachers
who will steal up and throw their lines into an open
pond, where there is one who will bring a ladder and
scale a spiked fence and descend on the other side
where he does not know how many spring guns, or bull'-
dogs, or what not, there may be inside to receive him.
A spiked enclosure lessens the chances of loss by
poaching very much.

Fourthly, there is at the Cold Spring Trout Ponds
a dog whose ferocity I have never seen surpassed
except in a chained tiger (one of Van Amburgh's)
at a menagerie I once visited, and who is as stanch
and as^ incorruptible as he is ferocious. This dog
"Jack" is the last thing in the world a poacher would
like to encounter in a spiked enclosure, and adds very

252

DOMESTICATED TROL'T.

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nuu h, I think, to fho .safety of the fish. He is cer-
tainly a terror to nil who know him. It is true a watch-
dog can be shot or poisoned, and so be got out of the

"Jack."

way ; but he is at least another barrier to danger, and
as long as he lives, at all events, he is a protection.

There are other safeguards inside of the fence which
are disclosed only to the poachers themselves, but
which make the way of the transgressor exceedingly
perilous. I would add here that die racks which
are put over the ponds to keep off the birds are also
a protection against a line being thrown over the fence
among the trout. But for all the protection of these

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GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

253

(

safeguards there is one better than all, and that is to
have your dwelling-house o - your keeper's house either
over or close to the ponds. Then with a dog that will
give the alarm at the approach of danger you niay
consider your trout as near safe as the nature of the
case permits.

SELifoN I\'. — Adult Trout. — How ro c-.row
Trout to a very laroe Si^e, and raimdlv.

Trout show their keeping as well as any other crea-
ture, aiv' more than most. I have seen a tuuit that
was reasonably believed to be but two years old that
weighed a i)0und, and I have seen one of the same
age that barely turned the scale . at half an ounce,
i'he larger one had been in a warm stream which
swarmed with blood-suckers, than which tliere is no
more growing food in the world for trout. The other
happened to be confined in a small enclosure of very
cold watc •, almost destitute of food. These instances
show what a difference unlike condidons will make
in the growth of a tiuut. You can grow them at an
almost incredible rate, or you can Iwnrf them to an
almost incredible desree.

If you want to dwarf trout, keep them in cold sun-
less water, in close confinement, and with little food,
and \ a will do it.

If you want to grow them fast and large, observe the
following directions : —

I. Gi7'e them plenty of 7vater. of two similar lots
of trout confined in the same amount of space and
kept on the same amount of food, those which have
the largest supply of w^ater will grow the be ;

254

DOMKSTICATED TROUT.

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2. Gi'-r tJiem plenty of food. Trout will not grow
in exact proportion to the food which is given them,
because their growth is niocHfied by so many (Hher
conditions ; hut you may be sure of this, that the
more you feed them, and the more often, under any
conditions, the better they will grow.

3. Keep them where the water warms up in the
Slimmer, say to 65' or nearly 70'. You cannot grow
trout fast or large in very cold water. I'eed them and
care for them the best you can, they must, ne\erthe-
less, have com; natively warm water ; and in such
water, with plenty of food, range, and space, their rate
of growth is simply wonderful.

4. Give them rani^e. If you want to grow your trout
very large, you must gi\e them range. I say if you
want to grow them 7'ery lari^e. Range is not neces-
sary, by any means, to the average growth of trout, for
they will grow to a very good size in small places, and
it is also generally incompatible with trout growing as
a business to give them great range ; but, if j-ou want
to raise the very largest trout, you must give them the
very largest range. Trout will not grow beyond a cer-
tain size in confinement. They will stop or nearly
stop growing when they have reached a certain limit.
Range also influences the rate of growth. Large
ponds grow trout faster, as a rule, than small i)onds.
Put ten trout into a pool three feet square, and ten
others in a pond three rods square, and those in the
pond will grow very much faster than those in the
pool, on the same food. In a pond of three acres
they would grow faster yet.

GROWIXG THE LARr.R TROUT.

255

5. Gh'e tht'Pn plenty of space. I moan by space the
amount of cubic feet of room to each fish in a poiul.
Tliis, of course, is not synonymous with ran^^.. As,
for instance, a thousand head of cattle in a pasture
would have as much raiiL^'e as ten head, but ten heatl
confined in it alone would have a hundred times the
space. Si)ace is something which cannot !)e afforded
by trout growers generally, but it is necessary to the
very large and rapid growth of trout. I»ut one thou-
sand trout in a j)ond twenty feet square, and ten trout
in another pond of the same size, and keep both lots
on the same f(K)(I, and you will be astonished to see
how much the growth of the smaller lot exceeds that
of the larger lot. Much space is not necessary to
keep trout alive in and doing well, but it is neverthe-
less indispensable to very large growth.

The suggestions of this chapter are intended more
for amateurs and those who wish to ex|)eriment on
raising very large trout than for those who make a busi-
ness of trout raising ; for though the raising of very
large trout is a desirable thing always, it is not often
consistent with the best economy, — smaller trout and
more of them, with perfect security, being a more profit-
able end to seek.

Section v. — Daily Care of the Large Trout.

The mere daily care of the large trout is almost
nothing, if the arrangements for keeping them are
right to begin with. I know of no domesticated crea-
ture which requires so little daily care. With the ex-
ception of feeding them once a day, and keeping the

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DOMESTICATED TUOUT.

<nle s and ou.lcts clear, you need not l.esto^v a thought
on hen, fo. „,eks. They do not rec,u„e daily groom
ng hke a horse, or .laily „,i,ki„, yj, ,„„, ^^f^l
hous,ng n, wnner like sheep, or watching like po , ry
n yo„ have made the ponds safe from the chang of
weather and the attacks of enemies, the trot «' , be
-.„n,er an<l winter, their own kee;ers, wi, y !

^ iui ^,,.vclaI clays without the nim-lnnc

z; :;:;"; ™"'" '°"°"' "™"- -«'-'«:;;!"

nv ic ""'"'"'''■ '''''"' '' ^'-^^ «^ld«™ or never

any sickness aniong large trot.t kept in snitaMe waters

I h>s ts a very striking feature of trout growing ad a
ery favorable one. It is astonishing °how nun oi
can keep n, a pond of good water the year roum
v.thont danger of sickness or loss by <Ieath, Z
confined m nun,bers get sick and die. Disease breaks
out and spreads among large flocks of sheep ad he d

0 cat tew en confined, but you can kee^.housa,;

Of trout ,n a very small enclosure of good water in „er

feet health all the year round. Indeed, ttre s ;

oer creature above the grade of insects, except he

st ;, :; r '•'"' ''? ■" ■^"^" '-^^ -™'--s and

atl . 1 h,s ,s one of the most remarkable points
abou growtng the large trout, and reduces the labo
of taktng care of them to a minimum. To be ste
the general work .,«,w<v/with keeping the large trou;
■s very cons.derable, such as taking the eggs t par
-ng the spawning-beds, and the lite; bu ' e , Xe
da-ly care of the fish themselves is ;ery trifling

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GROWING THE LARGE TROUT.

257

Section VI. — Marketing the Large Trout.

Marketing the trout is a simple process. Vou take
a pail, some small pieces of ice, a little food, and a
hard-wood stick about a foot long, or a piece of iron,
to kill the trout with, and go to the pond. Place a'
large tub near where you are going to take out the
fish, fill it half full of water, throw a little food into the
pond, and, when the fish come for it, take out a netful,
and empty them into the tub. Sort out what fish you'
want to kill, and throw back the rest, then, lifting the
fish up one by one with the left liand, strike a sharp
blow on the top of the skull with the instrument in the
right. This will kill them at once, which is an impor-
tant point gained. Put the dead ones immediately
with the ice in the pail, and take them to the scales to
weigh them. Having noted down their weight, pack
them in a box of pounded ice and sawdust, nail up
the box, label it, and send it to the express-oft^ce. In
filhng a twenty-pound order, this can be done so
quickly that the trout can be on their way within half
an hour after you go to the ponds for them, and they
need not have been exposed to the air (without ice)
three minutes in all. Killed and packed in this way
they will open twenty-four hours afterwards as fresh'
and hard as when they were taken out of the ponds
and will be a great deal harder than trout caught by
fishermen in the wild brooks the same morning The
proprietor of the Parker House at Boston, to whom I
have furnished trout for several years, said that the
Cold Spring Trout, which were killed and packed in

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DOMESTICATED TROUT.

this way, came the best of any they had ever had in
the house. Yet his house is one hundred and tu-enty
miles from the j^onds.

The best time to kill fish for the tal,le is, as a rule
that season of the year which is the antipodes of the
spawning season. The best time, therefore, to be^nn
to market trout is in the spring, just after their sprfno-
appetite comes on. They are then hard and plump''
and in first-rate condition. From then till July they
do very well to market. After that they steadily de-
teriorate. As the spawning season approaches, their
«esh weighs less compared with their size. They
gam very much in weight between April ist and July
I St, sometimes fifty per cent and over, which makes
It desirable on that account to hold them till July On
the other hand, the prices are best at the beginning of
the season, and foil very considerablv bv July My
trout, sent to Fulton Market, New York,'and sold on
commission, April i, 187 1, brought $ 1.25 per pound,
before the month was out the price had fallen to
90 cents.

The question as to the age at which it is most profit-
able to market trout is an Important one. 1 think that
It is the spring of the fourth or fifth year. It cannot
be earlier than this, for the trout get some of their
best, It not their very best, growth the third year, and
to kill them before they are three years old would cut
off nearly ail the increase from them.

There are also reasons why they are most profitably
killed before they are older than four years. The
ratio of their growth to the cost of keeping has then

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GROWING THE LARGE TROUT. 259

reached its maximum, at least in small artificial ponds
and IS on the wane. Every year after that they are
kept also mcreases the general risk. They are at this
age of the best marketable size, - very large trout not
being as salable as pound-trout or less.

This (juestion, however, of the most profitable a-e
to market the fish varies with circumstances, and It
IS one which every trout breeder will doubtless best
settle for hmiself, though the above suggestions may
perhaps, m some measure, serve as a guide.

The New York market is the best market in the
country for first-class trout, as it is for game of every
description. The Boston market falls very much be-
low 11, and most of the smaller cities are very poor
places indeed to which to send trout for sale in the
public markets.

CHAPTER VI.

CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

hi

■

'I.

iii'l -

Section I. — The Work in General at a Trout-
BREEnixd Establishment.

THE work at a trout-breeding establishment varies
with the season of the year. In the summer, when
the work is the hghtest, it is a routine nearly as fol-
lows. You go to the ponds in the morning, examine the
streams,* and clean the screens. You then take the
meat as the butcher has left it, sort it for the different
sizes of fish, grate the liver for the young fry, chop
the heart in the cutter for the yearlings, run the rest
through the sausage-grinder for the large trout, and
give the refuse to the dog. You next take the feeder
and feed the fry, and examine them thoroughly ; then
the yearlings, then the large fish. You then feed the

* I would like here to caution beginners, when going the
rounds for the purpose of seeing if everything is right, never to
take anything for granted, but, on the contrary, to look over the
works with the expectation of finding something wrong. Though
you may have left everything perfectly safe, as you supposed, the
day before, a dozen things may have occurred during the night
to make trouble. I could mention numberless instances where
losses have occurred from the keeper taking for granted that
everything was right, and consequently overlooking something
that was wrong.

CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

261

eartl, tw.ce a week. Set things in order, observe tlie
progress of your experiments if y„„ have any. sje t m
every,l„„g ,s left rigin, and then, if no aeddent s
l>appened, your work is done for the mornin-.

an "thelf'r "°°" '"" ''^"' '"' >'°""g ^^^ ^S-" '"ice
an te ^;""S^<^"'^«■ '-=-'« '^ngs right for the night,
anc t e work ,s done for the da,-, if it is a fair day
If It ,s a r.an,y day, tl,e streams and screens will need
more watclung and eare, and there will n„ ' be
sates and flash-boards to alter. '

You will also during the summer probably have
some nnproveraents to make, and .some ehanging and
sorung of the young fry, if you have manv.

As the spawning .season approaches, there will be
among otl,er things, m addition to the routine work

graveHheh'/r" '" *" ""' "'" ""'^ -* --->"
gravel, the hatchmrr trouHis to rlp-m r.Mf i

t3 i'^/uj,iis, Lo Clean out and nrenare

for use, new flannel fliters to ,„ake, moss to get in fo
paek.ng the eggs, traps to set, and special precau.iol
to take against the fall freshets.

After the spawning season begins, there will be the
feedmg, he spawning the fish, the laying down of ,h!
eggs, o« ers to mi, and the daily examination of the

ifb will 1 'r? ''""■? ' S°°'' '"''"-^SnMon this latter
job will not be much, but if you have poor luck im-
pregnating, ,t will be a great burden all through the
winter mci asiiu; every day till long after the <tsh be-
gin 0 hatch. After the hatching commences, and the
empty eggs are all p.cked out, there is a lull i„ ,he
work till the new fry begin to feed. I, i,s then very

fit

262

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

h'

im

cold. The old trout will need to be fed but three or
four times a week, the yearlings not much oftener, the
young fry oniy once or twice a day, and there will now
be no more bad eggs to pick out. Thus the work is
very much lessened , but it is the lull before the storm,
if this expression may be used, for soon the young fry
begin to feed, and their thousands or hundreds of
thousands of mouths must be fed five or six times
a day. The shell.'^ of the hatched eggs, now be-
ing constantly shed by the young fish, clog up the
screens, and make incessant watching of them neces-
sary.

Very likely the frost and muskrats are making trou-
ble with the ponds or aqueducts outside, and altogether
this is usually made a very busy time, the burden of
whicl-' "s not at all lessened by the shortness of the days
and the excessive cold. As the spring advances the
young fry are thinned out by sales, they require to be
fed less often, the fry of last year have become year-
lings, the days lengthen, the weather grows warmer,
and the work becomes easier and pleasanter, until the
sales of the young fry are over. The balance of them
are soon turned into their nurseries, reahng-boxes, or
ponds, and the labor is reduced again to the mere rou-
tine of the summer.

The cares of a trout-breeding establishment in full
operation are very considerable most of the time, and
few beginners will be wholly able to free themselves
from consequent anxiety ; but this is more than bal-
anced a hundred times over by the constant interest
and ever-increasing enthusiasm which the beautiful

CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

26^

creatures inspire at every stage of their growtii. There
IS no time when they are not beautiful and intensely
interesting, and it is not exaggerating to say that at
some particular periods, as, for instance, the spavvn-
ins season, the hrst appearance of the embryo in
the egg, and the hatching of the egg, afford to a
lover of nature a most i)leasurable excitement, which
would seem to be satisfying even to those who think
that^ It takes a good deal of excitement to satisfy

On the whole, I should say that the work of a trout
tarm is attended with considerable care, and at first
with some anxiety, but also with a correspondin-r i„.
terest and enjoyment, and not without a very consider-
able degree of pleasurable excitement at times.

The Pecuniary Aspect of Trout Culture.
One of the chief inquiries at the present time in re-
gard to trout culture is whether it can be made a prof-
itable business. In reply to this inquiry I have no
hesitation in saying that I think trout breeding can be
made profitable anywhere in the settled portions of
this country where there is plenty of suitable water •
but to be very profitable it must be on a large scale^
It will not pay great profits to raise a thousand troui
a year, but a handsome income will be made from
raising ^en thousand a year.

I find that the cost of growing trout is very small
indeed, and that the returns are very large indeed.

It costs no more to keep a thousand trout each, of
the three different sizes, springlings, yearlings, and

if!

t'i

j64

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

mm

two-year-olds, than it does in the country to keep a
horse, and what would keep a pair of horses at a sta-
ble in the city would enable a man to turn out five
thousand pound of trout a year.

The current expenses of a trout-breeding establish-
ment consist of three classes, viz. : i. The rent of the
])lace or the interest on the original outlay, plus the
wear and tear, which together should be reckoned at
12%. 2. The care of the fish, which is not much for
a small stock of trout, and grows (comparativ^ely) less
the more fish you have. 3. The cost of feed, which
is very small, amounting, perhaps, to 3 cents a pound.
All which items of expense do not make the full-
grown trout cost over 15 or 20 cents a pound, if suc-
cessfully raised.

On the other hand, trout bring from 50 cents a
pound to $1.25, 75 cents* being, I should say, a fiiir
average, at the present time, in the neighborhood of
Boston and New York.

Here we see a large margin for profit, and I think it
is a fair one, when a man raises his trout successfully.
It all depends on this, of course. If he cannot keep
his trout alive and secure, he cannot expect to make
anything at the business.

1 should say the following estimate approximated
the truth : —

If you have first-rate water facilities, and should
hatch 20,000 young fry and raise them all to be four
years old on food at 3 cents a pound, they would cost
you, after you began to market the fish, not over 18
cents a pound. If you raise half, all your expenses

* 40 cents or 50 cents in 1890.

CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

26-

I)eing the same, with the exception of food, they will
cost about 24 cents a pound. If you raise one fourth,
they will cost somewhere near 36 cents a pound. U
you raise one eighth, about 54 cents a pound. If you
raise less than this, they will cease to pay a profit.

To assist the beginner in estimating his expected ex-
penses and returns, I will give the following maxims: —

a. Under favorable circumstances, five pounds of
meat food may be considered an equivalent for one
pound of trout growth with two-year-olds and three-
year-olds.

A For any given quantity of two or three year olds
one per cent of their weight may be regarded as an
adequate average daily ration the year round.

c. Two and three year olds will double their weight
annually, and can be made to do so in the six months
from May to September, by extra care and feeding.

<L Good food for grown-up trout, namely, lungs and
plucks of slaughtered animals, can be purchased any-
where for two or three cents a pound. The cost of
the actual food of the young fry the first six months is
inappreciable. For further information see chapter
on food.

c. First-class trout bring $1.00 a pound in Fulton
Market in April, and can be forced, almost any time,
when in season, at 50 cents.

/ Freshly killed trout, well packed in ice and saw-
dust, will stand a direct journey in the summer, by
rail, of five hundred miles, without injury.

Mr. Stephen H. Ainsworth's estimate of profits,
published live years ago (1866), is as tbllovvs: —

2(y(^

nOMFSTICATF.n TROUT.

i !

I

Cost of buildings and fixtures ;i^C),ooo

5,000 paiiiils (or spawn, at 50 ccMits . . . 2,500

I'lircc UR'u's l.ilxn for lour years, at 5.?oo |)C"r year .^<^'0u

C"ost of lood (or 1,000,000 trout lor 4 years . . 20,000

•' " •• '• J years . . 10,000

'* *• " •' 2 years . . 4,000

" '* " •' 1 year . . 1,000

Total ;is 47,100
Now for (lieir value. The million of foin yeai olds will aver-
iige a pounil eaeii, and are worth at least twenty-live cents |)er
pound in the pond, whieli makes the

1,000,000 4 year-olds worth .... )is 250,000

" 3 ye.ir-olds, .] ])ound eaeh . . 175,000

" 2-year-olds, .[ iiouiul eaeh . . . 87,000

" l-year-okls, 7 o/. eaeh . . . 30,000

The worth of all trouble at the end of four years $542,000
Peduet the price of growing .... 47,000

I'lofit

;I^ 495-00O

As these figures staiul, they cannot serve as a guitle
to lisli-breeders at present, for no one begins to i arry
on the business on this immense scale. Ikit suppose
we (li\icle the figures by 50, which brings ihe scale
within reach, we then have a profit of $ 10,000 on an
establishment turning out 20,000 four year-old trout
anr.ially. 'I'his, I believe, would be not far from tlu-
truth but for one itiiii, which Mr. Ainsworlh tlid not
take in, but which closely follows every business like
an evil genius, namely, risk. "What this fluctuating
item ought to be in the above calculation, I will not
attempt to say, but I am afraid that at the time the
estimate was made it was more than enough to swal-
low up the profits. It has been growing less and less

't !

CON'CLUDINCi CIlAI'IfK.

^u/

e\cry yt-ar, as trout Krowin- has l)c( on.c better u...\r

.sf«<«J, unci I bclicv- he- ii,„c is i.ear at hand who.

M'. AinsworC'sr, Mr.s, be rcah/ed on a n.hiced

'^^'"■' ^'"''^ '"" ■ 50/ deducted fron, the

profits to cov( the I, r risk.

n inav Mecur to scjuie to iiKjuire what makes the
itcH) of , so lar^c. I will reply that it is because
the business is new, and but little understood, the
subject-matter is of a peculiarly hazardous sort, and
perhaps more than all, lish breeders will not take pains
to insure the secnric hich is ibsolutely necessary to
success, and which I-,., been duelt npon so emphati-
cally in earlier portions of this treatise. These things
have made the risk very great, and account for the
very significant fact, that, in llu- five years since Mr
Amsworth's table was published, no one has made
a fortune by raising trout for the table, or even to my
knowledge derived any very extraordinary income from
this source alone.

I think, liovvever, the next five years will tell a dif-
ferent story, and I am very much mistaken if some of
the trout ponds now under way do not yield within
that time some very handsome returns from their mar-
keted trout.

'I'hus far we have considered the business of trout
growing in only one of its branches of profit, namely
raising marketable trout. 'J'here are, as is well known^
two other sources of revenue :

1. The sale of spawn.

2. The sale of young stock.

The first branch can hardly be considered a legiti-

m

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

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Photographic

Sciences

Corporation

1.6

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

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268

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

mate branch on wliich to base permanent returns, be-
cause the sale of spawn is hmited to escabHshments thai
are just commencing operations. I'his trade is a hirge
one now, because so many estabHshments are startin<r :
but these will soon furnish their own spawn and be-
come sellers instead of buyers, and when the prospec-
tive fish-breeding operations of the country are all
under way there will be a greai supjjly of eggs with a
very disproportionate demand.. Indeed, the prospect
is that the spawn trade will not be a permanent one of
any great value, and therefore cannot be regarded, in
its present state at least, as a legitimate ground for
basing permanent expectations.

It is not so, however, with the trade in young fry
and yearlings for stocking other waters. It is a uni-
versal custom now with owners of small gardens to
buy their young cabbages and tomatoes, and other
vegetables, of the large producers, because it is
cheaper than to start them themselves. Farmers also
buy their pigs, instead of breeding them, from the same
cause. Now it is only reasonable to expect the same
rule to prevail in fish raising, as it certainly does at
present. Many persons who have ponds and streams,
and want to keep them stocked, will prefer, and will
find it cheaper, to buy their young stock every year
than to work all winter at hatching the eggs. The
trade in young stock, therefore, looks as if it would be
])ermanent, and appears to be a legitimate source from
which to expect an income in trout-raising.

This forms at present a very considerable item in
the business. Young fry are in great demand in New

CONXLUDING CHAPTER.

269

England* at .^25 a thousand, and yearlings at ^roo
a thousand. Many thousands of them could be 'sold
at this day fr,r these, and even at an advance on
these prices, if the fish could be had. The supply
this year (1871) has not nearly kept up n-ith the de-
mand.

VVe here find in the sale of young stock quite an
ad, ition to the sources of the trout grower's income,
and I am mformed by those who are operating near
the large cities that a very considerable revenue could
be obtained at their places by charging an admission-
lee to visitors.

There is also money to be made by buying and kit-
tening trout for the market, when you can buv them
cheap enough. Good thriving trout less tha'n four
years old will double their weight in a year, and some-
trnies much more. Therefore, if you put a thousand
pounds of them in a pond, securely protected, they will

* The price-list of Cold Spring Trout Ponds for 1871 was as
lollows ; —

Trout Spawn, warranted live and healthy, per thousand $ 10 00
^ oung I rout, one inch long, first thousand

Each additional thousand
yearling Trout, four or five inches long, per' thousand'
1 rout for the Table, dead weight, per pound . , 00

Sainton Spawn, warranted live and healthy, per thousand so.'oo

hach additional thousand

k oung Salmon, first thousand .

T-' 1 1 ,. . ■ • • • . tOO 00

Lach adtutional thousand ...

Voung Black Bass, first thousand .'.'.'.* ^° q^
Each additional thousand . • • • . 50.00

^,, . . ^ . 25.00

1 h,s ,s a fa>r statement of prices current. Some dealers chanre
more, soiue charge less.

30.00

25,00

100 00

1. 00

i

1 1

H]

270

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

K

if''

H'

;if:!

in a year become two thousand pounds, and the feed
in the mean time will not cost over one hundred and
fifty dollars. That is to say, the increase will cost you
not over fifteen cents a pound.

When these various sources of income are taken
into account, in connection with the wide margins for
profit, it is obvious that successful operations cannot
but pay well. I would say, however, in conclusion,
that I do not wish to hold out i-ilse inducements to
persons to go into the business with the hope of mak-
ing great fortunes. The item of risk is a very serious
one yet, and small operators cannot expect to make
more than a fair living. With many it will not pay at
all, while it is reserved only for the very successful,
and for those who have the {ew great water facilities
of the country, to make the great fortunes.

Section II. — Recapitulation.

WATER.

Cautions to be obserzcd in selecting Water for Trout

Breeding.
Beware of,

1. Insufficient water.

2. Freshets.

3. Water that heats in the summer.

4. Water intrinsically unsuitable.

PONDS.
Points to be secured in building Ponds.

1. Excavate, rather than dam up.

2. Build compactly.

CON^CLUDING CHAPTER.

3. Build small ponds for business.

4- Be able to draw ofif the water.

5. Avoid hiding-places.

6. Protect ponus thoroughly.

271

BUILDINGS.

A full set of buildings or rooms consists of,

1. Hatching apartment.

2. Meat apartment.

3. Store-room and carpenter's shop.

4. Office.

5. Ice-house.

THE HATCHING APPARATUS.

The hatching apparatus consists of,

1. Supply reservoir.

2. Aqueduct.

3. System of filters.

4. Hatching apparatus proper.

THE NURSERY.

The points to be secured about the nursery are,

1. A fall of water.

2. A current.

3. Protection from suction against the screens.

4. Security from overflow.

5. Absence of fixed hiding-places.

6. Compactness.

7. Protection against natural enemies.

8. Perfectly tight compartments.

H n\

IL

i\

ilil

n, (

272

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

TAKING THE EGGS.

The directions for taking the eggs are,

I. Use eggs that flow easily, and no others.
Use ripe milt, and no other.
Make quick work.
Stir well while stripping.
Allow time for eggs to separate.
Rinse thoroughly.

2.

3-

4-

5-
6.

Dangers.

Fungus

HATCHING THE EGGS.

Re7iicdies.

Carbonized wood.
Sediment. Flannel filters.

Living enemies. Covers,

■^y^^^s- Daily examination.

ALEVINS.

Dangerous Instincts.

1. To hide.

2. To pursue a current of water.

ITifflH'

I.
2.

3-
4-

THE YOUNG FRY.
Dircctiojis.
Have healthy well-fed breeders.
Develop strong and healthy embryos in the

egg.
Provide suitable place for young fry.
Take good care of them.

s.

rl

n.

CONCLUDING CHArXER.
LARGE TROUT.

^ , . Precautions.

Cxuard against,

1. Freshets.

2. Overstocking.

3. Heated water.

4. Careless handling.

5. Cannibalism.

6. Fouled water.

7. Natural enemies.

8. Poachers.

HOW TO GROW VERY LARGE TROUT.

Give them,

1. Plenty of water.

2. Plenty of food.

3. (Relatively) warm water.

4. Wide range.

5. Ample space.

^71

w

1 the

V

m

274

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

|i

ill

At the time of printing the present edition (Fourth
iMliliun, i8yo) of this book, a very valuable substitute
for charred wood for hatching troughs has come into
general use. This substitute is wood coated with
asphaltum. The asphaltum used is the residuum left
from coal tar after boiling out all its volatile constitu-
ents. In solution with turpentine, it forms the asi)hal-
tuni varnish of commerce, two coats of which on wood
are generally sufficient to prevent the growth of fungus.

This substitute for charred wood is recommended by
the writer, as it answers nearly all the })urposes of
charred wood except that of purifying the water, and
is, besides, more easily prepared, much cleaner to
handle, and more convenient in actual practice. Al-
though it has no other advantages that I am aware of,
these are quite sufficient to recommend it, and almost
everywhere throughout this book one may safely read
asphaltum coated wood (or troughs) in place of charred
(carbonized) wood (or troughs).

This page is really a footnote, to which the reader is
referred wherever the expressions "carbonized wood,"
" charred troughs," and the like occur. The book
having been originally stereotyped, it was found too
inconvenient to make the changes in the text at each
place where they were required.

APPENDIX.

I tF'

iifi

> f

h

Hi

APPENDIX I.
A NEW DISCOVERY. -CURE FOR FUNGUS.
Salt a Cure for Microscopic Parasites on Trout.
TN the spring of 1872 I began some microscopic exami-
nations of the parasites on large and small trout, which
led to the discovery of a cure for what has hitherto been
thought to be incurable disorder.

It is well known that when trout become injured or un-
healthy a fungoid growth appears in blotches over the sur-
face of their backs, usually terminating in fatal results in a
few days.

It has hitherto been supposed, I believe, that the fungus
eats into the tissues of the fish, and destroys it. The mi-
croscope revealed, however, that it was not the fungus that
penetrated into the fish, but a multitude of microscopic
worms of the shape and appearance given on page 278.
The worms are never found in the upper parts of the fun-
gus, but just below at the roots, or where the fungus joins
on to the surface of the skin. Here between the roots of
the fungus and the body of the fish are found hundreds of
these creatures incessantly in motion and apparently eat-
ing vigorously. They are about ^ of an inch in length
and ^1^ of an inch in diameter, and are provided with a
mouth at one extremity and at the other with about twenty
claw-hke appendages for (listening on to the fish on which
they feed. They are continually eating into the tissues of
the fish, and the twenty tentacles enable them to fasten on
so tightly that the fish cannot shake them off. These para-
sites appear to live on the flesh of the fish, and the fun-us

!. i

m

t

V I

: llii

278

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

to live on the digested matter into which ihey trans-
form it.

Parasites which attack Large Trout, a Tentacles for fastening to the fish ;

d Mouth.

This discovery led to some experiments in search of a
remedy, and it was found that a strong solution of salt de-
stroyed the parasites. Experiments were then made of
immersing trout in salt water, and it was found to be per-
fectly harmless, if not too long continued. A method was
thus found of killing the parasites without killing the fish,
which fact was confirmed by actually taking a trout cov-
ered with fungus and immersing him in a salt bath for
a moment or two, and afterwards keeping him by himself
for several days. The fungus peeled off, the parasites

APPEND/X I.

279

were killed, the bare spots healed over, and the trout ™t
well. Others were tried; some died and some lived.

« Microscopic parasites which attack trout fry : h Water insects supposed
to be destructive to trout eggs.

From all which circumstances we may, I think, draw the
foUowmg conclusions : That it is the worm, and not the

Hi

28o

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

111

l!

i

ih'i

ff'

1-1

fungus, which eats into and kills the fish ; and that the fish
can be cured, when not too much weakened, by immersion
in a strong sohition of sah.*

A similar series of experiments led to tlie discovery that
salt is also a cure for the parasites on young fish. These
parasites are smaller than those which infest the large
fish.f They have a circular form with a diameter of about
-g^jf of an inch. They are extremely thin, and progress by
a rotatory movement. They sometimes swarm in immense
numbers upon the young fish that are attacked by them.
They do not cause a fungoid growth, as the larger ones do
in the larger fish, but the young trout affected with them
appear outwardly as clean and well as ever. If the para-
sites are not removed, nowever, the trout will lose their
strength and drift down toward the screen, on which they
will probably be finally caught and die.J Salt destroys
the parasites, and does not injure the young fry. It is,
therefore, a remedy for the parasites. Hundreds of ex-
periments which I tried of putting the affected young trout
in salt water had the same result, which was to kill the
parasites and restore the fish.

I will also add in this connection that the salt bath
seems to improve the young fish in other ways than by
killing the parasites, and one lot of young fry in particular,
confined in a small box, which I cured in this way, and to
which I gave a pint of salt every day, appeared better than

* I lised a table-spoonful of salt to a pint of water, and kept
the fish in it till he went over on his back, and then took him
out and put him instantly into cold running water.

t I have sometimes found the larger parasites in small num-
bers on the small trout, but have never found the circular para-
site on large trout.

t This fiirnishes one explanation of what so many trout
breeders have remarked, that their young fry seemed to die
when they appeared perfectly healthy.

APPENDIX I.

28 r

t the fish
nmersion

very that
. These
he lar<,fe
of about
gress by
immense
by them.
■ ones do
ith them
he para-
3se their
lich they
destroys
'. It is,
Is of ex-
ing trout
kill the

alt bath
than by
irticular,
^ and to
ter than

any other young fish that I had. I have accordingly come
to the conclusion that salt is beneficial to the young fish,
and that large quantities can be used to advantage in the
nurseries of the young fr}-, not only for the purpose of im-
mersion, but to furnish an essential element in which the
water has become deficient. All :pring water, it is said,
contains a modicum of salt. Perhaps this slight trace of
salt is essential to the health of the fish. If so, then salt
ought to be supplied artificially when trout are kept in a
spring stream where the supply of salt is insufficient.

ih

and kept
took him

lall num-
ilar para-

ny trout
d to die

hit

!l*'

B

APPENDIX II.

JOURNEYS OF LIVE FISH AND EGGS.

ELOW will be found a brief account of some journeys
with live fish, which may serve as a guide to begin-
ners.

1. In May, 1868, I sent 15,000 trout fry to New York
City and various intermediate points, in care of Mr. Frank
H. Osgood. They left the ponds about 6 A. M., and were
carried in ten twelve-gallon tin cans about two thirds full
of water. The temperature was kept low and even with
ice. The last of the lot did not reach their destination
till eleven o'clock the next morning. The water was not
changed, but was kept well aerated during the journey.
Very few died. A/em. : New tin answers very well to
transport fish in, but after it has been standing a long time
it should be carefully scoured, as it gathers an oxide which
seems to be partly soluble in water, and, at all events, is
poisonous to the fish. The young salmon for the Dela-
ware River were lost this spring from a similar cause.

2. The same season I sent by express two lots, of 500
trout fry each, to Providence, R. I., about 120 miles, with-
out an attendant. They all died on the way. A lot of
500 bass fry sent by express to Framingham, Mass., about
100 miles, with two ch.^.nges of cars, met the same fate.
Mem. : It is not safe usually to send live fish without an
attendant, at least a part of the way.

3. In the fall of 1868 Mr. Osgood took several yearling
trout to the New England Agricultural Fair at New
Haven, 157 miles, and exhibited them for several days

M

llij I, r. .

APPENDIX II.

283

in a tank, occasionally changing the water. They bore
the journey and exhibition admirably and without loss,
receiving a wcll-dcserved diploma.

4- In the fall of the same year we caught live salmon \n
a stake net on the Mirimichi River, confined them for a
while in a pen made in the river, conveyed them from the
pen eleven miles, closely packed in a creel, and put them
mto a pond. At first many of them became covered with
fungus and died, but as the water grew colder the trans-
portation injured them less and less, and late in the fall
they suffered very little from handling.

5- In December, 1868, in very cold weather, nearly
200,000 salmon spawn, the eye-spots then becoming visible,
were packed, at the salmon establishment on the Mirimi-
chi, in moss in baskets, and the baskets in large boxes,
and taken 100 miles on a sled, 100 miles by rail, 250 miles
by steamer, and 220 miles more by rail. They arrived
at the Cold Spring Trout Ponds in good condition.

6. The same winter salmon spawn and trout spawn
packed in moss were sent to Mr. Frank T. Auckland,
H. B. M. Commissioner of Fisheries. The trout spawn
arrived in England in first-rate condition, and also that
portion of the salmon eggs which did not hatch on the
way, but it was so late in the season that some of the
embryos hatched and perished.

7. In the spring of 1869, 3,000 salmon fry were sent in
two twelve-gallon cans to the South Side Sportsmen's Club,
Long Island, in care of an attendant. The water was kept
cold with ice, and the salmon did well till about 10 p. m.,
when they were on the New York steamer, and had been
sixteen hours on their journey. At this time the water
was partly changed, and water from the boat was used.
Nearly 2,000 died immediately, the rest reaching their des-
tination safely.

8. Another lot of 2,000, to make up this loss, was sent

^m

284

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

p; r

iili! ! fl '

( 11 ^

W'

N

soon aftcnvnrds, in a similar vay, but the water was not
ihaiigcd diiriitg the jouy}i(\\\ though ice was used freely.
They all reached their destination safely, after a journey
of about thirty hours. Mem. : It is much safer to keep
the fish in water that you are acquainted with than to use
that with which you arc not acquainted.

9. In the spring of 1869 I had three lots of Lake Cham-
plain and Missisquoi River fish transported to Charlestown,
N. H., consisting of Black Bass {Grrs/es faseiaiiis) ;
(ilass-eyed Pike {Liicioperca) ; Red-fin Mullets {Catosto-
inus) ; White-tailed Mullets {Catostomiis) ; Lake Cham-
plain Shad, Whitefish {Cflregouus) ; Suckers (Catosto-
mus) : Mascalonge {/iso.v, gill-covers bare) ; Pickerel
{Eso.r, gill-covers sealed) ; Hornpouts, Bull-heads {Pi-
melodus) ; Yellow Perch {Perca flavescens) ; Sheep's
Head, Urumfish {Amhlodon). Their journe> was a long
and severe one. They were first taken in a seine, and
confined in a pound a day or two, then transferred to a
hundred-gallon wooden tank, and conveyed ten miles in a
row-boat to the village of Swanton, \'t., thence to the railroad
station by wagon, thence to St. Albans by rail, where they
waited several hours for the connecting train. They then
travelled 152 miles by rail to Charlestown, where they
were received in a wagon and driven to the Ponds. Ice
was used plentiful1\' on the way, probably too much, they
being warm-water ush, and the water was more or less
aerated. The result was very different with different fish.
There were about forty fish in the tank each time, all full
grown, and averaging two pounds apiece. All the shad
(whitefish) died almost immediately, most of the sheep's-
heads died early also, and almost all the glass-eyed pike.
The mullets, perch, suckers, hornpouts, and pickerel lived.
Most of the black bass lived. The survivors are still at
the Cold Spring Trout Ponds, and are doing well. Mem. :
Ice should be used cautiously with warm-water fish. The

APPENDIX II.

285

Lake Champlain shad (whitcfisli) cannot be transported
in the spring.

10. In September, 1869, ten large trout, hatched at
Charlestown, and measuring nearly a foot in length, were
taken for exhibition at the Mechanics' Fair in" Boston.
They survived the journey very well, although they were
kept two days and one night in a tank o( forty gallons of
water. Tlioy were ultimately placed in a glass tank in the
rotunda of Ouincy Hall, where an arrangement had been
Jiiadc to run a constant stream of water over them. The
temperature of the water varied from 65° to yf, but was
kept down somewhat with ice. The trout lived about ten
days when they all died. A second lot was sent for, which
survived the remaining twp. vyeeks of the exhibition. They
received a silver medal and the diploma of the Associa-
tion.

11. In May, of 1870, I transported 1,000 yearling trout
to North Brooktield, 109 miles, three changes of cars,
twelve hours' journey. They were taken in a tank and two
barrels, with about eighty gallons of water, which was kept
very cold, and well aerated. Forty-one died on the journey.

12. On the 20th of May, the same year, one very hot
day, I carried io,ooa trout fry to Bristol, Conn., 138 miles,
twelve hours, with three changes of cars. They were car-
ried in six twelve-gallon cans, with about fifty gallons of
water. Only se7/ru died on the way.

13. In the fall of 1870 I carried 20,000 trout spawn,
just taken, in a pail of water, seven miles in a wagon, with-
out loss.

14- In the spring of 1871 I sent 10,000 trout fry to Nor-
way, Me., 120 miles by rail, 100 by boat, and 40 miles
more by rail. The journey took twent> -eight and a half
hours. They were carried in a tank, in fortv to t^fty gal-
lons of water, and plenty of ice. "here was a lo'ss'^of
about 500, many of which had been bruised by the ice.

f i.

K

286

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

i iin

It

m:\

15. In the same spring I took 500 yearlings and 12
large trout, very fat, in the same tank, in forty gallons of
water, to Webster, Mass., no miles, in thirteen hours,
with three changes of cars. All seemed in first-rate con-
dition, with the exception of half a dozen yearHngs,
which appeared to have been bruised. Mem. : In travel-
ling by rail with fish, it is better to have one large tank
than several smaller ones, provided you do not carry over
about fifty gallons of water. More than this makes it too
heavy to be handled safely in the hurry of railway travel.

16. On the 20th of November, iS/r, 10,000 trout eggs
were packed in sphagnum moss in a common wooden box
about a foot square, at Charlestown, N. H. They went from
Charlestown to Boston, 120 miles by rail, on the same day.
They remained in Boston over night, and the next morn-
ing were put on board the ocean steamer which sailed that
day. They had a long passage of eighteen days to Liver-
pool, and a considerable journey by rail afterwards from
Liverpool to Keswick. At the end of the journey two
thirds were found in good condition, although some
hatched on the way and died, and the byssus generated
by these, and by some of the eggs that were killed during
the first part of the trip, made great havoc in places.

APPENDIX III.

ODDS AND ENDS.

/CONTAINING tables of spawn in various fishes; the
^^ seasons when fish spawn ; the months when fish are
in good condition ; of water plants suitable for fish ponds ;
the months when it is illegal to catch trout in the various
States ; also trout breeding outfit, tricks for managing
domesticated fish, tricks for managing the enemies of
fish, etc.

Number of Spawn in Different Fish.

Species.

Trout t

Jack

Perch

Roach

Smelt

Lumpfish

Brill

Sole

Herring

Mackerel

Turbot

Cod

Buck land's Table.*

Weight offish.

1 lb.
4^ lbs.

^Ib.
lib.

2 OZ.

2 lbs.

4 lbs.

I lb.
^Ib.

I lb.

8 lbs.

20 lbs.

Total number of eggs.

I,Oo8

42,840
20,592

480,480
36,652

116,640

239,775
134,466

19.840

86,120

385,200
4,872,000

* Buckland's Fish Hatching, p. 13.

t It will be seen by this table that in point of yearly increase
trout appear at a disadvantage ; but when their superior quality
IS remembered, one is reminded of the reply of the lioness to the
fox, m the fable, when reproached for bringing forth but one off-
spring at a birth. The lioness answered, " Unum sed leonem "
— yEsop's 23d Fable, Vuipes et Leatia,

T

288

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

Atkins's Table*

Species. Weight of fish.

Yellow Perch 3^ oz.

River Smelt 2 oz.

Fresh-water Smelt 10 oz.

Whitefish [Con'<^o)iHs) 2 lbs.

Schoodic Salmon (average) \ lb.
Sebago Salmon (full count) 2 lbs. 10 oz.

Number of eggi.

9.943
25,141

80,000

25,076

about 600

2.368

Number of Spaivn in other Fish not mentioned in the above

Tables.

Species.
Herring
Flounder
Mullet
Tench
Bream
Carj)
Sturgeon
P.ke

Weight offish.
5I oz.

66 lbs.
200 lbs.

Number of eggs.

265,650

1,000,000

13,000,000

383.250

137,800

342,140

7,000,000

272,160

The following toble gives the number of salmon eggs
taken at the writer's establishment at Mirimichi in 1868.
The fish averaged in weight about nine pounds, and were
found to yield, like salmon everywhere else, a very uniform
average of i,ocx) eggs to the pound, when all the eggs were
saved.

October 15, 1868,
16,

20,

21,

80,000 eggs from 8 salmon.

23.
24,

It

55.000
81,500

8,000
53,000

5,000
1 8,000

<i
((
t(
<<

5
12

2

8
I

3

" partly spawned.

* Maine Fisheries, Report, 1869, P- 24.

APPENDIX III,

289

October 26, 1868,
29, "

21,000 eggs from 4 salmon.*
10,600 " " 2 "

The following tabic is a portion of Seth Green's report
to the New York Commissioner of Fisheries of the shad
spawning on the Hudson in 1870, showing the number of
spawn in shad.

Extracts from Rcpon of Shad Fisheries in the Hudson
in the State of New York, iSyo.t

May 26, caught 20 shad at night, 2 ripe fish, 70,000 spawn.
" 27, caiight 12 .shad, i ripe fish, took 40,000 spawn.

30, fished at night, got 23 shad, 9 ripe fish, 260,000 spawn.
" 3i> caught 74 shad, 8 ripe fish, took 210,000 spawn.
June I, caught 35 shad, 4 ripe fish, took 100,000 spawn.
" 2, caught 108 shad, 6 ripe fish, took 150,000 spawn.
'• 3, caught 90 shad, 12 ripe fish, took 250,000 spawn.
" 4, caught 133 shad, 7 ripe fish, took 165,000 spawn.
" 11, caught 86 shad, 7 ripe fish, took 165,000 spawn.

12, caught 70 shad, 1 1 ripe fish, took 240,000 spawn.
" 13, caught 39 shad, 6 ripe fish, took 120,000 spawn.
" 14, caught 32 shad, 2 ripe fish, took 55,000 spawn.

The following is the record of the trout spawning during
the month of October, 1870, of one pond at the Cold Spring
Trout Ponds. The trout averaged about half a pound in
weight.

Number of eggs.

October 12 1,000

15 600

18 2,400

" 19 2,400

Number offish,
2
I

3
4

* It should be observed that the salmon in the river finished
spawning by the 24th of October, and that the eggs taken after
that time were from the fish captured in the artificial ponds.

t New York Citizen, October 15, 1870.

ii!

r" "H

290

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

% 1 '

• r,3

\f IS

1;

» ■

1 1

I

i

ilni

October

• 20

(1

21

<i

22

i<

23

<(

24

i(

25

«

26

«

27

i(

28

<<

29

i<

30

<<

^I

Number of eggs.

Number of

2,500

3

2,500

4

1,800

3

1,800

3

1,200

3

2,300

4

4,«5o

8

4,600

10

5,400

XI

2,200

4

4,200

10

7,400

13

The following table shows the time of spawning in the
latitude of Northern New England of some of our more
common American migratory and fresh-water fishes.

April.

May and June.
May and J une.
May and June.

4lf|

Migratory Fishes.

.Smelt (Osmertts viridescens)
Shad {Alosa prestabilis)
Ale wife [Alosa tyrannus)
Menhaden [Alosa Menhaden)
Striped Bass [Roccus lineattis, Gill,

Labrax lineatus, C\xv.) July.

Salmon [Sal/no salar) October.

Fresh-water Fishes.

Perch Pike [Lncioperca) Last of April.

Pickerel [Esox reticiilatns) Last of April and first of May.

Yellow Perch [Perca fiaviscens) April and May.

White Perch [Merone amerieana) June.

Roach [Potnotis appendix) May.

Sunfish [Potnotis vulgaris, Cuv.) May.

Sucker [Catostomus) May.

\\oc\i. Bass [Centrarchus (uneus) May.

Bottom Pike (variety ol Lncioperca) May.

APPENDIX III.

291

Mullet {Ciieos:omns) j„ne.

IJiack iJass [Urystes fnsciatiis) June,

irornpoiit, Catfish [Pimelodtis) September.
Trout ill ordinary brooks [Sulmo

fonlinalis) October aiul November.

Uluc-back VxovW. [Salmo O(juossa) Octolxr.

Schooclic Trout (Sahno sp.) November.

Sebago Salmon [Salmo s/>. ) Last of Oc't. and first of Nov

Lake Trout, Togne (Salmo toma) Last of Oct. and first of N

Wlutcfish ((\>n[i;oiiits al/>iis) November.
Trout in si)ring water (Salmo

fontinaUs) n^^.^ j^,,^ j^^^ p^^_

ov.

m

Table of M. Costc.

rERIODS OK SPAWNINO OP CKRTA.N K.NUS OF (kUROPEAn) ns„ WHICH
REPRODUCE IN FRESH WATER.

Name of tlie species.
Salmon (Salmo salar)
Salmon Iluch (.S'. Imcho)
Trout (S./ario)

Common Ombre (S. thymalhis)
Ombre Chevalier (.V. umbla)
Lavaret ( S. Wartmanni)
Fera {Corc\i:;onus fera)

Shad (Cliifea alosa)

Pike (Esox liicins)

Carp (Cypr i litis carpio)

Bream ( C. bretiia)

C.ibele (C..i,'-/7v//fl)

Tench (C. tinea)

Perch (Perca Jluviatilis)

Time of spawning.
From November to February.
April and May.
From October to February.
April and May.
February, March, and April.
August, September, and Oct.
January and February.
March, April, and May.
February, March, and April.
From May to September.
End of April and May.
May, June, and July.
June and July.
March, April, and May.

vV^/^. — The periods indicated in this table, varying according
to places and climates, must not be considered as fixed, but as
terms considering which it is possible to guess pretty nearly the
times at which the eggs of the different species will be likely to
hacch by artificial means.

•Ill

■j-i'..;

m.

iL.

It- i. It

292

DOMKSTICATF.n TROUT.

TiMFs \rm:\ n is Iii idAr. to takk Trout in somk

OK THE STATKS.

Maine : October, November, December, January.

New Hampshire: September, October, November.

Vermont : September 15th to jotli, October, November.

Massachusetts: September 20lh to ^otli, October, November.
December, January, FeJMuary, March ist to 20th.

Rhode Islai.l: July, August, September, OctoI)er, NovemI)cr.

Connecticut : September, October, November, December, Janu-
ary, February, March.

New York: October, November, Dcccml)er, January, Februarv.

New Jersey : September, October, November, Dert uibcr, Janu-
ary, February.

Pennsylvania: August, Septemlier, October, November, Decem-
ber, January, February, March.

California : January, February, March, April, May.

The MiRiMicm and Misslsquoi River.s.

There arc two rivers in the vicinity of New Enj^hmd so
I)rolific in fish that they should be known to every one who
is interested in fishes as they swim, and who enjoys study-
ing them and their habits.

These two rivers are the Missisquoi and the Miriniichi.
The first produces chiefly warm-water fishes ; the second,
migratory fishes of the best sort, and each is a marvel of
Its kind. The fish, at the right season, fairly swarm in both
of these rivers.

To illustrate the vast quantities offish in the Miriniichi,
it is only necessary to say that within five years one haul
of the net drew out 10,600 striped bass* at North Esk.
Smelts were so plenty, previous to 1868, that they were liter-
ally scooped up out of the water by barrels full, and used
to manure the ground. Salmon sold for 60 cents apiece,

* At Fulton Markvi- prices, this one haul would bring ten thou-
sand dollars.

rrrrr

APPENDIX III.

293

and trout were so plenty that they had no sale at all •
V'cry f.ne eels were killed by the barrel full bv rapniuL'
them on tlie head with a stiek as they came uptlu- small
brooks by nijijht.

'Hie writer, in roni.ection with Mr. Joseph Goodfellow
of Minmichi, shipped to Hoston and New York, d.ninK'
the three months, January, l^ebruary, and M.uch, ,869,
30,490 pounds of striped bass, frozen ; 46,946 pounds of
smt Its, fiozen : 8,908 pounds of sea trout, frozen.

Previous to our starting this work, these enormous sup-
plies of hsh were of no value to the inhabitants. Sinee
then a lucrative trade in these fish has been continued

We paid at first, in 1868, 3J cents per pound for striped
bass, 2i cents per pound for smelts, 3^ cents per p(,und
for trout. The prices have risen very much since the
trade was opened, and make these fisheries a considerable
source of revenue to the Mirimichi people.
^ The Mirimichi River rises near the head-waters of the
St. John, and flows northeasterly into the Gulf of St
Lawrence. To go to the Minmichi KWcr from Boston'
you take a steamer to St. John, 300 miles, the cars from'
bt. John to Shediac, 100 miles, and steamer from Shediac
to New Castle, Mirimichi, 100 miles more.

The most valuable fish cau,^ht in the Minmichi are
Salmon {Sn/„u> sa/nr) ■ Striped Bass (La/^nw lincatus) ;
Sea Trout (S>/.„. trutta)- Rrook Trout (6-../„,. >,//;,^.
^•0; Smelt (av;,/m.. vindcsccns) ; Sturgeon {Acipcnser) ;

The Missisquoi River, though not so rich in fish as the

* The vritcr saw repeatedly a school of about two h.UKlred
large tro.u under a bridge where the most travelled hi-rhway
crossed a small brook emptying into the Mirimichi. Thcsc^rout
smnmcrcd here. No one thought them worth molestin,, and
they consequently lost their shyness, so as not to be at all afraid
01 the teams and persons passing.

m '

m '

294

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

h>

Mirimichi, is yet deserving of acquaintance from the gen-
eral variety and abundance of its inhaliitants. This river,
which is in the northern part of Vermont, empties into
Lake Champlain at Missisquoi Bay, very near the Canada
hne. \o[i can go directly from lioston vm Fitchburg,
Cheshire, and Vermont Central Railroads, leaving the
cars at the Swanton Station, distance 288 miles- The
chief fisheries are between Swanton Village and the Lake.
The fishing is done in the spring of the year, with sweep
seines, as soon as the ice goes out.

The fish caught in the Missisquoi River and Bay arc,
Red-fin Mullet {Catos/omiis) ; White-tail Mullet {Cato-
stomus) \ Glass-eyed Pike, Perch Pike {Luciopena) ; Lake
Champlain Shad, Whitefish {Corcgonus albns); Sheep-
head, Drumfish {Amblodon) ; Mascalonge, gill - cover
bare {Esox) ; Pickerel, gill-cover scaled {Esox) ; Bottom
Pike {Luciflpcrca) ; Black Bass {Grystcs fascintus) ; Os-
wego Bass {Corcgonus otscgo') \ Mud P^ish, Fresh Water
Lusk {Lota) ; Ling* {Lota) ; Sturgeon {Acipcnsn) ; Shin-
er {Liuciscus amcricaniis) ; Bullhead, Catfish {Pimclo-
(fus) Dck Bass {Ccntmrchns ocneus)\ Sunfish {Pomo-
tis vulgaris) ; Sucker (Catostomus) ; Yellow Perch (Pcwra
flavcsccns)', Eelf {Anguilla); Salmon, fifty years ago
{Salvio sa/ar).

With the exception of the Trout, Salmon, and White-
fish, all these fish spawn in the spring and summer.

Plants suitable for Trout Ponds and Nurseries.

The following list contains the names of some water
plants suitable tor trout ponds and nurseries : —

Arrowhead [Saf^ittaria sagittifoUa).
Arrowhead [SaL^itiariu aaitifolia).
Water-cress [Xastiirtium officinale).
Water-cress {Nasturtium hispidum).

* Tliis fish is thought by the fishermen to be the parent of the eel.
t Is the eel a hybrid ? No eggs or young arc ever seen in eels.

I

APPENDIX III.

295

Winter-cress [narbarea viihmris).

Yellow-eyed Water Grass \srhollcra gmminea).

Water-lobeiia [Lobelia dortmaiina).

Water-milfoil {Mynophyllnm I'crtuillatum).

Water-milfoil [Myriophyllum ambiguum).

Water-weed [Aiuicharis canadensis).

Water-lily, white [Nymp/ica odorata)*

Water-lily, yellow {Nuphar advena).

Water-lily, small yellow [Nuphar putnila).

Northern Calla [Catla palustris).

Fl(Kiting r.iirr-reed [Sparganinm nafans).

Pond-weed [I otamoocton nutans).

Pond-weed [Potamogeton setaceum).

Sweet-Hag [Acorus calamus).

Starwort, bitjad-lcavcd [Calletriche verna).

Starwort, narrow-leaved [Calletriche aittumnalis).

Horn wort [Ceratophyllum detnersum).

Tape-grass ( VaUisneria americana ) .

Common Rush [Juncus). Club Rush [Scirpus).

River-weed, or Thread-foot [Podostemon ceratophyllum)

J>i.clv Meat [Pemna minor). Duck Meat [Lemna gibba).

Sphagnum Moss [Sphagnum).

List of the n-ost necessary and convenient articles that
are used abo.it a trout-breedin-,^ establishment : —

Meat-cutter and stand. Grater for preparing meat for young
try. 1 m boxes for sending spawn. Water pails. Cans for car
rynig young try Sn,all fine nets for catching young tish. Land-
.ng-net fo, large fish. Small sweep-seine. Flannel for filters

Z\r^T"'T "'"'"^' ^"^^''^^ galvanized iron-wire netting.'
Shears for cuttmg wue netting. Jirush for cleaning screens
Sponge, liroom. Sn.all shovel for moving gravel in trough .
A good meat-kn,fe. Spouts for temporary use. Portal^lo trap-
bo.xes for temporary use. Large boxes for holding gravel. Trans
tor muskrat.s, minks, and kingfishers. Homa-opathic bottles for
specimens of en>bryos, etc. Alcohol for preserving specimens

agncultmal tools, as shovel, etc. Common carpenters' tools as
hammer, saw, etc. Thermometer. Microscope.

To be used at the spawning beds : —

Large tubs. Three large pails. Landing net. Impregnating
pans, limepiecc. Thermometer. Note-book.

296

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

Tricks with Trout.

If you want to make the colors of trout deep and dark,
grow them over a black, muddy bottom, well shaded. If
you w.mt to cultivate light and dchcate tints, grow the
trout on a li^dit, open, gravelly bed.

If you want to have trout short and deep, and, to use an
expressive Americanism, " chunky,"'* grow them in a deep,
still pond. If you want to have them long and shm, grow
them in a shallow, swift current.

If you want to have the trout in your ponds come to
spawn any particular day, turn on a large, swiftly running
stream, and they will come up. If you wish to retard
their sp.iwnmg for a day, let a small slow stream over them,
and they will wait.

If there is a fall of water where trout run wild, set a
common bushel basket behind the fall in a pcipendicular
line with the top of the dam. The trout will spring up
the fall in the line of the current in attempting its passage ;
but, if not successful, will fall back in the line of gravita-
tion and be caugnt in the basket. If you wish to trap
trout from below into an enclosure above, on a brook,
screen it at the desired place, and arrange a pendent gate
or door of wire netting in the screen, as in a mouse-trap,
so that they can go through, but cannot come back. This
will work quite successfully in the spawning season, when
the trout's instinct to go up stream is very strong.

If you wish to take trout out singly from a pond without
hurting them, bait a line (witnout a hook) with an inch-
square piece of red flannel. The trout will swallow it just
far enough to allow himself to be pulled out on the bank,
but not far enough to hurl him.

If you want trout to frequent a particular place in your
pond, feed them there regularly. If you want them to re-

* Also provincial in England, I believe.

APPENDIX III.

29;

d dark,
led. If
row the

) use an

a deep,

m, grow

come to
running
3 retard
er them,

d, set a
ndicular
)ring up
massage ;
gravita-
. to trap
I brook,
lent gate
use-trap,
k. This
jn, when

I without

an inch-

)W it just

he bank,

; in your
em to re-

treat to any particular place in your pond, feed them regu-
larly, excavate a hole there, and darken the bottom, plachi-r
light gravel throughout the rest of the pond. They wiU
always go there when disturbed, unless too tame or expect-
ing feed.

If you are carrying trout in a barrel or tank, and want
to make them rise from the bottom, give the barrel a knock
or a blow near the bottom. The trout will instantly rise.
If you want to make them sink to the bouom of the tank,
shake a white handkerchief over them.

After a trout appears perfectly dead from suffocation
(want of air), you can, if he has not been left too lon<r in
this condition, bring him back to life by vigorously aerat-
ing the water

Commence tickling a trout underneath with your hand,
and in a little while, if you are gentle and patient, you'
will so mesmerize him that you can raise him out of the
water, on the open palm of your hand, without his strug-
gling.

U you want to attract trout to your bait, us2 the oil of
rliodum, or anise, or cumin. The smell of salmon roe
also attracts them It is said that the scent of petroleum
and tar is enticing to them. Walton recommended the
use of petroleum.

If you want to net out trout in the night, arrange a lan-
tern so that you can sink it in the water. Once in the
water the fish will gather around it, and wiii become so
bewildered that you can net them out without difficulty,
whether wild or tame.

If you want to prevent a lot of trout from b-ing hooked
out in the night by poachers, feed them well towards even-
ing, and tlicn catch out two or three with a small hook,
and, after a moment or two, throw them back. They will
create a panic amongst the rest, so that there will be no
more rishing that night uith a hook.

E|]

HI
Jl

ii

I

298

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

■1!)

II

If you want to see whether trout notice sounds, creep up
cautiously, with a bell and revolver, to where you can see
them without their seeing you, then scream with all \()ur
miyht, rinj; the bell, and tire the pistol. If they do not see
any of your motions, they will not move a fin.

Tricks wrni Trout Imjgs, otiikr Fish, Muskkats,

F.Tc, I'/rc.

If you want to have trout e.ugs hatch in the summer,
keep them on ice for six months. If you want to hatch
them in a month, keep a stream of warmish water running
over them. This you can do by betiding the supply-pipe
in a bank of fresh horse-manure. Make the pipe small,
and give it several turns in the bank.

If you want to see a trout-egg hatch, take one that is
just ready to bre.dv the shell and put it in v.arm w.Uer, say
at 70°, the warmth will often stimulate the embryo nito
breaking the shell.

If you want to drive alevins from a particular corner
where they have collected, pour a few cups of water over
the spot, which will drive them away, then fill in witl; whit-
ish gravel, which will keep them away to some extent.

If a trout, not over two and a half inches long, strikes
at a black spider in tiie water, the spider will strike back
at him, and if he takes a good aim will kill the trout in-
stantaneously. The little fellow will not go tsvelve inches
before he turns over on his back and dro])s down dead.

If you throw small balls, made of the fisher's berry
{Coccu/its /iiditi/s), into the water, the fish will cat it, be-
come poisoned, and rise to the surface dead.

If you have occasion to carry live bullheads* any dis-

* The bullhead [Pinidodns) is very tenacious of life. Fisher-
inen often, by a half-dissecting and luilf-flaying ])roccss, take the
meat out of a bullhead's body for Uicir chowder, leaving only
the head, skin, and fins. This more than eviscerated shell of a

!■

AITEXDIX III.

299

tance, you can do so hy ijackin,!,^ them in wet moss {Sp/iair-
nuiii). They will live forty-ei.uht hours in it. Or, if it is
in the winter, you can freeze ihem u]) and carry them, if
you do not freeze them so stiff hut that you can bend them
easily. This you can also do with pickerel and other tish.

If >'ou wish to keej) down the ,t,n-een conferva, commonly-
called fro,i,r spittle, strew sand or fine gravel over it. This
will effectually check it.

When muskrats be^in to come up your brook in the
fall, set your traj)s in the middle of the stream and place
obstructions (stakes or anything; on each side of the trap,
as Air as the bank. The rats will go into the trap, rather
than go around or over the obstruction. If ihe muskrats
have succeeded in getting up into your ponds, sink a barrel
into the pond, till it a little less than half full of water, and
put a sweet apple in it. The rats will get into it after the
apple, and cannot get out

If muiks have got into your ponds, push one end of a
plank into the water, on the north bank of the pond, and
let it rest so, obliquely, on the bank, facing the south. Put
your trap on the plank, so that the mink must step into it
if he comes up on the plank. He will presently climb up
the plank to sun himself, and will be caught.

If kingfishers or fish hawks molest j'^our trout, erect a
pole on the bank, and fasten a common steel trap on the
top of ,t. The birds will surely light on the pole to watch
then prey, and wdl almost always be caught. If lar-e
herons visit the ponds, place a number of steel traps m
any shallow part of the pond where their tracks are seen.
The heron's feet are so large that he will not be long stc-p-
p.ng into one of the traps. The traps should be firmlv
fastened, of course.

creature will hnn.cdiatcly gain his equilibrium in the water, and
endeavor to move off with as natural a motion of the fins as if
notlung had happened. This sickening sight I have often seen
at the Missisquoi River.

m

wssmsm

300

DOMFSTICATED TROUT.

IIP

J

'>!

■

;'i

If you wish to know whether poaclicrs visit the ponds
at nii;ht, tic cords across the paths, or, if the Ki<)iiiid is
suitable, strew a hiyer of fine sand around the ponds.
The breaking of the cords or footprints on the sand will
reveal the presence of the nocturnal visitors.

Frki:zin(; Fish.*

Fidin ilu' Siioiiiilic Ameiicin, J.iim.irv, 1854.

I have vvitnesseil repeaietlls-, the two winters I have been
here, the resuscitation of hnzen trout, pickerel, and perch,
on thawing them out in fresh rinuiing water, even alter
they had been carried foi- miles.

It is only under certain circumstances, however, that
they will revive. If caught on a il.iy when it is cloudy and
freezing hard, and if not hurt with the hook, and they
freeze immedi.itely on being thrown on the ice, they will
revive on being thawed out. But if allowed to toss about
in the sun, on a ci.'ar day. and probably not freeze for an hour
or two after they are caught, then they will never revive.

It is so common a thing that 1 have only to go back to
the last day I was lishing, for an example of it. I went
down to Lake Sandford with one of our men, on the 29th
ultimo, and at night we carried home in our packs eleven
pickerel, all frozen hard, and bent and curved just as they
happened to twist themselves before freezing. We put
them into a trough of running spring water, and when
thawed out found six of them alive. The others had prob-
ably been caught in the warmest part of the day, and died
befoie they froze. The same day fifteen fine brook trout
were brought from Lake Andrew, five miles distant, in a
pack, and on being thawed out several of them revived,
tiiough T did not notice how many. They are, however, a
much more delicate fish than the pickerel or perch, and
more easily hurt and killed than either of them.

* Compare Embryologie dcs Salmones, C. Vogt, p. 17.

ll''l-

APPENDIX in.

3or

On the .-.ficrnoon of the 24th ultimo I had fished faith-
fully for pickerel till sundown, without even gettin<r an en
coura-inK nibble; tired at last of that fun, I took out a
small hook and line, and soon had twenty-live perch • they
froze almost instaiuly ; I strun- them on a crotched twi.r
earned them so lor two miles, and, when thawed out, found
h)urteen of them alive, the rest luuing been hurt either by
the hook or the twi^^

The pond behind the village, formed by the dammn,.^
of the rner, ,s full of younj,^ pickerel ; thev are all from
three hsh put in there last winter, one male and two fe-
males All of them were brought from Lake Sandford
frozen, and were put into the pond after thev had been
thawed out in a trough. The male I caught'; it lay on
the ice, frozen, for three hours, and then, not lindin- a
mate lor him, 1 ran a stick through his gills, and dragged
him hon.e on the snow, two miles, threw him into the
trough, and thought no more of him till next mornin..
when I found him alive, and seemingly enjoying himself as
well as his narrow limits would permit. I took pitv on the
poor fellow, carried him down to the pond, and he went
off like a dart.

These are but a few instances of what occurs almost
every day the winter through. The fact of their resuscita-
tion after being frozen, as I have described, is known to
every one here who is in the habit of fishing in winter, and
<:annot escape being noticed, as the weather is cold enough
almost all the time to freeze them, and they have to ?je
thawed out before they can be cleaned.

I have heard fishermen say that they liave taken trout
when frozen, and whittled the fins and tail off, and, on
being thawed, found them alive ; but I have never tried
this or any other experiment with them, and would not
vouch for the truth of it.

1 1. ■ i

■ 1^

Ih

If:

I '

ri :

302

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

First Authentic Account of Flv-Fishing.

Extract from ^Elian's History of Animals, XI. i, A. I). 230.

I have heard this account of a mode of fishing in Mace-
donia. In a river called Astneus, which Hows between
licnea and Thessalonica, arc found fishes marked with va-
rious colors (spotted trout). These feed upon Hies that
play upon the water, which are unlike any other Hies, — dif-
fering from bees, wasps, or hornets, but of a distinct spe-
cies. 'Ihey have the boldness of other tlies, are about the
size of hornets, of the color of wasps, and make a bum-
bling noise like bees. These they call "iKKovpou. These,
as they sport on the surface, the fish see; and, moving
slyly through the water till they get under the insect, leap
upon it as a wolf upon a sheep in a flock, or an eagle upon
one of a flock of geese, and, seizing their prey, sink again
into the deep water. This the fishermen observed, but
could not use them for bait, as, when caught in the hand,
the flies lost their color and their wings ; for which cause
they hated them (the fishes glutting themselves upon the
bait which the angler knew not how to use). But, in pro-
cess of time, as their angling science advanced, they learned
to outwit the fish by their ingenuity. They first wrapped
around their hook some Phoenician (purple) wool, and then
tied on two feathers, or the wattles of a cock's neck, of a
wax color. This they threw with a pole or reed, an of)yvia,
four cubits long (there must be a mistake here, for, at the
utmost, that would not be more than seven or eight feet),
and a line of the same length. These cunning artifices
they threw on the water, and the fish, attracted by the ap-
pearance of the pretty insect they feed upon, seized the
bait, and were caught.

f^

^ttt^

*-

-fflH''

'1 i

I

,,i

ill

.^H>-

APPENDIX III.

303

Ancient Fish Storv.*
The farthest stretch of prof.nc writers into the history
of fish,„K ,s the mention n.ule by Uiodorus SicuUts (Lib!
I- S-) of Moens, the ,„m,e<ii„te pretlecessor of Ses, stri,

H. 00), ,yh,eh, necord,„K to Champollion l.i.-euc would

soon). Th,s Moer,s, the historian says, eonstr, ete.i the

mous art,he,a lake ealied by his nanu./whieh was eil .^

s ad,a long and ri,UX,e,„, (,„y f„„, |,„„^| - J

ad.. COS. hfty talents to open and slH,t the tlood-g t '

In the n,,ddle he erected .wo sep.dchral pvramids o,"e for

..mse f and .he other for his w,fe, with n' arble tu™ of

hem both on a throne. ISn, it was also a vast ,ish-r ond

having ,„ ,. t,,en,y-.wo differen. kinds of lish, whie^ hv!

saltmg them were no. suHrcient for .he purpose The
evenue denved from .he Hshin;, he assigned'. , his Jifc
V o had .has, out of tha. source, a talen. (S ,0,000) a lay'

fo. pm money. The passage is curious, as show,^.> he

..nportance of fish as an article of food.

A Dissertation on Shad.

From [he Belfast Journal.

ehll'L""'"' ™'.™'"«' ^"' "I" Shad-racI,, whom Nebu-
thitr;-: TT"' " ^""y ^'''^P' '"' ^'f'"- IH- passed

h m l!:f' ""^"."'' '" ""' -'P-' "- ^h-l --'".bies

0 b^^e! T,""""","- ■'"•■"' *•"■'= "^""■•'■'^ pin-cushions
for bones. They are built of the refuse s.ulT .ha. was left

after all .he res. of the fish were concocted. The interior
Co:S:g.er:'p.''vir^ '" "'"^^ -' ""'-"'^ 'O^'^- "'

r

if

II' 'I

1^ >

;04

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

1 1

v'

of a shad looks like a fine-tooth comb or a wool-card, and
the best way to get \hv meat out is to use a toothpick. A
little Liter in the season and the shad will make their ap-
pearance. Wiien they come, they come a ^ajod deal ; there
is many of him ; he is multitudinous. We arc not read
up as to where the shad lives before he comes thi wa\-,
but he boards where they set a poor table. When he lirst
puts in an appearance, he is extremely emaciated. He is
so thin that his skin don't fit him, hence the phrase "thin
as a shad." Vou can't get anything thinner than a spring
shad, unless you take a couple of them, when, of course,
they will be twice as thin. They look much like a porgie,
— about twice as much, but they arc not so hi;^h-scented.
Shad fishing is a lucrative business. If the fisherman has
good luck, they will net him considerable, or he will net
them considerable, wc are doubtful which. They are fast.
They don't stop to loaf any more than a thoroughbred pill,
but just keep right on about their business.

A person to like shad wants to eat them often, at near
intervals, once every twenty-four hours for eleven or nine-
teen weeks. The champion place for getting up an appe-
tite for shad is at a Brooklyn boarding-house. The thing
there is reduced to a science. As soon as shad becomes
cheap and plenty, the landlady announces at the breakfast-
table that she will have shad for dinner. The boarder
immediately goes to his room and puts on the poorest shirt
he has, and when he comes to dinner he has provided him-
self with a magnifying glass, which makes the bones look
larger, a small basket to put the bones in, a toothpick, and
a pair of tweezers. When one eats shad he wants to eat
it ; he don't want to talk or discuss the state of affairs in
France, as he will get so full of the bony parts that he will
sigh for a little more Bourbon. Wlicn he swallows a bone,
all he has to do is to take his tweezers and pull it out ;
after one learns this art it is simple and even graceful. It

thin

APPENDIX III.

305

IS calculated that during .he shad season a good shad-cater
w.ll get from ten to fifteen bushels of bones from what shad
he eats. After the last shad i. destroyed, he tears off his
shirt, sandpapers off the ends of the bones which are stick-
ing out through his skin, dons clean linen, and is himself
again. If we have in our remarks said aught that looks
as though wc had wandered from the truth, we are willin -
to vouch for correctness by furnishing all sceptics with I
written affidavit

Pi

APPFNIMX IV.

C.\Ki;(>XI/KI) II A ICIIINC. 'rkoiGiis*

^T THEN the first efforts at trout breeding were made
V V ill this country, wooden trou-hs were used for hatch-
ing the eg.i^'s. It was soon found th.it the fun;4us which
grew on wood when under water was exceetUn-ly cU-struc-
tivc to the e-gs. Indeed, of all the dan-ers to which the
e<r<rs V ere exposed, fuiv^us proved to be the worst. It de-
stroyed them by thousands and hundreds of thousands, and
those which it did not actually kill it rendered worthless by
exhaustmg their vitality. It therefore became indispensa-
ble to abandon the use of wood for hatchinLj trout e-gs.
The great want was, then, to find somethin-- which, by
being inexi)ensive, accessible, and at the same time safe
from° fun-US, woidd supply the place of the old wooden
iroir^hs. The emergency brought out various materials, —
soapl;tone, slate, pottery, glass, metallic screens and pans,
wood lined with glass, and other things, all of which were
tried and found to be either inadequate or expensive, and
the want of a cheap and safe material w;is still unsup-

plied.

It was at this time, after many useless experiments, and
the loss of many thousands of eggs, that the writer hit
upon charred or carbonized wood. This was tried, and
found to answer the purpose beyond all expectations.
Nothimi conhl he conceived more perfect in its adaptabil-
ity. The jirolilem was solved. In carbonized wood was
found an inexpensive, accessible, and perfecdy effective
material for hatching fish eggs, without danger from fun-

* See page 274.

APPENDIX IV.

307

Kt's. It IS also one of tlu- most clin-.ihk' and easily handled
t im^s in the world. And this is not all. It has invari-
;«i)iy been my experience that in any instance where the
'•ar.H,n.zed hatching troughs have bee.i used, not „nlv have
Ih ' ' - '^' '■ '■

C"J

MM

;s been (ree from tungus, and have therefore hatched
better, but the young fry have lived better; and the con-
trast between the effect of the charred wood and the raw
materia m this respect has been very marked indeed.
W lule the young fish, hatched in the old wooden trou-^hs
seemed to drop down dead from no assignable cause,''lhJ
by batched m the charred troughs showed a wonderful
t^'-iac.ty of hfe, that became more and more surprism-^
pery day. I have hatched over a nnllicn eggs in these
roughs, and speak from experience, and my experience
li.is been, without an exception, to confirm the belief tint
tlie fry hatched in this material do not die as thev did
under the old method. It is a fact that can be continned
by my assistants, that in some of the charcoal trou-hs last
year less than one-tenth per cent were lost by death in the
brst three months, with the exception of deformed ones
his year it has been the same ; and if anv one will take
the pains to visit my hatching house, I will show him
charred troughs, which the water has run throu-h for six
months or more, that are as clean from fungus^ls when
tlie water was turned on in the fall, and also troughs of
>()ung fry, where death is a rare occurrence.

The exclusive right to use charcoal and charred wood
for hatching fish eggs has been secured to the writer m
the United States by letters patent; but even with the
royalty paid for the right to use charred wood * it is still
the cheapest thing that can be found, as well as the best
I he reader can see the saving in expense in the use of
charcoal troughs over glass grilles by looking at the fol-
lowing figures : —

* See page 274.

3o8

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

ir

1 .

I ' .n

Glass grilles for hatching 100,000 eggs cost, say 80 at
$3.50 apiece

Carbonized troughs* for hatching 100,000 eggs cost for

Lumber and labor $^5

Right to use 25

Total cost

$280

40

^240

!>' I

Balance in favor of charcoal troughs

This is an important saving of money; but there is a
still greater saving in the lives of the young fish after they
are hatched.

These consiileraiions lead me to think that for business
the carbonized troughs* stand the test better tlian anything
in use. 1 will only add that the work of preparing the
carbonized lining to the trough is very trifling, and can be
done in a few moments and at an insignificant expense.

* See page 274.

Wf"

? I

$28o

40
$240

APPENDIX V.

BRIEF SKETCH OF OPERATIONS AT THE COM)
SPRING TROUT PONDS.

yHlS establishment was the first of its kind undertaken
in New England for making a business of fish breed-
ing. It ,s located in Charlestown, N. H., a town on the
Connecticut River, about fifty miles by rail above the
Massachusetts line. The water supply consists of two
streams, both fed by springs, and running about ,0,000
ga ons an hour in dry weather. The hatching house is
buiIt at the source of one of these streams, and has a sup-
ply of 2,000 gallons an hour, at 47° Fahrenheit. The
breeding ponds are built at the junction of the two streams
and receive, when required, all the water from both.

1866.
The Cold Spring Trout Ponds commenced operations in
he summer of r866, when two or three small ponds were
bu.lt and a hatching buildmg, 8 feet by ,6, was erected.
Ihis building hatched 15,000 trout the following winter.

1867.
My whole attention was given the next year (1S67) to
grown^g the young fry, it being my conviction that every-
hing now depended upon successful operations in this par-
ticular department. I felt certain that here was the weak
point in trout raising. Trout had been hatched by the
Kindred thousand. Trout enough had come into bein-^
by artificial means to fill the market to overfiowinc if ,hev

;

3IO

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

II'

had grown up. But where were they ? Domestic trout
ought to have been as plenty as codfish ; nistead of that,
there were none to be had.

I therefore made the growing of the young fish a severe
and unremitting study the first year, and was rewarded
with success ; not that I did not lose many young fry, for I
lost a great many, but I raised some, and in most instances
where they died I thought 1 saw a removable cause. I
now believed that time and study would prevent the diffi-
culties of the first year's growth, and proceeded to extend
my operations. The original hatching house was enlarged
into a building 16 feet by 24, and a large new hatch-
ing house, 60 feet by 27, was put up, with 500 feet of
hatching troughs. That fall over 100,000 trout eggs were
laid down, beside 40,000 salmon eggs, which were sent by
the Massachusetts and New Hampshire Commissioners
to be hatched here for the Connecticut River.

1868.

The next spring (1868) the plan of the rearing box was
completed, the object of which is to protect the young fish
from accident, and from their natural enemies. It will not,
of course, feed them, or keep them from dying of diseases,
but it will save them from the two very prolific causes of
loss just mentioned, namely, accidents and natural enemies.
This spring, and during the winter, some of the salmon
eggs and young fry were, with the consent of the Commis-
sioners, sent to Professor Agassiz. They were the first
live specimens of the American Salmo salar that the great
naturalist had seen, and drawings were taken of them
for his projected work on the Salmonidaj of this conti-
nent.

During the same spring another pond was built, and a
few black bass introduced from Lake Champlain. Tlicre
were also 100,000 young bass hatched in some small arti-

jf ■si'J'.-i

APPENDIX V.

311

ficial ponds in New York State, which formed a branch of
the Cold Spring Farm. It is a good evidence of the in-
creased public interest in fish culture that now there is an
incessant demand for black bass, while in 1868 I had but
one order for bass fry during the whole summer. In the
fall of this year I built a large salmon-breeding estab
lishment, with extraordinary natural facilities, on the Miri-
michi River, New Brunswick. Nearly half a million sal-
mon eggs were taken here this year, one half of which
went by agreement to the Canadian Department of Fish-
dries, and the other half were taken to the hatching house
at Charlestown. Various causes had reduced the num-
bers, however, and each half was estimated at only 183,000 ;
100,000 of these were sold to the Massachusetts and New
Hampshire Commissioners for % r,6oo, and sent to Messrs
Robinson & Hoyt, at Meredith Village, N. H., to be hatched
by them for the Merrimack River. (3ther lots were sent to
various parties, among others, the South Side Club, New
York ; W. Clift, I'oheganut Ponds, Conn. ; Colonel Theo-
dore Lyman, for Massachusetts State Hatching House
and E. A. Brackctt, Winchester, Mass. One lot was sent to
England to Mr. Frank Auckland, British Commissioner of
Fisheries, and was favorably noticed in the London Times.
One salmon of this fall's take of eggs, now three years
old, was kept till last winter (1872) at Charlestown, in the
fresh water it was hatched in. It is a smolt, but verv
much dwarfed, and is the oldest tame salmon in America.
One lot of yearling trout, hatched here in the >ear 1867,
took a diploma at the Connecticut River Agricultural Fair.'
Another lot took a diploma at the New England Fair at
New Haven.

1869.
In the spring of 1869 about 100 spring spawnino- fish
were brought from the Missisquoi River to'the Cold Spring
Trout Ponds, consisting chiefly of black bass, glass-eyed

312

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

;;.i I'W:

pike, mullet, yellow perch, and one larfrc Esor, well knowi\
to visitors as the " bijr pickerel." These fish arc quite
large, and though of not much profit are a fine sight, and
afford observers an opportunity of studying their w;n's.
In the fall of this year, the trout, now two years old, which
took diplomas at the last year's agricultural fairs, received
a diploma and silver medal at Boston at the exhibition of
the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' Association. In
the same fall, carbonized or charred wood, for hatchinEf
trout eggs, was tried at the hatching house in Charlcstown,
and was found to answer its purpose perfectly. This was
the year of the great freshet, which wrecked so many trout
ponds. It fortunately did no harm at the Cold Spring
Farm.

1870.

The next year, 1870, the demand for trout eggs and
young trout had very much increased. Preparations to
meet this demand were made at the Cold Spring Trout
Ponds. The carbonized hatching troughs were introduced
throughout in the hatching buildings, and 250,000 trout
eggs were laid down in them. In the mean time a fine lot
of yearlings had been brought through the last year. Sev-
eral consignments of large trout had been sent to Fulton
Market, New York, and one of the largest hotels in Bos-
ton had been supplied through the summer.

1871.

The next spring, 1871, the demand for eggs and young
fish was a quarter of a million more than the establishment
could furnish. The large trout brought, in Fulton Market,
in April, $ 1.25 per pound. The right to Uh ■ charcoal and
carbonized wood for hatching fish was patented June 20,
1871.

Four new ponds were built this year, 1871, and lined
with carbonized two-inch plank. A large number of year-

APPENDIX V.

313

lings were sold this year, the demand for this size being
larger than ever before. In the fdl of .87, nearly 300,000
trout eggs were laid down in the hatching troughs.

Ten thousand of them were sent to Europe. IMost of
them arrived safely, and have since hatched. Some of
them are in Mr. Frank Auckland's Museum at South Ken-
smgton, England, and were noticed by him as follows, in
Land and Water, published in London.

" Salmon and Trout Bnrdin-; at South Kensington. ~
The breeding troughs at my Museum of Economic Fish
Culture are now almost as full as they can be. The fol-
lowing is a catalc^gue of the eggs and fry : Salmo fontina-
t/s, or American Brook Trout, brought over by Mr. Par-
naby of Troutdale Fishery, Keswick.* These arc beautiful
little hsh, of about three quarters of an inch long. They
have almost absorbed their umbilical bag, and will shortly
begin to feed. I propose to feed them on the roe of soles'.
These American fish are much more active, and, I was
going to write,— it may be even so, — intelligent fish than
our salmon or trout {Salnw fano). Possibly they have
imbibed some of the national American sharpness. I
think I shall consult them on ilie Alabama question."

The Cold Spring Trout Londs received this fall the sole
agency in the United States for the sale of the British fish
hatched at the celebrated Keswick establishment, the lar-
gest in England. The experiment of taking trout eggs by
the Russian or dry method of impregnation was tried this
season at the Cold Spring Farm with astonishing success,
the yield of fish being 95 per cent of the eggs taken.
This method will be hereafter adopted here altogether.

* The original article in I-and and Water, above quoted,
states that the fish came from Mr. Wilmot's estahlisliiuent in
Canada. This is an error, as every Salmo fontinalis which Mr.
Parnaby took to England came from my hatching house at the
Cold Spring Trout Ponds.

3»4

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

I

rn

'ertV.lly
■ '■ in-

1872.

In February, 1872, the trout and salmon from those
ponds took a silver medal and a bronze medal at tiie exhi-
bition of the New York State Poultry Society at Albany.

The trout hatched out this year have done v
well; up to the present time (August), very fc
deed have occurred.

Some of the young fry which hatched in England from
the eggs sent over last fall are now in possession of Ikr
Majesty (.)ueen Victoria. The salmon hatched last ye.ir
(yearlings) are looking finely, although much dwarfed. In
June of this year, Mr. Parnaby, of Keswick, England,
visited the Cold Spring Trout Ponds for the purpose of
obtaining some black bass to carry across the Atlantic-
A large quantity of these hsh were furnished him, and
were doing well, at last accounts, when the steamer con-
veying them sailed from New York.

The demand for trout and trout eggs has been good this
year at the Cold Spring Farin, and two new plank ponds
have been built. Other plans of improvement were con-
templated, but the proprietor having been appointed
Deputy Commissioner of the United States to condui:t
the salmon breeding on the Pacific Coast, has left them
to be carried out by his agent in charge.

A peculiar feature about this farm is that it hatches eggs
at the halves for all the neighboring trout-raisers, they pre-
ferring to have their eggs hatched so, to incurring the risk
and labor of doing it themselves.

11

APPENDIX VI.

SALMON-BREEDING ESTABLISHMENT ON THE

MIRIMICHL

TDI^EVIOUS to iS68 the few salmon ego^s that had come
J- into thr. United States to stock its depleted s reams
were obtained at random, and in quantities totally inad-
equate to the requirements of the great American salmon
rivers. It was evident that something must be done on a
more extended scale to carry out the now rapidly forming
purpose of restoring the salmon in those rivers ; and in
the spring of 1868 the writer conceived the idea of organiz-
ing a large salmon-breeding establishment on one of the
New Brunswick rivers, all of which are famous for the vast
quantities of salmon which they contain.

The Mirimichi was chosen, on account of its accessi-
bility and its capacity for supplying parent fish in abun-
dance. On the farm of Mr. Joseph Goodfellow, eight miles
above Newcastle, on the river, was found a very large
even-flowing spring and a spring brook running within a
few feet of it, and both within sixty rods of the river it-
self. A large hatching house, one hundred feet by twenty-
seven, was built of three-inch deals, just below the spring.
The house was pro/ided with nearly an eighth of a mile
of hatching troughs laid in rows parallel with its length.
A pond, having an area of about an acre, was built below
the house. This was connected with the river by a flume.
The spring water and brook water were turned through
the house, thence into the pond, and thence into the
river.

m

3i6

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

""f'^p-

I'l I

H i

l*f

llf>>^

Nothing could be more admirably suited to its purpose.
One of the best rivers in the world to furnish the parent
salmon, an inexhaustible supply of water, both brook and
spring, to hatch the eggs in, a hatchiu'^ house capable of
turning out millions of young fry annually, and immediate
communication with the river for letting the parent salmon
in and out. The place was as near perfect in its adapta-
tions as could be wislied. As soon as the site was se-
lected, and before any work was done, a plan of the whole
undertaking was laid before the Hon. Peter Mitchell, the
Canadian Minister of Marine and P^isheries. After some
consultation, the phi" was favorably received, and we were
instructed by the minister to prepare a full statement in
writing of our plan of operations, with a request for per-
mission to take from the Mirimichi River the parent salmon
required for our work.

This statement and petition having been prepared and
submitted to the minister, he replied, upon reading it,
*'Go on with your work, gentlemen ; your wishes will be
granted." The work of building the house and pond was
prosecuted without delay, and in September, the writer
being then in Boston, Mr. Goodfellow, acting on the oral
authorization of the minister, began fishing in the river
with a stake-net for the parent salmon. The lishery war-
dens, acting in accordance with their general instructions,
thougli hastily, w^e think, immediately took up and confis-
cated the large forty-fathom net which had been used, and
released the captured salmon. As it was then tlie close
season, and as the fishing wardens had received no in-
structions from headquarters to make an exception in
favor of our nets, they were certainly onlv doing their
duty. On the other hand, as they knew, though not
through an official source, that the undertaking had the
sanction of the head of the Fisheries Oepartmcnt, and as
the salmon were not to be killed, but only confined alive in

APPENDIX VI.

3^7

a pond close to the river, where they coultl be retu-ned to
it at any time, if it wis found that they were wrongly
captured, and especially as one half of all the young fry
hatched were, according to agreement,* to go back to

* Ottawa, Scpt'^'nibur 2, 1868.

Gexti.emkn : T am directed l)y the minister to state, that he
has considered the proposal made by your letter of 20th iikimo,
in continuance of a verbal proposition made to liin> when at
Mirimichi, having in view the establishment of breeding-beds
and ponds for the artificial production of salmon at North Esk,
on the northwest branch of the river Mirimichi.

The department cannot allow any bounty, such as you men-
tion, nor attach any exclusive right to the enterprise in question,
neither afford any guaranty whatever for the expense you may
incur, but will extend to it such facilities as arc warranted by the
interest which the public may have in your success, and shall
appear to be justified from time to time by the earnestness and
good faith of your endeavors or the actual fruits of your opera-
tions.

At present it is deemed proper to specify in what terms the
requisite authority can be conveyed to you.

I. That at private cost you shall make and keep in efficient
repair suitable rearing and feeding ponds, and spawning beds
and a proper hatching house with troughs, and the other neces-
sary appliances at a brook emptying into the northwest branch
of the river Mirimichi, on the south bank thereof, on the prop-
erty of Mr. Joseph Goodfellow, in the parish of North Esk as
named by you. '

2. That this establishment shall be built and maintained for
the 6onaJi</e purpose of hatching and rearing salmon.

3. That from the time of im])regnation, and during the period
of incubation the salmon ova obtained for or deposited in this
establishment shall be and be deemed the property of the
crown, and one half of the young salmon so hatched and reared
therein, or in connection therewith, shall be, and continue, the
property of the crown, and shall be allowed to pass alive and
healthy and well fed into, and remain in, the waters of the

3iS

DOMKSTICATKI) TKOL'T.

l!t

ennch the river, and all the sahiion, when manipuhUed,
were to be restored to it, this summary confiscation of the
nets and release of the lish seemed to he hasty action, to
say the least, on the part of the tishery wardens, who

Miiimielii or its hraiuhcs, when and after thcv sliali oI)tain
the .siiniciciu and oidiiiarv .yn.wtli of salmon fry. 'aiuI the otlicr
half sliall, when hatched out, he your prtjperty.

4- 'I'liat y,.u sluill be entitled' to obtain t.onj this departnieni
permission to procure fish-spawn (or the sole purp.^se ot furnish-
nig m.piegnated eggs lor hatching in the said establishment
such permission to be accorded lor the //w<u-,//,/<v.»-, and /y^<v///s'
of so taking salmon lixed in writing by the inspector ot fisheries
for Nova Scotia and New Ihunswick, and subject tonuses only
under the immediate surveillance of a fishery otticer or fishing
warilen, who shall be empowered to stop all proceedings under
the said written permit the moment he finds the liberty it allows
subject to abuse or injurious to the salmon fisheries,' or any of
these conditions evaded or violated.

5. The numbers and condition of salmon caught and manipu-
lated, which arc to be returned alive and uninjured to the stream
v\nh the dates of capture, manipulation, and release, together
with the numbers of eggs obtained therefrom, and actually de-
posited, and also the numbers vivified, and afterwards hatched,
and the numbers of young fish let into the river, to be attested
on oath, by one or more of the persons engaged in the estab-
lishment.

6. That any fishery officer or warden shall at any and all
times have free access to the premises.

7. That no eggs or fry shall l)e removed from the ponds,
boxes, hatching-beds, or elsewhere, without the knowledge and'
consent of the iocal fishery officer, and the partition or releasing
of young fish to fidfil the crown share shall be made in the pres-
ence of- and certified by a fishery officer authorized thereto.

8. That until yon have prepared the establishment to the sat-
isfaction of the inspector of fisheries, no permit shall be delivered
to you.

9. Any violation or evasion of these conditions shall forthwith

n-

AI'I'KNDIX Vr.

319

nipulated,
ion of the
action, to
It'iis, who

all olttain
I the otlicr

c'paitiuciii
L)l I'lirnish-
jlisluuciit,
iiul means
t fisheries
-uses only
or fishing
iigs iincler
it allows
or any of

I manipu-
ie stream
together
nally de-
hatched,
■ attested
le estab-

aiid all

3 ponds,
dge and
"cleasing
he pres-
to.

the sat-
elivered

)rthwith

might, without injury, have left things /// statu quo for
a while, until tlie course of events deci.led wlictiicr tin;
fishing was authorized or not. If the wardens were acting
under the direction of the Inspector of the I'rovince, il
niaives tl)e matter all the worse, for lie at least ought' to
have had intelligence enough to abstain from such huein-
perate haste.

As soon as the first net was forcibly taken by the war-
dens, Mr. Coodfellow, still relying on the authority con-
veyed by the last conversation with the minister, staked
down anotlier net, and continued fishing, 'i'his was im-
mediately taken up and confiscated like the last. When
another net was put down and taken, then another and an-
other. As fast as a net was put down it was taken up,
and as fast as it was taken up another was put down,*
and so it continued, each net going the way of its prede-

tortcit the permit, and put an end to the privilege, Ijesides ex-
posing the parties to penalties provided by the laws.

The foregoing laws it has been found advisable to stipulate tor
the security of the public and the satisfaction of the dei)ai inient ;
but the minister expresses his confidence in the ability and
energy of the parties who undertake this project, and he will
view with lively expectation and assist to the utmost their boia
fide exertions towards rendering it a practical success, at once
remunerative to themselves and beneficial to the fisheries.
I have the honor to be, gentleinen,
Your obedient servant,

W. F. WHFTCHER,
For the Hon. Minister of Marine and Fisheries.
* To discontinue fishing would have been fatal to the under-
taking. The spawning season was near, and the best runs of
tish were over, and it was evident that unless the ]:)arent salmon
were caught at once it would be too late. Siibsei|ueiU facts c(jn-
firnied this view of the matter; for after the date f October 6)
of our written permit from the inspector, we caught only twenty-
eight salmon in all.

320

DOMESTICATF.n TROUT.

™'

■J

ill 1

/

IHiii I

i'l)

fi i

Km

cessor, until seven or eight nets had found their way to
the contraband stores of the wardens.

At lengtli the written instructions of the Fisheries
Department were received by Mr. Goodfellow, an' not
Ion;,' after I arrived at iMirimichi. The department in-
structions made tiie fisliing conilitional upon a written
IK'rmit from tlie inspector of ti)e I'rovinces. On my arrival,
the inspector was immediately telegraphed for. The com-
munity was by this time worked up into a state of great
excitement, and the inspector had heard only the warden's
side of the story. Ikit upon seeing the works which had
been constructed, and hearing a full account of the affair,
and of what was contemplated, he fell in with the under-
taking, and gave it his hearty support. He also gave a
written permit, drawn up in the most liberal terms, lor the
taking of three hundred salmon from the river for the pur-
poses of the establishment.

After receiving this permit, no pains were spared to
catch as many salmon as possible ; but the good runs were
over, and we captured but twenty-eight fish between this
time and the spawning season, which began in one pond
the 15th of October. We took on this and the two fol-
lowmg days 226,500 eggs from twenty-eight fish. On the
20th of October we found, to our surprise, that the fish we
caught that day in the river had already spawned The
writer immediately took a gang of men and a forty-Auhom
sweep-seme, and swept the river thoroughly for nine m-^'es
above our nets, though the i.^ating ice had begun to run.
Many salmon were caught, but all had spawned except two,
one of which had been injured by a spear. The salmon in
•die pond continued to hold their spawn till late in Novem-
ber, though most of them had been found ripe, and had
been stripped by the third day of that month. We took
in all 443 900 eggs from forty-eight salmon. This num-
ber, reduced by removal of dead eggs and accidents to

APPENDIX Vr.

321

ir way to

Fisheries
an-' not
mcnt in-
i written
y arrival,
llie com-
of great
warden's
lich had
le aft'.iir,
e under-
' gave a
, ior the
the pur-
tared to
ns were
een this
le pond
;wo fol-
On the
fisli we
I. The
fathom
e m'les
to run.
pt two,
mon in
i^ovem-
id had
e took
. num-
:nts to

f

35^1,000, was equally divided, by special permit from the
minister, when the eye-spots a[)[)eared, and one half were
brought to the Cold Spring 'I'rout I'onds at Charleslown,
N. H., and the other half left to hatch for the benefit of
the Miriniichi River.

Un the writer's return to New England, a very pleasant
day was passed with the inspector of the Provinces at St.
John, during which he renewed his assurances of his cor-
dial support, and was even kind enough to olfcr capital for
investment in our enterprise. This, however, was de-
clined on the ground that the assistance was not needed,
as everything was paid for; but the writer has regretted
ever since that the olTer was not accepted. Tlie next time
the inspector was heard from was on the occasion of his
publishing a letter in a St. John paper, speaking in very
detracting terms of Mr. Goodfellou and the writer. The
ostensible cause was some very inotVensive remarks made
by the writer at a meeting of the Fisheries Commissioners
at New York. The real cause may perhaps be found to
be the rejection of the inspector's offers of investment, and
the opposition of Mr. Goodfellow to the government party
at a recent important election. But whatever the cause,
from that time the salmon-breeding establishment on the
Mirimichi and its owners met only persecution from the
inspector, who, in language more becoming a rowdy than
a government officer, wrote most abusive letters to and
about the owners of the establishment. He made a threat,
in words more forcible than elegant, that the salmon works
at Mirimichi should "rot where they stood," and he has
since resolutely and persistently acted up to it.

The consequence is that a large * and well-appointed
salmon-breeding establishment in perfect running order,
located in one of the most favorable situations on the
globe, is left to stand idle and useless, when it might be

* Probably the largest in the world.

t III

'if, ill

^.:,~^tP'

M

:

I.

322

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

adding to the world's wealth at the rate of millions of
salmon a year. The short-sighted inspector, sacrificing
the vast public good that could come from it to his private
animosity, like the dog in the manger, will neither do any-
thing himself, nor let any one else do anything with it.
The good it might do and the credit it might reflect on
his administration are sacrificed to carry out his childish
threat ; and there the establishment still remains, closed
and useless, a monument of the inspector's malevolence
and imbecility.

1 am happy to say that the United States Congress has
this year (1872) made an appropriation for salmon-breeding
on the Pacific coast, and that in future salmon eggs will
probably be obtained within the limits of the United States
on even a larger scale than they could be procured on the
Mirimichi.

At the time of writing the third edition of tliis book
(1877) I am enabled to state that the prediction ventured
five years ago in the last paragraph has been verified be-
yond the most sanguine expectation. The United States
now has a salmon-breeding station on the Pacific Slope, at
the McCloud River, Shasta Count} . California, which turns
out an average of seven million (7,000,000) salmon eggs a
year, and is the laigest establishment of its kind in the
world.

11*

III

■;

i li

|l(l

llions of
acrificino;
is private
r do any-
j witli it.
ertect on
; childish
IS, closed
levolence

;ress has
breeding
eggs will
2d States
d on the

lis book
ventured
ified be-
d States
Slope, at
ich turns
1 eggs a
d in the

APPENDIX VII.

EXPERIMENTS WITH TROUT EGGS AND TROUT.

T WOULD by all means have a set of hatching boxes
^ devoted to experiments. By careful and systematic
experiment more knowledge and experience are gathered
than in any other way, and it is upon this that sound
progress in fish culture or any other art depends.

The experiment boxes need not be large. Boxes vary-
ing in capacity from loo to i,ooo eggs each are about the
right thing. They can be separate boxes or subdivisions
of the regular hatching troughs separated by screens ; but
whatever they are they should be perfectly isolated from
each other, for where this precaution has been neglected
it is a very common and provoking source of disappoint-
ment to have the eggs of different experiments wash in
together and become indistinguishable. This is just as
fatal, of course, to all useful results, as if the eirffs had
been destroyed.

The separate subdivisions should be distinctly desig-
nated, and full notes of the experiment carefully taken
down in a note-book. In brief, the experiment, to be
valuable, should be exact, systematic, and full in recorded
detail, and the experiment boxes should be prepared to
this end.

Below will be found some of the experiments in trout
culture which most readily suggest themselves.

324

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

r

/.t

!?, (^'

M

Impregnating Eggs *

1. Take ripe eggs with little milt and note the percent-
age of impregnation.

2. Take ripe eggs with abundant milt and note as before.

3. Try immature eggs with good and sufficient milt.

4. Try ripe eggs with poor milt.

5. After mixing milt and eggs, add water at 36°, at 45°,
at 60°, and compare results.

6. Use milt that has been taken in a dry phial and corked
up 24 hours, 48 hours, 96 hours, and compare results.

7. Use milt that has been bottled up and sent by mail
100 miles, 500 miles, 1,000 miles.

8. Use milt that has been forced f by putting male in
warm water, and note the degree of impregnation.

9. Use milt that has been frozen.

10-12. Repeat experiments 6, 7, 9, using eggs instead

of milt.

13. Put ripe eggs with milt that has been exposed to
the air 5 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes.

14. Put good milt with eggs that have been exposed to
the air 5 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes.

15. Use ripe eggs with milt that has been diluted with
water 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 20 minutes.

16. Use good milt with eggs that have been kept in
water 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes.

17. Compare the percentage of impregnation of eggs
taken in Ainsworth's races and CoUins's roller box with
those taken by manual pressure.

Experiments in general with Ei^gs.

18. Pack eggs in wet moss {Sphagnum) as soon as taken,
and examine when nearly ready to hatch, and note the
mortality.

* See p. 104. t See p. 115, note.

APPENDIX VII.

325

percent-
is before,
milt.

°, at 45°,

id corked

ults.

t by mail

r male in

s instead

cposed to

xposed to

uted with

1 kept in
tes.

1 of efrcjs
box with

as taken,
note the

lote.

19. Pack eggs in moss at the first appearance of the eye-
spots, examine and note as before.

20. Place eggs, as soon as taken, on ice, keep on ice,
and see how long they will be hatching.

21. Freeze eggs solid, in water, at diiferent stages of
development, and note the result.

22. Freeze as before in the air.

23. Place a few eggs on a copper-wire screen, and
note the discoloration and absorption of copper.

24. Allow a few eggs, after the eye-spots appear, to re-
main considerably covered with sediment, and note the
deformity of the embryo when hatched.

25. Subject eggs of different ages to high temperatures
of water, and note what degree of heat they will live
through.

Experiments with Microscope.

IVith Milt.

26. Examine milt unmixed with water.

27. Examine milt mixed with water.

28. Examine changes of milt at 32° Fahrenheit.

29. Examine changes of milt at 36° Fahrenheit.

30. Examine changes of milt at 40° Fahrenheit.

31. Continue these experiments until a temperature of
80° is reached.

32. Examine milt forced from fish by being placed in
warm water.

33. Examine watery milt.

34. Examine creamy milt.

35. Examine action of blood on milt.

With Eggs.

36. Examine egg one day old.

37. Examine eggs two days old.

38. Continue experiments with eggs till hatching period
is reached.

f'

326

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

39. Examine mycropyle of egg.

40. Examine germ of egg.

41. Examine .shell of egg.

42. Examine freshly taken eggs while absorbing milt.

43. Examine freshly taken eggs while germ is setting, i. e.
while stuck together in j^rocess ot impregnation.

44. Examine eggs while separating.

Experiments with A levins and Young Fry,

45. See how long five alevins will live in a gill of water
at 36°, at 42°, at 50°, at 60°, at 70°.

46. Freeze alevins solid, thaw out, and return to the
water in hatching box, and watch for a month. Mem. :
Take care, during the freezing, not to disturb the fish, as it
will tear itself against the forming ice, and die from the ef-
fect of the laceration. The best way to freeze eggs or
young fish is to take a dry glass tumbler which has been
exp..'sed to a great degree of cold, and pour into it the
specimens to be experimented with, together with about a
spoonful of water. The water, with the specimens, will
immediately freeze solid.

47. Expose alevins to a rising temperature, and note
what degree of heat they will survive.

Experiments xvith Young Fry.

48 - 50. Repeat with trout fry the experiments with
alevins marked 26, 27, and 28.

51. Keep very young trout fry in pure filtered spring
water, and note how long they remain healthy without the
addition of earth.

52. After the fish in the last experiment begin to sicken,
apply earth plentifully, and note the improvement.

53. Keep 100 young fry in a small box, and 100 in a
j)ond, for six months ; compare the mortality and growth.

APPENDIX VII.

1^1

54. Feed two similar lots of young fry, one wholly on
curd, the other wholly on liver, and compare results.

SS' Feed young trout fry plentifully on the young of other
fish, as suckers, perch, and shiners, and note the result.

56. Take young trout fry that are attacked by animal
parasites, and give them a salt bath, as described'on page
258, and note the result.

57. Observe the effect of the parasites on young fry not
subjected to the salt bath.

Experiiihiits luith Laixe Trait f.

58. Count the number of respirations of large trout at a
temperature of 36°, 45°, 70°, and So°, and compare the
results.

59. Freeze large trout carefully, but stop the freezing
before the body becomes stiff. Thaw out gradually, and
note the result.

60. Let a large trout become motionless from suffoca-
tion in still water, then try the effect of vigorous aeration
of the water in restoring him.

61. Ring a bell and make loud noises near trout where
you can see them and they cannot see you, and note
whether they appear to hear the sounds.

62. Feed one lot of trout wholly on minnows for three
months, and a similar lot on worms, a third lot on meat,
a fourth lot on all three, and compare results.

63. Sul)ject a fish attacked by fungus to the salt bath
described on page 258, and note the result.

64. Cross the various species of the Sa!/uo family with
each other, and note and publish the results.

65. Whoever has the opportunity, and sufficient pa-
tience, will render a great service to the fish-cultivating
world by fully testing the experiment of breeding in and
in with peculiar varieties of trout, as the Chinese do with
gold fish, and publishing the results.

fT'

In

i

f i

i

I

APPENDIX VIII.

THE PROGRESS OF DEVELOrMEXT OF A SALMO
{COREGOXUS PAL.'EA, Cuv.) EGG*

"\ II 7E shall try to give here a short summary of the state
» » of the embryo at all periods of its life, indicating at
which period the organs begin to form, and under what
form they first appear.

At the time of spawning, the egg is composed of the
yolk, of little drops of oil spread over the surface of the
yolk, and forming a kind of disk ; of the germinal vesicle
and spots, situated in the middle of this disk ; and, lastly,
of the yolk and shell membranes which envelop the egg,
without any intermediate space between them. Four hours
after the spawning the shell membrane is detached from
the yolk membrane, in consequence of the endosmotic
penetration of the water through the pores of the first ; it
becomes inflated, and the yolk floats freely in its caMty.
Twelve hours after the spawning the germ begins to rise
from the middle of the oily disk under the form of a little
circular swelling. Sixteen hours after spawning the germ
is seen in the form of a clear, transparent vessel above the
oleaginous disk. The cells of which it is composed are
little delicate transparent vessels, without any traces of a
nucleus. Twenty hours after spawning the germ occupies
all the extent of the disk, and the furrowing begins. A
large shallow furrow is first perceived, which extends in a
circular direction, and aflfects nothing but the germ. Dur-

* Translated from the French of Vogt's Embryologie des Sal-
moncs. Chap. XIV., by F. W. Webber.

APPENDIX VIII.

329

ing the second and tliircl clays the furrows develop. There
exists ordinarily, as soon as the beginning of the second
day, two furrows in the form of a cross. At the end of
the second day the mulberry form has reached its devel-
opment. On the third day it is insensibly etTaced, and the
germ becomes smooth ; but it is, however, opaque, ow-
ing to the cells accumulated in its interior. On the fourth
day the embryonic germ represents a hemisphere of granu-
lated appearance, but smooth on the exterior, reposing on
the oily disk. All the cells are perfectly developed, and
all have nuclei. Those of the outer stratum are even pro-
vided with nucleated cells. From the sixth to the ninth
day the epidermoidal stratum detaches itself insensibly
from the other embryonic cells, overruns the yolk, and the
embryo separates more and more from the yolk vessel.
At the beginning of this period the germ represents a
large sunken mass, which hardly passes the borders of
the oily disk. Finally, there is only a little space in the
yolk free, the yolk cavity ; all the rest is filled up with
the epidermoidal layer. The embryo is diametrically op-
posite to the yolk vesicle, and it is in correspondence with
its lengtli that the cells are tl:^ most heaped up in the
place where the primitive bands form. On the tenth day
the dorsal furrow appears and takes the form of a large
and tolerably tieep Hssure, but ending indistinctly in front.
The cephalic extremity of the eml)ryo is large, square,
and truncated. The caudal extremity is lost in a vague
way in the keel surrounding the yolk cavity, which grows
continually narrower. The dorsal part of the embryo is
more narrow tluin the two extremities. It is, besides,
curled in a uniform manner around the yolk, and the dor-
sal furrow is wide open ; the germ and the yolk vesicle-are
diametrically o[)posite. On the eleventh and twelfth day
the dorsal furrow ends in front, and shows the first traces
of the enlargements which correspond to the three cere-

I

f

330

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

i

'A 1

!;n' 'H-,

h !

bral divisions. The space corresponding to the mesen-
cephalon is the largest, and in profile it is easily discerned
by its enlargement, which begins near the ocular lobes.
The dorsal furrow is closed in tube form on the back.
The vertebral divisions begin to show, but almost exclu-
sively upon the front turned against the yolk. The part
of the dorsal furrow which is still open is very narrow.
The cells of the epidermoidal stratum have lost tlieir nu-
cleoli and represent a tessellated epethelium. At the place
where the dorsal cord shows, cells are to be seen, tilled
with an opaque and granulated alimentary substance.
F>om the thirteenth to the sixteenth day the tlnee cere-
bral divisionr, are characterized in the most distinct man-
ner. The ocular lobes of the mesencephalon become more
and more distinct and completely enclosed on the side of
the mesencephalon as in a vault. The dorsal cord ap-
pears under the form of a simple string, solid and trans-
parent, in the middle of the embryo. The vertebral divis-
ions are perfectly distinct. The caudal extremity of the
embryo is circumscribed on the side of the yolk. The
yolk is surrounded on all sides by the epidermoidal stratum.
The yolk cavity has disappeared. Towards the end of
the sixteenth day the beginning of the crystalline coating
can be remarked in the eye. The rudiment of the ear ap-
pears at the same time under the form of an elliptical
vesicle, with a clearer space in the centre ; it is situated
a little in front of the nuchal bow. This, as well as the
cephalic bow and the curvature of the trunk, is well marked
out. The yolk vesicle, on the contrary, is very much re-
duced. The epencephalon shows a few swellings analo-
gous to the '■'• gano^lioiis persistans des Trii^lcsy

From the seventeenth to the twentieth day the tail be-
gins to show itself, and the embryo uses it to give vigor-
ous shakes by striking with it laterally. The cephalic bow
becomes level. The crystalline coating develops and bar-

APPENDIX VIII.

331

dens. The choroid cleft is just formed. The prosenceph-
alon, with its prolongation towards the extremity of tlie
snout ; the mesencephalon, which is hollowed completely
into the form of a cavity ; and the epencephalon, with the
cerebellum, which are beginning to form, —are now very
easily distinguished. In front of the extremity of the cord,
which is still homogeneous, is accumulated at the base of
the brain the thick blastema of the basis of the cranium.
Then under the dorsal cord, between it and the yolk, forms
a thick layer of cells larger than the properly called em-
bryonic cells, and provided with opaque nuclei, the layer
of intestinal cells representing the mucous leaflet. This
layer is divided into two rows, the lower one designed to
form the intestine, the upper designed for the corpus
Woljianuni. The intestine begins to be transformed into
a tube behind and in front, in proportion as the embryo
disengages itself more and more from the yolk. An
enlargement (a /(^j/tv/W-rt/Ai/z/^vj) shows itself at the ex-
tremity of the secretory canal of the corpus U'olJia)iuni.
The heart forms in a swelling of the embryonic mass on
the side of the yolk, in the middle of the space between
the ear and the eye. At first solid, and composed of
simple embryonic cells, it is soon transformed into a cav-
ity, in which globules of blood can be seen to rise and
fall in cadence, conforming to the repeated contractions
of this organ. The heart is at a right angle with the axis
of the body, and reposes vertically upon the yolk, the
middle of which it occupies. Behind the heart can be re-
marked a little angular protuberance, the first vestige of
the pectoral fin. The blood-producing layer is seen to
appear upon the yolk in the neighborhood of the heart,
giving to the yolk a spotted appearance. The first traces
of the black pigment show in the choroid ; the cells of
brown pigment are created at the same time in the vicinity
of the eye. The vertebral divisions are very distinct.

I

332

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

■illii !

rl . •!

The tail grows larger. The first traces of the odd fin are
formed by the epidermoidal layer upon the circumference
of the embryo ; the yolk vesicle disappears.

From the twenty-third to the twenty-seventh day the
first rudiments of the nasal cavities are seen to appear on
the lower front of the head. Tlie prolongation of the pro-
sencephalon, forming tlie olfactory nerve, stretches so as
to reach the nasal cavities. Tiie head rises, disengages
itself from the yolk in consequence of the strengthening
of the nuchal bow. The yolk begins to separate from the
head, and the separation of the belly follows at tlie same
time that an uneven ventral fin shows, formed from the
epidermoidal layer. The choroid surrounds nearly all the
bulb of the eye ; the coloboma of the iris appears under
ihe form of a light cleft. The thick blastema of the base
of the cranium is very distinct. In the dorsal cord the
little cells develop in the form of little isolated vesicles,
which increase and occupy all the cord in front and be-
hind. The blood-producing layer extends over the yolk.
The choroid can be recognized by the naked eye in con-
sequence of the accumulation of pigment, and the eyes
can be distinguished through the shell membrane under
the form of two black points. The intestine and the
urethra are transformed into complete tubes, not showing
any trace of cellular structure. The anus is still closed.

From the tweniy-seventh to the thirtieth day the pineal
gland appears in the form of a little globulous accumula-
tion of cells in the semicircular cavity situated behind
the prosencephalon. The interior formations of the me-
sencephalon begin to show. The thick blastema of the
base of the cranium contracts very distinctly in the neigh-
borhood of the hypopliysis. The ear is much nearer to
the eye than formerly. Tlie first traces of circulation ap-
pear in the beginning, under the form of two similar cur-
rents, one of which is destined for the head and the other

Id fin are
1 inference

1 day the
^ppear on
f the pro-
les so as
isengages
igthening
from the
the same
from the
liy all the
irs under
the base
cord the
vesicles,
; and be-
the yolk.
5 in con-
the eyes
nc under
and the
showing
closed,
he pineal
ccumula-
:1 behind
the me-
la of the
le neigh-
learer to
ition ap-
lilar cur-
the other

APPENDIX VIII.

333

for the body. These currents come out from the heart by
the aorta and the carotid arteries, and return to the heart
by the anterior and posterior yolk veins. The two ante-
rior yolk veins disappear first, and after them the left pos-
terior vein. The hematoj^enous layer has completely
overrun the yolk, and there exist no capillary ramifications
except upon the latter. The pectoral fin, which at first
was pendent, rises, and keeps up a continual motion. The
formation of cells is complete in ihe dorsal cord, and the
intercellular substance has almost entirely disappeared.
The liver begins to form, its communication with the in-
testine is very distinct, and capillary networks form in
its interior towards the end of this period. The posterior
yolk vein stretches along the lower front of the intestine,
and bends back in the neighborhood of the liver. The
odd fin which surrout ds the body grows larger. 7^he first
traces of the otoliths appear in the ears. The different
divisions of the heart are visible externally, and the rudi-
ments of the opercle become more and more distinct.

From the thirty-first to the fortieth day the nose begins
to show very distinct outlines. The buccal cavity forms,
and on both sides can be seen the first rudiments of the
upper jaw, under the form of two prolongations. The
choroidal fissure closes, and the development of black pig-
ment in the eyes prevents any further study of them. The
branchial fissures appear one after the other, and each
of the branchial arches receives a vascular arch. At the
end of this period there are five arches, the first of which
is the hyoidal arch. The semicircular grooves begin to
form in the ears. The cells of the muscles are arranged
in threads. The cells of black pigment in the epidermoidal
layer of the back are seen to appear. The whole circula-
tion undergoes important modifications while penetrating
into the tail, where it gives birth to a cardinal vein. The
circulation of the head becomes symmetrical, the right

334

DOMHSTICATKD TROUT.

carotid being more active than tlie loft, and the left jugu-
lar more active than the right. The aortic arch at the
riglit is also more powerful. Intestinal arteries form. The
liver develops more and more to the detriment of the yolk
circulation. The little drops of oil unite in one great drop.
Tlie buccal intestine enters into communication with the
branchial cavity.

From the forty-first to the sixtieth day the embryo be-
come.- ready to hatch. The nose draws insensibly near
the extremity of the head. The cartilaginous bases of
the head form from the thick blastema of the base of the
cranium. In the eye the cornea and the sclerotic separate
from the tissues of the choroid. The ear approaches the
eye. The interior parts of the eye completely develop.
The heart takes a horizontal position in consequence of
the proximity of the yolk and the body, — a proximity
which itself depends upon the disappearance of the peri-
cardial sac and the abdominal sac of the epidermoidal
membrane. The yolk disappears from sight. Peristaltic
motions and very decided movements of mastication can
be perceived in the intestine. The mouth, situated be-
tween the eyes, is transversal. The embryonic odd fin
shows cavities in the places where it is desi"-ned to be
absorbed. The yolk circulation disappears, that of the
liver or the circulation of the portal system is entirely
established. The sixth branchial arch, or the pharyno-ian
arch, receives a vascular arch. The hyoidian arch has
disappeared. The head contracts as the formation of the
cartilages progresses. The vertebras become cartilaginous.
The muscular fibres take transverse strict.

Immediately after the spawning the essential modifica-
tions are as follows : The yolk is littlf by little completely
absorbed. The oil drop lasts the loi.gest, but it also finally
disappears. The yolk circulation passes entirely to the
liver, and there completes the circulation of the portal

APPENDIX VIII.

335

left jugu-
ch at the
)rm. The
f the yolk
Tcat drop.
I with the

ibryo be-
iibly neir
bases of
se of the
: separate
aches the

develop,
[uence of
proximity
the peri-
lermoidal
'eristaltic
ition can
lated be-

odd fin
ed to be
.t of the

entirely
aryngian
irch has
n of the
aginous.

system. The opercular parts develop backwards, the
lower jaw forwards, without, however, reaching the ex-
tremity of the snout. The lower extremity of tlie dorsal
cord rises. The odd (ins take their shape definitely and
receive their rays. The pectoral fins are very large in
proportion. The fringes of the capillary arteries begin to
develop upon the branchial arches. The metallic pigment
of the choroid appears. The swimming bladder unfolds.
The cartilaginous skeleton begins to turn to bone, and the
rudiments of the teeth appear in the mouth.

nodifica-
mpletely
10 finally
1 to the
e portal

APPENDIX IX.

PERCH HATCHING.

h)

W

T THINK that the most wholesome food for very
^ young trout fry will be found to be the still smaller
and younger fry of spring-spawning fish, and I venture to
predict that the time will come when this natural food will
be generally used when practicable. The Yellow Perch
(PfnaJ/avesa'ns), which spawns in April, is an admirable
fish for the purpose, as it is very abundant, and its eggs
are numerous, easily obtained, and very easy to impreg-
nate and hatch. With this end in view, the following notes
are given in regard to hatching perch eggs.

It is the easiest and simplest thing in the world to
manipulate perch and take their eggs artificially, and hatch
them. I have taken millions in that way, and have hatched
hundreds of thousands of them. Indeed, after my first
experience, during the year 1868, I found it vastly easier,
and had better luck, than with the salmon family.

It is not only very easy to take perch eggs by hand,
but you can generally impregnate the whole of them, or
very nearly the whole of them. If any one would like to
see how easy it is, let him take a good-sized milk-pan,
nearly full of water, and having found a ripe pair of golden
perch, — this is easy enough, I have found hundreds just
ripe, — let him impregnate the water well with the milt of
the male, and proceed as follows with the female • —

Hold the fish just over the edge of the pan, so as to let
the exteri'or end of the roe rest, as it comes out, on the
further edge of the pan. It will stick in a moment. Then

L'JftVi

APPENDIX IX.

337

draw the fish slowly over the pan to the opposite edge,
letting the roe fall in the water, and fasten the other end
of it, as before, to that edge of the pan. You will then
have the roe suspended in the water in such a way that it
cannot get together and stick, and suffocate itself, as it
surely would if it had a chance. Shake the pan a little.
In an hour rinse the eggs, change the water twice a day,
and in twenty days, if the water is not too cold, your eggs
will hatch. 60 degrees Fahrenheit is a very good tem-
perature to hatch them in, but they will stand a tempera-
ture as high as 85 degrees, at which point their develop-
ment is very rapid. At 95 degrees they die. If you put
a couple of large stones in the pan, to rest the t -ds of
the roe on, it is better than to stick them to the edge of
the pan.

The development of the perch embryo is exceedingly
interesting. A very singular feature of it is the movement
of the embryo in the egg, which begins almost as soon as
the form of the fish is visible. The little creature jumps
from one wall of the egg to the other, with a quick spas-
modic movement, like that observed in the animalcula; in
a drop of water under a very high magnifying power.
This motion is as regular, when the eggs are not dis-
turbed, as the ticking of a watch, and never ceases, day
or night, except when the eggs are shaken, when, by an
instinctive consent, every fish stops as if by magic. In a
second or two the movement begins again.

The viscous matter which envelops the eggs and holds
them together is finally wholly absorbed, and the eggs fall
apart. They now consist of merely a frail shell, contain-
ing the embryo. This shell easily breaks, and the young
perch is set free. He is very small, not more than half as
large as a black bass just hatched, or one fourth as large
as a whitefish an hour old.

The roe of the yellow perch comes in folds from the

m

IH-

tB.

338

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

fish, in the form of a long, narrow, adhesive ribbon, with
the appearance of having been packed very comp;i tly.
In a few moments it swells to such a size that you could
not get more than one third of it into the fish again.

After the expansion is completed, an average roe of a
six-ounce Missisquoi River perch will measure about 36
inches in length by about 3 inches in width, or 108 super-
ficial inches. I estimate that there are about 64 eggs to
the square inch, wliicli would give 6,912 eggs to the roe.
I do not claim any exactness in this estimate, but I think
it approximates the truth.

There is one more feature about the spawn in question
which should be noted. After a little while it loses its
tendency to stick to foreign substances, although it still
adheres together, and it can be taken up in the hand and
carried about, and even handled quite roughly, without
damaging the eggs.

r

ii.

APPENDIX X.

ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN FISH CULTURISTS'

ASSOCIATION.

New York City, December 20, 1870.

A MEETING of practical fish culturists was held in
this city to-day, in compliance with a call, issued
November i, by W. Clift, A. S. Collins, J. H. Slack, F.
Mather, and L. Stone.

The place of meeting was subsequently changed to
the rooms of the New York Poultry Society, to which so-
ciety the delegates are much indebted, both for the use of
the rooms and for various other courtesies extended to
them during the day.

The delegates having assembled, a temporary organiza-
tion was formed, with Rev. W. Clift as chairman and Mr.
L. Stone as secretary. It was then unanimously resolved
to form a permanent organization of fish culturists, and
Dr. Edmonds and Mr. Stone were appointed a committee
to draft a constitution for such an organization, to report
when ready. On the presentation of their report, the fol-
lowing constitution was adopted, namely : —

CONSTITUTION.
Article I.
Name and Ohjccts. — The name of this Society shall be " The
American Fish Culturists' Association." Its objects shall he to
promote the cause of fish culture ; to gather and diffuj^e infor-
mation bearing upon its practical success ; the interchange of
friendly feeling and intercourse among the mcmlicrs of the asso-
ciation ; the uniting and encouraging of the individual interests
of fish culturists.

.: ll

340

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

Aktici.e II.
Mfmkrs. — All fish cultuiists sliall, upon a two-thirds vote of
the society and a payment of three dollars, be considered mem-
bers of the association, after signing the constitution. The com-
missioners of the various States shall be honorary members of
the association, ex officio.

Articlk III.
Officers. — The officers of the association shall be a president,
a secretary, and a treasurer, and shall be elected annually by a
majority vote. Vacancies occuring during the year may be filled
by the president.

Article IV.
Mecfii/^i^'s. — The regular meetings of the association shall be
held once a year, the time and i)lace being decided ujjon at the
previous meeting.

Artii i.n V.
Changing the Cotistitntioii. — The constitution of the society
may be amended, altered, or repealed by a two-thirds vote of the
members present at any regular meeting.

The constitution having been adopted, the following
officers were chosen for the ensuing year : \V. Clift, Mystic
Bridge, Conn., President ; L. Stone, Charlestown, N. H.,
Secretary; 13. F. Bow>es, Springfield, Mass., Treasurer.

It was then resolved that an etlort be made to secure an
exhibition of live fish at the next meeting, and that the
following gentlemen be requested to prepare papers, to be
read at the next meeting, on the subjects annexed to their
names : —

A. S. Collins, on " Spawning Races and the Impregna-
tion of Eggs."

J. H. Slack,

W. Clift, on "The Culture of Shad."
Dr. Edmonds, on "The Introduction of Salmon into
American Rivers."

B. Y. Bowles, on " Land-locked Salmon."

APPENDIX X.

341

Dr. Huntington, on " Fish in the North Woods of New
York.

L. Stone, on " The Culture of Trout."

It was decided to hold the next meeting and exhibition
in connection with the New York Poultry Show next year.
It was voted to send a report of tlie meeting for publica-
tion to the New York Citizen and Round Tal)le, the New
York Tribune, the Springfield Republican, the New York
Poultry Bulletin, and other papers at discretion ; and the
secretary was instructed to mail the published reports of
the meeting to fish culturists generally.

LIVINGSTON STONE,

Secy Fish Cult. Ass'n.

It'/: I

Iih:^

APPENDIX XI.
SPECIMENS OF SALMONID.E FOR PROF. AGASSIZ.

Coi.n Si'RiNG Trout Ponds,
CiiARLESTowN, N. H., January 24, 1871.

G

To Fishermen anh Stortsmen.

ENTLEMEN: Professor Agassiz is preparing an
-^ illustrated work of the American Salmonickt, includ-
ing all the trout and salmon, as well as whitefish, of this
country. To enable him to make this work complete, he
requires live specimens of every variety of trout, salmon,
and whitefish found on this continent. Tlie American
P^ish Culturists' Association are endeavoring to help him
in this great undertaking, and would beg you to send to
Professor Agassiz,* for his investigation, any specimens
of these varieties that may come within your reach, —
alive, if possible ; if not, dead, — and especially to forward
to him any new or rare specimens that you may discover.
Samples of the winninish, land-locked salmon, and the
rarer kinds of the lake trout and sea trout, are particu-
larly requested. Further appeal for your co-operation
seems unnecessary, as you cannot but feel that no Amer-
ican can do too much for Professor Agassiz. All speci-
mens should be directed to Professor Agassiz, Museum

* If the specimens cannot he kept alive, and arc small, put
them just as they are into a bottle of alcoliol and water, and
send them. If the specimens are lar[., % treat them thoroughly
with a wash of carbolic acid, and ex])ress them at once to the
Museum, or skin them, without severing the head or tail, and
send the skin, head, and tail in the same way, or in alcohol.

APPENDIX XI.

343

of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass., and should be
labelled with the name in full of the exact locality from
which they are taken.

Yours very truly,

LIVINGSTON STONE,

Sec'y A. F. C. A.

The following letter is added, at Professor Agassiz's
suggestion : —

Camdridge, January 20, 187 1.

Dear Sir : I am greatly o) liged to you for your kind
offices in helping me to secure the necessary materials for
a proper investigation of our salmon, etc.

A single specimen of any fish of this family, even the
common brook trout, from any locality, with label attached,
mentioning the name of the place, would l)e very accept-
able, as indicating the range of distribution. Of the rarer
varieties, several specimens are desirable. Besides the
specimens that may be thus brought forward, I would like
an opportunity to critically study the specific characters
of all the different species of the family found upon this
continent. To this effect I should have a large fiui/iber
of specimens of each species, in every stage of growth,
collected in the sa/ue locality, so that there could be no
doubt of its being the same kind offish, and yet a chance
be afforded of studying all the variations of age, sex, sea-
son, etc. For the salmon, for instance, it would be neces-
sary to have very young ones, others two, three, four, five
inches, etc., to full-grown ones, /row one place, where the
true salmon alone is found ; then the same for the land-
locked salmon ; then the same again for the Sebago sal-
mon. This would settle the question whether we have
one, two, or three species of salmon. Next, I would
wish for the same opportunity of studying, in every stage
of growth, the lake trout, the brook trout, the grayling,

344

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

and the different kinds of vvhitefisli. Single specimens
sent from diOerent localities — and the more such are
sent the better — will settle the question of the distribu-
tion of each species ; but you see that it will never do to
attempt identifying the species from specimens gathered
at random in different localities ; that study must be made
from specimens collected in the same region, indepen-
dently of the study of the distribution of species. And
now that you know my plans, I leave the matter in your

hands.

Very truly yours,

L. AGASSIZ.
Livingston Stonk, Es(>

'i ' l\\

•I'l (

1^

\%-

t

tf!

icimens
ich are
listribu-
r do to
athered
)e made
fidepen-
. And
in your

\SSIZ.

APPENDIX XII.

MARKING SALMOxV. — (Buckland.)

T NOW give the different ways of marking.

^ I. Cut off tlie dead or adipose fin altogether vvitli
sharp surgical scissors. This test, however, is liable to
mislead. Everybody cuts off this fin, so that future diag-
nosis is difficult. I do not know what use the salmon
makes of the adipose fin. It seems to have been put
on his back by nature for the convenience of us pisci-
culturists, on purpose to be cut off, or otherwise experi-
mented on.

2. Slit the adipose fin right down the middle again with
sharp scissors. Rub the cut edges well with stick nitrate
of silver ; these edges will never again unite as long as the
fish lives, unless the salmon has a submarine hospital,
and a piscine doctor to bring the edges together, and keep
them there in a scientific manner.

3. Cut a V-shaped bit out of the front of the adipose
fin on its anterior margin.

4- Cut a V-shaped bit out of the posterior margin.

5. Cut a V from the top of the adipose fin, from above
downwards.

6. Get some little metal clips, such as are used to keep
loose papers together, make a hole with a pen-knife be-
tween the rays of the edge of one of the fins, not the tail
or pectoral fins, run in the letter clip, expand the two
arms, and Mr. Fish is marked. Do not put the clip too
tight, or it might slough out A bull never sheds the iron
ring in his nose, but recollect the ring is loose, not tight.

Oi

4'/,i'i

'If

ii

346

DOMESTICATED TKOUT.

There might be a danger that these dips would not stand
sea water ; they might easily be galvanized over, or cov-
ered with a waterproof varnish.

7. Wipe the fish's face quite dry. Light a Vcsuvian
match (not a Hamer), and burn tlie skin of his cheek ;
burn marks never come out in men and animnlr, why
should they not also be permanent in fish .^ The Vesu-
vian marks can be varied, — one on the right cheek for
1S70, two on the left cheek for 1871, and so on.

8. Get a saddler's punch, such as is used for making
holes in stirrup leathers. Punch a hole in his gill-cover;
the hole will only let a little more water into his gills, on
tiiC principle that they slit the nostrils of the mules that
carry copper ore up the Andes, — it lets more air into their
lungs.

9. Get a sharp clip, such as is used by the " tickets,
please," man at the railway station. Clip bits out of the
edges of the fish's gills, or out of his anal fin. This fin is
the least serviceable fin to the fish, therefore utilize it ;
but interfere with his tail fin, that is, his screw propeller,
as little as possible.

10. Get a set of doctor's cupping instruments, cup the
fish on his side; six beautiful slits are made in a moment.
Rub in gunpowder, and the fish is tattooed.

11. Fasten silver wire loose around the first ray of the
back fin, or round the hindermost ray of the anal fin.
The wire must not be too loose, or it might catch in weeds,
etc. I am afraid tickets, unless very small, with numbers,
might interfere with the fish's movements.

Whatever you do, take care not to touch or injure the
fish's gills. If the fish is obstreperous, do not fight with
him ; let him dance about a bit on the grass. A silk
pocket-handkerchief is the best thing to hold a slippery
fish ; a flannel blanket is also a useful thinsf.

Do not return the fish rudely into the water; if he is

APPENDIX XII.

347

faint, go in with him, and support his head against the
stream till lie swims away of himself If i, ere are many
fish, keep them till wanted in the water in a large hoop,
or, as I call it, a "crinoline" net. This net can easily be
made wiili two common hoops, as used by boys, and a
bit ot spare nettifig.

I am afraid Mr. Colani and the Cruelty to Animals So-
ciety may be down on me for my suggestions on marking
fish ; but 1 r ;ally da not think the cold-blooded, scale-
wearing tish can possibly have an acute sensation of pain.
Besides which, even suppose it was cruel to mark fish,
the operations are don in the cause of science, and for the
advancement of general knowledge of the habits of the
salmon.

October 20, 1870.

Vt I'-

i; if

M :■ - i

APPENDIX XIII.

ARE THE FISH IN THE SEA DIMINISHING?

Extract from liertram's Harvest of the Sea, Chap. XI.

T^HE idea of a slowly but surely climinishin<; supply of
^ fisli i.s no doubt alannin<:i;, for the public have hitiierto
believed so devoutly in the frequently cjuoted proverb of
" more fish in the sea than ever came out of it," that it has
never, except by a discerning few, been thought possible
to overfish ; and, consequently, while endeavoring to sup-
ply the constantly increasing demand, it has never suffi-
ciently been brought home to the public mind that it is
possible to reduce the breeding stock of our best kinds of
sea fish to such an extent as may render it difficult to re-
populate those exhausted ocean colonies which in years
gone by yielded, as we have been often told, such miracu-
lous draughts. It is worthy of being noticed that most
of our public writers who venture to treat the subject of
the fisheries proceed at once to argue that the supply of
fish is unlimited, and that the sea is a gigantic fish-pre-
serve into which man requires but to dip his net to obtain
at all times an enormous amount of wholesome and nutri-
tious food.

I would be glad to believe in these general statements
regarding our food fisheries, were I not convinced, from
personal inquiry, that they are a mere coinage of the brain.
There are doubtless plenty of fish still in the sea, but
the trouble of capturing them increases daily, and the in-
struments of capture have to be yearly augmented, indi-
cating but too clearly to all who have studied the subject

;

APPENDIX XIII.

349

that we are beginning to overfish. We already know, in
the case of the sahiion, that the greed of man, when
thoroughly excited, can extirpate, for mere immediate gain,
any animal, however prolific it may be. Some of the
IJritish game birds have so narrowly escaped destruction
that their existence, in anything like quantity, when set
against the armies of sportsmen who seek their annihila-
tion, is wonderful.

The salmon has just had a very narrow escape from ex-
termination. It was at one time a comparatively plentiful
fish, that could be obtained for food purposes at an almost
nominal expense, and a period dating eighty years back is
thought to have been a golden age so far as the salmon
fisheries were concerned. But, in my opinion, it is more
than questionable if salmon, or indeed any of our sea or
river animals, ever were so magically abundant as has
been represented. At the time — a rather indefinite time,
however, ranging from the beginning to the end of the
last century, and frequently referred to by writers on the
salmon question — when farm servants were compelled to
eat of that fish more frequently than seemed good for
their stomachs, or when the country laird, visiting London,
ordered a steak for himself with "a bit o' saumon for the
laddie," and was thunderstruck at the price of the fish,
we must bear in mind, as a strong element of the ques-
tion, that there were few distant markets available ; it was
only on the Tweed, Tay, Severn, and other salmon streams,
that the salmon was really plentiful.

No such regular commerce as that now prevailing was
carried on in fresh salmon at the period indicated. In
fact, properly speaking, there was no commerce beyond
an occasional despatch to London per smnrk, or the sale
of a few fish in country market-towns, and salmon has
been known to be sold in these places at so low a rate as
a penny or twopence a pound weight. Most of these

350

DOMESTICATED TROUT,

fish, at the time I have indicated, were boiled in pickle, or
split up and cured as kippers. In tliose days there were
neither steamboats nor railways to hurry away the produce
of the sea or river to London or Liverpool. It is not sur-
prising, therefore, that in tiiose good old times salmon
couldalmost be hid for the capturing. Poaching — that
is, poaching as a trade — was unknown. As I have al-
ready stated, when the people resident on a river were
allowed to capture as many tish as tliey pleased, or when
they could purchase all they recpiired at a nominal price,
there was no necessity for them to capture the salmon
while it was on the beds in order to breed. Larm-servants
on tlie Tay or Tweed had usually a few poaclied fish, in
the shape of a barrel of pickled salmon, for winter use.
At that time, as I have already said in treating of the sal-
mon, men went out on a winter night to "burn the water,"
but then it was simply by way of having a frolic. In
those halcyon days country gentlemen killed their salmon
in the same sense as they killed their own mutton, namely,
for household eating ; there was no other demand for the
fish than that of their own servants or retainers. Farmers
kept their smoked or pickled salmon for winter use, in the
same way as they did pickled pork or smoked bacon.
The fish, comparatively speaking, were allowed to fulfil
the instincts of their nature and breed in peace ; those
owners, too, of either upper or lower waters, who delighted
in angling, had abundance of attractive sport; and, so far
as can be gleaned from personal inquiry or reading, there
was during the golden age of the salmon a rude plenty
of home-prepared food of the fish kind, which, even with
the best-regulated fisheries, we can never again, in these
times of increasing population, steam power, and aug-
mented demand, hope to see.

At present the very opposite of all this prevails. Far-
mers or cottars cannot now make salmon a portion of their

APPENDIX XIII.

351

winter's store. Permission to angle for that fish is a favor
not very easily procured, because even the worst upper
waters can be let each season at a good figure ; and more
than all that, the fish has become individually so valuable
as to tempt persons, by way of business, to engage ex-
tensively in its capture at times when it is unlawful to take
it, and the animal is totally unfit for food. A prime sal-
mon is, on the average, quite as valuable as a Southdown
sheep or an obese pig, both of which cost money to rear
and fatten ; and at certain periods of tiie year salmon has
been known to bring as much as ten shillings per pound-
weight in a London fish-shop. There have been many
causes at work to bring about this falling off in our sup-
plies ; but ignorance of the natural history of the fish, the
want of accord between the upper and lower proprietors
of salmon rivers, the use of stake and bag nets, poaching
during close times, and the consequent capture of thou-
sands of gravid fish, as well as the immense amount of
overfishing by the lessees of fishing stations, are doubtless
among the chief reasons.

If these misfortune.-, occur with an important and indi-
vidually valuable fish like the salmon, which is so well
hedged round by protective laws, and which is so accessi-
ble that we can watch it day by day in our rivers, — and
that such misfortunes have occurred is quite patent to the
world ; indeed, some of the best streams of England, at one
time noted for tlieir salmon, are at this moment nearly des-
titute of fish, — how much more is it likely, then, that
similar misfortunes may occur to the unwatched and un-
protected fishes of the sea, which spawn in a greater world
of water, with thousands of chances against their seed
being even so much as fructified, let alone any hope of its
ever being developed into fish fit for table purposes. In
the sea the larger fish are constantly preying on the
smaller, and the waste of life, as I have elsewhere ex-

352

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

^»»fc4k\; ' %

M*w««^«

plained, is enormous. The young fish, so soon as they
emerge from their fragile shell, are devoured in countless
millions, not one in a thousand, perhaps, escaping the dan-
gers of its youth. Shoals of haddocks, for instance, find
their way to the deposits of herring-spawn just as the
eggs are bursting into life, or immediately after they have
vivified, so that hundreds of thousands of these infantile
fry and quickening ova are annually devoured. The hun-
gry codfish are eternally devouring the young of other
kinds, and their own young as well ; and all throughout the
depths of ocean the strong fishes are found to he preying
on the weak, and a perpetual war is being waged for daily
food. Reliable information, it is true, cannot easily be
obtained on these points, it being so difficult to observe
the habits of animals in the depths of the ocean ; and none
of our naturalists can inform us how long it is before our
whitefish arrive at maturity, and at what age a codfish or
a turbot becomes reproductive ; nor can our economists
do more than guess the percentage of eggs that ripen into
fish, or the number of these that are likely to reach our

tables as food.

As has been mentioned in a previous chapter of this
volume, the supply of haddocks and other Gadidce was
once so plentiful around the British coasts that a short line,
with perhaps a score of hooks frequently replenished with
bait, would be quite sufficient to capture a few thousand
fish. The number of hooks was gradually extended, till
now they are counted by the thousands, the fishermen
having to multiply the means of capture as the fish be-
come less plentiful. About forty years ago the percentage
of fish to each line was very considerable : eight hundred
hooks would take about seven hundred and fifty fish ; but
now, with a line studded with four thousand hooks, the
fishermen sometimes do not take one hundred fish. It
was recently stated by a correspondent of the John o' Groat

APPENDIX \in.

353

yournal, a newspaper published in the fishing town of
Wick, that a fish-curer there contracted some years ago
with the boats for haddock at ^s 6d. per hundred, and
that at that low price the fishing yielded the men from
^20 to £40 each season ; but that now, although he has
offered the fishermen 12 j-. a hundred, he cannot procure
anything Ijke an adequate supply.

As the British sea fisheries .ifford remunerative employ-
ment to a large body of the population, and offer a favorable
investment for capital, it is surely time that we should know
authoritatively whether or not there be truth in the falling
off in our supplies of herring and other whitefish. At one
of the Glasgow fish merchants' annual soirees, held a year
or two ago, it was distinctly stated that all kinds of fish
were less abundant now than in former years, and that in
proportion to the means of capture the result was less.
Mr. Methuen reiterated such opinions again and again.
" I reckon our fisheries," said this enterprising fish mer-
chant, on one occasion, " if fostered and properly fished, a
national source of wealth of more importance and value
than the gold mines of Australia, because the gold mines
are exhaustible, but the living, propagating, self-cultivating
gift of God is inexhaustible, if rightly fished by man, to
whom they are given for food. It is evident anything
God gives is ripe and fit for food. ' Have dominion,' not
destruction, was the ccaimand. Any farmer cutting his
ripe clover grass would not only be reckoned mad, but
would in fact be so, were he to tear up the roots along
with the clover, under the idea that he was thus obtaining
more food for his cattle, and then wondering why he had
no second crop to cut. His cattle would starve, himself
and family be beggared, and turned out of their farm as
improvident and destructive, who not only beggared them-
selves, but to the extent of their power impoverished the
people by destroying the resources of their country. The

354

l-JOMESTICATED TROUT.

Pi

farmer who thus destroys tlic hopes of a rising crop by
injudicious farming is not only his own enemy, but the
enenfy of his country as well." Such evidence could be
multiplied to any extent, if it were necessary ; but 1 feel
that (piite enough has been said to prove the point. It is
a point 1 have no doubt upon whatever, and persons who
have studied the question are alarmed, and say it is no
use blinking the matter any longer, that the demand for
lish as an article of food is not only beginning to exceed
the supply, but that the supply obtained, combined with
waste of spawn and other causes, is beginning to exceed
the breeding power of the fish. In the olden time, when
people only caught to supply individual wants, fish were
plentiful, in the sense that no scarcity was ever expe-
rienced, and the shoals of sea fish, it was thought at one
time, would never diminish ; but since the traffic became
a commercial speculation the question has assumed a to-
tally different aspect, and a sufficient quantity cannot nov/
be obtained. Who ever hears now of monster turbot be-
ing taken by the trawlers ? Where are the miraculous
hauls of mackerel that used to gladden the eyes of the
fisliermcn ? Where are now the wagon-loads of herring
to use as manure, as in the golden age of the fisheries ?
I do not require to pause for the reply ; echo would only
mock my question by repeating it. Exhausted shoals and
inferior fish tell us but too plainly that there is reason for
alarm, aid that we have in all probability broken at last
':pon ouv capital stock.

It soems perfectly clear that we have hitherto seriously
exagi;erated the stock ; it could never have been of the
extent indicated, because then no draughts could have had
any great effect, no matter how enormous they might have
been. F'-om various natural causes, some of which I
have indicated in a former chapter, the stock has been
kept in balance, and it seems now perfectly clear that by

G

I

APi'F.NDlx Kill.

355

teclccl breeding, we „„,,"" ""^"'""^'' "> ""l'''"-

case „r ihe ...in,,,,,' ,.„„'■ ,'''• '","'" "' '" """
wlHci, „a.s ,e, bee„'„i.seov e< ; c ":;'■ ""' "'" ^■'■"

J-iclcled suflicienl r,„„ ■ """^"' ''^'." ""■' '■""I

land i,s one o ','"„"■ ' 1 ™''"'"" "" """■''-■ "^ "-

-,.oo,n.it\;;r;:i;'2i:;7;:--^p^^^^^^^^^

sue to multiply or ropleni.sl, ou,- »tock !: foil ' '" '"

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APPENDIX XIV.

BOOKS ON FISH CULTURE.

List of Published Works relating in whole or
IN PART TO Fish Culture.

'onnLVNOY 'A AIEYTIKQN, /3ti3Xio TTfi/re. l2mo. Floren-
tiae. CDXV.

Booke of Fishing with Hook and Line, and al! other In-
struments thereunto belonging ; with Remarks on the
Preservation of Fish in Ponds. Leonard Mascall. 4to.
London. 1590.

Certaine Ex*' riments concerning Fish and Fruite. John
Taverner. 4to. 1600. Very rare.

The Perfect Husbandman. C. H. B. C. and C. M. 4to.
London. 1658. Pages 346-355 on Fish Ponds and Fish.

The Angler's Vade Mecum, together with a Brief Dis-
course on Fish Ponds. Thomas Barrett. 8vo. London.
1681.

Country Gentleman's Vade Mecum. Giles Jacob. Lon-
don. 17 1 7. Pages 25-31 on Fish, Angling, and Fish Ponds.

Discourse of Fish and Fishing. Roger North. 8vo.
London. 1718. Large 4to. London. 1770.

An Account of the Fishpool. Sir Richard Steele. 8vo.
London. 1718.

History of the Chinese Empire. Vol.1. John Baptiste
Duhalde. 1735.

Memoirs of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences.
Vol. XXI n. German Ed. 1761.

Philosophical Trans. Royal Society of London. Vol.
LVII. 1768.

HOLE OR

Floren-

other In-
5 on the
:all. 4to.

ite. John

. M. 4to.

and Fish.

Irief Dis-

London.

ob. Lon-
>h Ponds,
•th. 8vo.

ele. 8vo.

I Baptiste

Sciences.

m. Vol.

APPENDIX XIV.

SS7

Icthyologie, oil histoire naturelle gendrale et particu-

liere des poisson.s, traduit de rallemande par Laveaux.

Marc. Eliez. Bloch. 12 vols. Berlin. 1785-97.

Berisch Anvveisung zur Zahmen und Wilden Fischerei.
Leipzig. 1794.

A Plain and Easy Introduction to the Knowledge and
Practice of Gardening, with Hints on Fish and Fish
I'onds. Charles Marshall. i2mo. London. 1796.

Natural History of British Fishes. O.Donovan. 5 vols.
London. 1802-08.

History of Fishes. Vol. L Noel de la Morimicre. 1815.

Histoire naturelle des poissons. Cuvier et Valen-
ciennes. 8vo. Paris. 1828.

Salmonia ; or, Days of Fly Fishing. Sir Humphry
Davy. 8vo. London. 1828.

History of British Fishes. William Yarrell. 2 vols.
London. 1835-36.

Histoire naturelle des poissons d'eau douce de TEurope
centrale. Agassiz. 2 vols. 1839.

Experimental Observations on the Development and
Growth of Salmon Fry, etc. John Shaw. Edinburgh. 1840.

Political Economy of the Romans. Vol. IL Dureau
de la Malle. 1840.

Journal of the Agricultural Union of the Grand Duchy
of Hesse. No. 27- 1840.

Memoirs of the Central Society of Agriculture. Vol
XLVin. 1840.

Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinbur-^h Vol
XIV. 1840. , '^

Embryology cf the Salmon, Natural History of Fresh
Water Fish. L. Agassiz. 1842.

Embryologie des S.::mones. 8vo. With Atlas folio
Neufchatcl. 1842. This work forms the first volume (all
issued) of Agassiz's Histoire naturelle des poissons de
r Europe centrale.

i! i;

358

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

I ffl

<:. sMfli'

- ' tl

Zo()lo<;y; or, New York Fauna. Part IV. Fishes.
James !•:. De Kay. 4tt). 1.S42.

A Treatise on the Mana,u;enienl of J-'resh Water Fisli.
Ciottlieh Hoccius. London. iIS4f,

The Complete An<j;ier, with a 15il)lioj;raphic Preface, giv-
ing an Account of Fisliing and Fisliing-Uoolis from the
earliest Antitjuity to the Time of Walton. Walton and
Cotton. i2mo. New \'ork and London. 1847. Wiley
and Putnam's edition.

Natural History of the Salmon. Wick. 1848.

Comptes Rendus t)f the Academy of Sciences. Vols.
XXVIL, XX\T11., XXXIIL, XXXVL, XXXVIIL 1848.

Revue des Deux IVIondes. January i, 1849.

Annals of the Natural Sciences. Third Series. Vol.
XIV. 1850. \'ol. XIX. 1853.

The Norman Annual. 1850-54.

Artificial Fecundation of Fish. Society of Emulation
of the Uoubs. 185 1.

The Book of the Salmon, by Ephemera, assisted by
Arthur Young. 1851.

The Agronomic Annals. Vol. L 1851.

Bulletin of the Agricultural Society of Paris. Vols. VL,
VIL, VIII. 1851-53.

Report upon the Facts proved at Huningue, from May 6,
185 1, to May 7, 1852. Messrs. Detzern and Berthol.

Bulletin of the Society of Agriculture of LTlerault.

July,' 1852.

The Artificial Production of Fish. Piscarius. Third
Edition. i2mo. London., 1852.

Journal of Practical Agriculture. June 5, 1852.

Practical Instructions upon Pisciculture. M. Coste.

1853-

Haxo d'Espinal on the Artificial Fecundating and Hatch-
ing of the Eggs of Fish. Second Edition. 1853.

Memoirs of the Society of Agriculture of Lyons. May,

1853-

AITENDIX XIV.

359

Report to f 1- Dirertor-f'.cncral of Waters and Forests,
upon the KepopuIaliriLC of the navi-^ahle and floating Water-
courses. 1\I. do Saint ( )uen, Administrator of the Forests.
March, 1S53.

Annals of the Forests. July and Aut^ust, FS53.

Handheduncf tol de KunUinatigc Veremeni^^ouldigcn var
Vischen. 1853.

Analytic Sketch of the Labors of the Academy of
Kouen. 1^53.

Researches into the Natural History of the Salmon.
1853-

Propagation of Salmon and other Fish. Edward and
Thomas Ashworth. Stockport. 1853.

Researches on the Composition of Eggs in the Series
of Animals. Valenciennes and Fremy. 1854,

Guide (In Pisciculture. J. Remy. Paris. 1854.

Natural History and Habits of the Salmon, etc. An-
drew Young. 1854.

Pisciculture pratique sur I'eleve et la multiplication des
sangsues. Quenard. I>aris. r855.

Pisciculture, Pisciculteurs, et Poissons. Eugene Voel.
Paris. 1856.

Pisciculture et la production des sangsues. Auguste
Jourdier. Paris. 1856.

Sea-Side and Aquarium. John Harper. Edinburgh.
1858.

Fish Culture : a Treatise on the Artificial Propaga-
tion of Fish. Theodatus Garlick, M. D. New York.
1858.

The Family Aquarium. H. D. Butler. New York.
1858.

Voyage d'exploration sur le littoral de la France et de
ritalie. M. Coste. Paris.

Notice historiquc sur I'ctablisscment de pisciculture de
Huningue. Berger Levrault. Strasbourg. 1862.

^^^Hi

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Ul
1

i

i

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I

^EUttflVSf

^SffiB'

'1^

'^^M|i

^

f-BIHB-i

t^^H^^^K

|^^H|

's " ^Ui

^

'll _'q|

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bgii, "- •

360

DOMKSTICATED TKOUT.

Natural History of the Salmon, as ascertained at Stor
montfield. William Hrown. (llas^ovv. 1862.

Fish Ilatchin*;. Frank T. Huckland. 1S63.

Rapport sur la pisciculture, et la pcche Huriales en An-
gicterre, enecosse, eten Irclande. 4to. Strasbourg. 1S63.
Coumes.

(iuido pratique du i)isciculture. Pierre Carboiinier.
Paris. I <S64.

Propagation of Oysters. M. Coste and Dr. Kemmerer.
Brighton. 1S64.

Fish Culture: a Practical Guide to the Modern System
of breeding and rearing Fish. P'rancis Francis. London.
1865.

Neauvcau elements de Pisciculture. i2mo. Paris et
Chartres. 1866.

Artificial Fish Breeding. \V, A. Fry. New York. 1S66.

Harvest of the Sea. James G. Bertram. New York.
1866. A most excellent and valuable l)ook.

The Stormontheld Piscicultural E.vperiments. Robert
Buist. Edinl)urgh. 1866.

Les poissons des eaux douces de la France. Svo. Paris.
1866. E. Blanchard.,

Traite de Pisciculture pratique. Third Edition. i2mo.
Paris. 1866. Koltz. J. P. J.

Harper's Magazine. Noveml)er, 1868.

Practical Vv ater Farming. William Beard. M. D., Edin-
burgh. 1868.

American Fish Culture. Thaddeus Norris. Philadel-
phia. 1868.

Fishing in American Waters. Genio C. Scott. New
York. 1869.

Short History of the Art of Pisciculture. J. J. Armistead.
Leeds, England. 1870.

Trout Culture. Seth Green. Caledonia, New York,
1870.

r

APri:-NDIX XIV.

361

Pis( nlt.irc clans rAnrriqu (lu nord. J. Leon Sou-
berain. r.nllctin cle la Socidtd U Acclimatation. January
and Fci aai s. 1871.

election oi Species in 1, ...x. Charles Dar-

win. . vols. London and Nt\ \"ik 187 1.

Uomesticatt'd 'Irrit: How to Breed and Grow them.
Livingston Stone. iston. 1872.

Practical Trout Culture. By J. II. Slack, M. D. New
York. 1872.

Domesticated Trout : How to Breed and Orow them.
Livin<;ston Stone. Third Edit 'mi, revised and enlarged.
Charlestown, N. H. 1877.

List of Books with Dates not C kn.

Artificial Spawning, Breeding, and Rearing of Fish.
Gottlieb Boccius. \'an Voorst. Fjiternostcr Row.

De Piscibus et aquatilibOs omnibus. Conrad Gesner.

De Re Rustica. Book VI 11. Columella.

Easy Method of Catching Fish. William Arderon.

Fur, Fin, and Feather. A Compilation of Game Laws.
New York. M. B. Bowen & Co.

Husbandman's Jewell, with the Art of Angling, includ-
ing P'ish and Fish Ponds.

Importanza economica dei pisci e del coro allevamento
artificiale. Signor F. Defillippi.

Instructions pratiques sur la Pisciculture, suivies de
mdmoires et de rapports sur la meme sujet. M. Coste.
Paris.

Multiplication artificelle des poissons. J. P. J. Koltz.
Paris.

Pisciculture et culture des eaux. P. Trigneaux. Paris.

Pisciculture pratique, considerations gdncrales et pra-
tiques sur le repeuplement des er.ux de la France. M.
G. Millet. Bordeaux.

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363

DOMESTICATED TROUT.

Pisciculture pratique, rapport sur les mesures h prendre
pour assurer le repeuplement des cours d'eau de la France.
M. G. Millet. Paris.

Piscicultu'-e, rapport sur le repeuplement des cours
d'eau et sur les travaux de pisciculture de M. Millet.
Paris. Auguste Goin, Editeur.

Pisciculture : considerations gdndrales ot pratiques sur
la pisciculture marine. M. G. Millet. Paris.

Pisciculture : observations sur la communication ver-
bale de M. Coste. M. Millet. Paris.

Report on the Species of Fish in Prussia which might
be imported and acclimated in the fresh waters of France.
M. Valenciennes.

Reports of Fisheries Commissioners of Afaine, New
Hampsl ire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con-
necticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other
States. Annuals.

Supplementary Report on the Rivers of Spain and Por-
tugal. Manchester.

The Oyster : where, when, and how to find, breed, cook,
and eat it.

The Salmon and its Artificial Propagation. Robert
Ramsbottom, Clitheroe. London.

Translation of the Proceedings of the French Piscicul-
turists. William H. Fry. Appleton : New York.

I

INDEX.

Agassiz, Professor, drawings of eggs
of the Coregonus palaca as seen
under a powerfu'. magnifier, 144, 145 ;
requests specimens of Salmoiiidae,
342 - 344-

AiNs. .voKTH, spawning race, 29-31;
Coliins's modifica'ion of, 32 - 36 ;
period of hatching, table, 141.

Ai.KviNS, duration of period, 152; ef-
fect of cold on, 15S; experiments
with, 326; first appearance of, 151 ;
glass lining in troughs an injury to,
15s; habits of, 152-159; instinct lo
hide, 154; n. waning of word "aie-
vin," 151 ; monstrosities among, 159;
perversity in, 157; quantity of water
necessary to, 158 ; tendency to follow
current of water, 156; transportation
of, 214.

American Fish Culturists' Asso-
ciation, organization of, 339-341.

Animal Parasites, description of, on
young fry, 200 ; on large trout. Ap-
pendix I.

Apparatus for hatching, 47.

Aqueducts, charred, 48 ; covered, 49 ;
hatching room, 48 ; security of, 48.

Atkins, table of spawn in different
fish, 288 ; table of imp.egnated sal-
mon eggs at Maine State Salmon-
Breeding Establishment, 104.

Authorities, list of, 356-361.

Bertram, extract from. Harvest of the

Sea, 348.
Breeders, effect of health on progeny,

182, 183.
Buckland, Frank, directions for

marking salmon, 345 - 347 ; table of

spawn :n different fish, 287.
Buildings, number of, 40; carpen-

ter's shop, 43 ; hatching house; ^ , ;
ice house, 43; meat room, 4^, 42;
office, 43 ; store-room, 42.
Byssus, cause of, 131 ; effect of, 132 ;
peculiarities of, 132.

Canadian Correspondence, letters
from Mr. Whitcher, 317-319.

Cannibalism, danger of, 205 ; remedy
j for, 206.

Cold Spring Trout Ponds, brief
sketch of, 309-314; table of spawn
taken in one month, 289, 290 ; table
of spawning time, 290, 291.

Commissary Department, care and
preparation of meat, 233; cheap-
ness of food, 229 ; fish flesh used as
food, 231 ; keeping meat, 234 ; kind
of food, 229 ; minnows as food, 230 ;
nutritious food, 230 ; plate of meat-
cutter, 233 ; sour-milk curd, 232 ;
worms and insects used as food, 232 ;
variety in food, 230.

CosTE, arrangement of glass grilles,
64 - 67 ; table of period of spawning
of European fish which reproduce
in fresh water, 291.

Covers, material for, 63; necessity
for, 62.

Diseases of young fry, 194-209 ; list

of, 194 ; large trout, 256.
Distributing Spout, description of,

S3 ; office of, 53 ; preparation of, 53.

Eggs, appearance of impregnated and
unimpregnated, 137; cause of death
among, J25-134; color of, 118;
daily examination while hatching,
132; development at hatching time,
141 ; different fish produced by, 142;

3^4

INDEX.

effect of light on, 42, 43 ; enemies to
hatching, 130; hatching, 124-145;
ho-v to tell wiiat eggs will produce
good fish, 142 ; how to tell dead,
134 ; liow to tell percentage of im-
pregnated, 137-1301 impregnation
of, (J9-112; method of packing,
146; nuHiber to a fish, 119; plates
of, as seen under a magnifier, by
Professor Agassiz, 1431 144; size of,
1 18 ; structure of, 1 iH.

E.MBKvns, darkness necessary to de-
velop, 63 ; development of, 141 ; how
to make produce healthy fish, 183 ;
sickly, 184; to insure strong and
healthy, 1S4 ; of perch, 336 ; of sal-
mon, 328- 335.

ExTKRiMKNTs, general account of, 323
- 327 ; with alevins and young fry,
326 ; in impregnating eggs, 324 ;
large trout, 327.

Eyes, form of, in trout, 217.

Fii.TF.KiNG Tanks, covers to, 53 ; de-
scription of, 51 ; filters for, 52 ; ne-
cessity for, 50: place of, 52 ; plate
of, 51; a remedy for sediment, 50;
size of, 52.

Filters, a necessity to cleanliness at
hatching time, 133 ; construction of,
and material for, 50- 52.

Fish, ancient fish story, 303 ; freezing,
300, 301 ; handle carefully, 241 ; list
of spawning time, 290 ; most valu-
able kinds found in Missisquoi River.
294 : value of those found in Miri-
michi River, 293.

Fi.v- FiSHiNii, account of, 302.

Fkhsiiets, loss occasioned by, 8 ; need
of precaution against, 12 ; guards
against, 39. . .

FuNCius, account of, 126; description
of parasites found in, 277 ; effect of,
on eggs, 127; how to detect the
presence of, 127 ; microscopic exam-
ination of, 277 ; plate of parasites
found in, 277 ; prevention against,
127, 128: salt a cure for, 278; why
to dread, 126.

Glass Grilles, cost of, 56 ; compared
with charred troughs, 56, 308 ;
Coste's arrangement, 64 - 67.

Gravel, classification of, 62 ; depth
of, in troughs, 61 ; laying in troughs,
60-62; obtaining, 60; preparation
of, 61 ; quantity to be used, 61 ; size
of, 60 ; washing of, 61.

Gkeen, Seth, method of watching

progress of embryo, 136; a report
of shad spawning on the Hudson
River, 289 ; rule for time of hatch-
ing, 140.
•

Hatlmin(; Apparatus, aqueduct, 48 ;
distributing spout, 53 ; liltering ar-
rangement, 50 ; supply reservoir, 47 ;
trou ,hs, 54.

HATCHiNt. I ME K(;(;s, Ainsworth's
table, 141, dangers to, 125; daily
examination while, 132; examining
the iirogress, 136; hatching early,
143; interest felt in, 141 ; labor m
picking over the eggs while hatch-
"igi '35; plates of microscopic
changes in eggs while hatching, 143 ;
protection against danger to, 125;
skill in, 124; time required (or,
140.

Hai CUING House, aqueduct in, 48,
49 ; kind of, 44 ; lighting of, 46 ;
location of, 45 ; necessity of security
in, 130; shape of, 46; size of, 45;
troughs in, 54 - 64 ; use of gravel in,
60 ; where to look upon entering,
132 ; warmth of, 45.

Hatching TRotcjiis, advantages of
chaired wood over other material,
56 : construction of, 58, 59 ; covers
to, 92 - 64 ; comparative expense of
■nateria', 56; description of M.
Coste's, 64-67; glass grilles used
in. 5^'. 57 : glass used in another
form, 66; constr-'ition, 63, 64; ma-
terials for, 55 ; placing the, 57 ;
preparations for use, 59 ; safeguards
to, 59, 60 ; shape and size, 57, 58 ;
screens for, 59.

Impregnation, amount of, 99-112;
absorbing power of eggs at time of,
102- 104 ; average yield by dry meth-
od, 104; closing notes on, 117; dis-
covery of dry or Russian method
introduced into this country, 108 ;
eggs exhibited at American Fish
Culturists' Association at Albany,
prepared by dry method, 106; ex-
periments by M. Vrasski, too ; ex-
periments in, 323 ; further directions
for, 114; how to tell ]iercentage of,
137 - 140 ; in water, 99 : injury by
water at time of, 100, 101 ; interest-
ing consequences of dry method,
109 ; list or table of, by dry method,
at Maine State Salmon- Breeding
Establishment, 104 ; make quick
work, 115; modus operandi, 112;

INDEX.

365

practical advantages of dry metliud,
III ; Russian or dry method more
particularly described, 104 - 109 ;
Seth Green's success in, 105 ; tem-
perature of water suitable to, 115.
Inlets and Oi'ti.kts, directions for,
37 ; side channels to, 31; ; size of,
39-

Jack, account of, 251.

Joi'KNKYs of live fish and eggs, 282.

Largk Trout, account of those
caught by (1. S. I'age, Esq., 227 ;
age of, 226 ; best market lor sell-
ing, 259 ; best time to kill for food,
258 ; daily care, 255 ; experiments j
in feeding, 225, 327 ; food for, 230 ;
how to grow rapidly, 253 ; market- j
ing, 2p7 ; most profitable age of, 258;
quantity of food, 254 ; rate of growth, |
254 ; range required, 254 ; size of,
226; scientific descri| ■'< <n of, by
Storer, 215-217; temperature of
water, 254 ; weight, 227.

Marking Fish, Ruckland's directions
for marking salmon, 345.

Mkat, place to keep, 42 ; preparation
of, 41, 232.

Meat Grinders, 233.

Milt, action of, at time of impregna-
tion, 102 ; bad effect of water on,
107; composition of, 102. 107; ex-
periments with. T07, 324 ; length of
time the spermatozoa will remain
alive, 107.

Mink, how to catch, 247.

Minnows, as food, 230; encourage-
ment to cannibalism, 231.

MiRiMicHi River, kind of fish found
in, 293 ; quantities of fish found,
292 ; salmon-breeding establishment
on, 315.

MissisQi'oi River, kind of fish found
at, 294.

Northern New England, table of
spawning time of migratory and
fresh-water fish, 290.

Nurseries, description of, 80.

Odds and Ends, 287.
Overheating, 206.

Page, G. S., amount of large trout
caught, 227 ; introduction of Russian
method of impregnation, 100-109;
letter from, 227.

Patent Carbonized Hatching
Troughs, cost of, compared with
glass grilles, 308 ; description of, 300.

Perch Hatching, description of,
336 ; description of roe, 337 ; devel-
opment of embryo, 337.

Poachers, 248.

Ponds, advantage of plank over earth,
22, 247 ; avoid overstocking, 238 ;
charred, 23 ; compactness of, 20 ;
construction of, 18; depth of, 24;
drawing off, 25, 242 ; hiding-places
ill, 26; location of, 18; material for
building, 22; mullets in, 245; num-
ber of, 26 ; repairs to, 25 ; security
in, 22; size, 20; shape, 24.

Quatrefage's experiments with sper-
matozoa and milt of different fish
diluted with water, 103.

Rearing Boxes, arrangement of, 88 ;
absence of fixed hiding-places, 8fi ;
Compactness of fish for feeding in,
86 ; completeness in, 84 ; construc-
tion of ponds used as, 89 ; current
in, 84 ; form of, 83 ; outside enemies,
86 : overflow in, 85 ; protection
against too forcible suction, 85 ; pro-
tection against fungus, 88 ; size of,
89; supply of water in, 88; tight
joints in, 87 ; water plants in, 90.

Recapitulation of all principles,
270.

Reservoir, cleanliness in, 48; secur-
ity in, 47 ; supply of water in, 47.

Ripe Fish, appearance of, 114; cau-
tion about handling, 116; danger in
rough handling, 97 ; how to tell, 113.

Salmo Egg, translation from Vogt's
work on the development of, by F.
\V. Webber, 328.

Salmon-Breeding Establishment
ON THE MiRiMiciii RivER, account
of, 31S ; letter from Mr Whitcher,
317.

Salt a cure for fungus, 278.

Screens, materials for, 38 ; placing
of, 57 ; slats used as, 38 ; uniformity

in, 39-
Security, the principle inculcated, 6 ;

necessity for, 7 ; losses caused by

want of, 8 ; results of want of, 9, lo.
Sediment, danger of, 128 ; method of

removing, 129.
ShaD, dissertation on, 303.
Spawn, dangers to, 125-132; placing

the, 123; taking the, 93.

366

INDEX.

SP/WVNiNn, age of iroiit rearly for, ii8 ;
apparatus tor, 04 ; appearance of fish
when ready for, 95 ; behavior offish
at time of, 99 ; handling of fish at
time of, 97 : capturing the fish for,
95 ; danger to fisli at time of, 99 ;
effects of weather on, 119 ; length of
timvT necessary to, 117; pans for,
122; percli, 336: process of, 97;
preparations for, 94; Russian metli-
od, T04 ; spawning in ponds, 121.

SpAWNiNi; Hrais, Ainsworth's spawn-
ing race, 28 ; construction of 27, 28 ;
list of articles necessary at, 295 ;
slope and size of raceway, 27.

Streams, avoid overstocking, 238 ;
examination of, while hatching, 132 ;
freshets in, 8, 12, 39 ; heating of,
remedy for, 206, 240.

Storer, scientific description of Salmo
fontinalis, 215.

Suffocation, cause of, 207 ; remedy
for, 207.

Tables, Ainsworth's, periods of
hatching, 141 ; Atkins's, of spawn
in different fish, 288 ; including fish
not mentioned in other, 2S8 ; Buck-
land's, of spawn in different fish,
287 : of amount of spawn taken at
Cold Spring Trout Ponds in one
month, 289 ; Coste's, of time of
spawning of different fish which re-
produce in fresh water, 291 ; Green's,
showing number of shad spawn,
289 ; of times when it is illegal to
take trout in some of the States, 292 ;
of time of spawning in Northern
New England, 290; of number of
salmon eggs taken at Mirimichi
in 1868, 2S8.

Transportation and Packing of
Eggs, directions to accompany
transportation, 146.

Tricks with trout, 296 ; with birds,
299 ; with eggs of trout, 298 ; with
other fish, 298 ; with muskrats, 299 ;
with poachers, 300.

Trout, age of, 226 ; appetite in sum-
mer, 234 ; at different times of day,
235 ; at spawning time, 235 ; in
winter, 235; biain of, 223; change
of color in, 224 ; cannibalism of, 242 ;
character of water needful to raising
of, 18, 21 ; digestion of, 172, 223 ;
destructiveness of, 26 ; diseases of,
193 ; enemies to, 9 ; faultlessness
of, 218; general remarks on, 218;
growth as affected by food, 225 ;

habits of, 222 ; handling carefully,
241 ; hearing of, 220 ; how often to
feed, 236 ; how to screen against
loss, 237 ; markings of, 224 ; mis-
chief from not sorting, 242; natural
food for, 224 ; nerves of smell in,
222 ; necessity of watcht^ilness of, 6;
protection against enemies to, 245 ;
protection against cannioalism, 235,
I 242 ; pasturing, 238 ; qualities neces-
I sary to raising, 5 ; quantity of food
to give, 236 ; security in raising, 8 ;
sources of danger, 8, 9 ; sorting,
241 ; suited to domestication, 218 ;
sensitiveness ic inotion, 219 ; sensi-
tiveness to color, 219 ; tameness of,
3, 4 ; tricks with, 296; vision of, 219.

Troit Breeding, commissary de-
partment, 228 ; processes in, 93 ;
qualifications for, 93 ; security neces-
sary to, 6, 7.

Trout- Breeding Establishment,
cost and profits, 263 ; current ex-
penses, 264 ; list of articles necessary
for use, 295.

Trout Cui^ture, Ainsworth's table,
266 ; estimate of expenses and re-
turns, 206 ; pecuniary aspect, 263 ;
repetition of cautions, 145 ; sources
of revenue, 266.

Utensils necessary at trout-breeding
establishment, 295.

Vogt, M., translation from, by F. W.
Webber, 328.

Vrasski, M-, discoveries by, 108 ; ex-
periments, 100.

Water, amount of, 11 ; brook water
and spring water compared, 15 ;
brook water advantages, :6 ; char-
acter of, 11; desirability of fall in,
21 ; guard against heating in, 12,
239; in nursery, 80; in pond, 18;
poisonous qualities in, 14 ; selection
of, 11; temperature of, 12; use of
ice, 239, 240 ; vigor of, 13.

Water Plants in nursery and ponds,
90 ; list of, 294.

Yot'Nc; Fry, advantages of boxes in
rearing, 83; care of, "en route,"
209, 211 ; care of, 161 ; counting,
210 ; comparison between boxes and
ponds in rearing, 81 ; causes of
death, 100,194; danger of crowding,
187; danger in ponds, 82; in rear-
ing boxes, 81 ; delicacy of, 161 ; di-

INDEX.

3^7

gestion of, 173 ; description of dis-
eases of, i9,-< ; earth a remedy for
disease, 177- 179; experiments witli,
326 ; fresh water essential to, 186 ;
iilhng orders tor, 209 ; first prepara-
tions for sending off, 209 ; growtii
of, 181 ; how to make li- ^, i«2 ; im-
plements necessary in travelling,
213 ; kind of food to be used, 163 ;
methods of rearing, 181 ; method
of feeding, 164 ; protection against
sickness and death, 190 ; provide

suitable place to feed, 184 ; points to
be secured in places where kept,
i>S5 ; preparation of food, 163 - 165 ;
quantity of water necessary while
travelling, 211-214; size of tanks
or cans for carryinfj, 212 ; shade
necessary to, 1S6 ; size of place to
keep, 18H ; sunlight injurious to,
186 ; take good care of, 1S9 ; tem-
perature of water while travelling,
213 ; time of beginning to feed, 162 ;
use of ice, 213.

THE END.