26 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. 



CHAPTER II. 



TROUT BREEDING. 



THE TROUT, TROUT PONDS, ETC. 



The Trout. Its adaptability to culture. Season of spawning. 

 Spawning grounds. Appearance of the sexes at spawning time, 

 habits and condition. Subsequent recuperation. Water-supply. 

 Effect of the temperature of water on the time of hatching. 

 Spring water necessary for incubation. Series of Ponds. Their 

 shape. Method of shading them. Raceways. Their construction. 

 Protection of them from muskrats. Screens. Depth and size 

 of ponds. Transfer of fish from one pond to another. Estimate of 

 number of trout for a given supply of water. Jeremiah Comfort's 

 ponds. Stocking ponds. Procuring and transporting brood trout. 



THE artificial hatching and raising of fish, as I have 

 .already intimated, has, with few exceptions, been confined 

 in this country to brook trout. These are not only fish of 

 the rarest beauty and most delicate flavor, but they also 

 command the highest price in market and afford the great- 

 est sport to the angler. Moreover, their spawn is more 

 easily procured and can be hatched in a manner more re- 

 sembling that of nature, than the ova of any other fresh- 

 water fish. 



The season of spawning with trdtit extends from the 

 latter part of October to the middle of December; and in 

 some cases where the water does not freeze, as in Caledonia 



