TROUT BREEDING. 35 



ceding autumn. On recovering condition the following 

 spring they will average about a pound, and are then fit for 

 the market or one's own use. If any are left they will 

 likely prey on the smaller of those from pond No. 2 when 

 transferred to this. For it must be borne in mind that some 

 are of slow growth from the egg, and will not be half the 

 size of others of the same age when driven into this pond, 

 or one-fourth the size of some a year older that may remain 

 in it. It is therefore better to clear it of all its occupants 

 before those from No. 2 are admitted, as it is not safe to 

 calculate that trout of a pound, or it may be a pound and a 

 quarter, will not swallow those of four ounces ; I have had 

 ocular proof that they will. How many of the latter size 

 were devoured by the larger at night, or when I was not 

 observing them, it is hard to tell. If, therefore, one should 

 wish to keep trout beyond the age of three and a half years, 

 it would be better to have a fourth pond and transfer them 

 to it. The water having answered the purpose of hatch- 

 ing and supplying the stock ponds, where the fish are, I 

 might say, stall fed, may now be used for a miniature lake if 

 not too large, where the fish would find their own feed, and 

 where the owner might indulge his taste for the pic- 

 turesque and have a fly cast for himself and friends. 



The proper time for transferring the fish from one pond 

 to another is the latter part of August. Pond No. 3, as I 

 have already remarked, by that time will have been vacated 

 and can be occupied by those from No. 2 ; pond No. 2 by 

 those from No. 1 ; and No. 1 by the new brood from the 

 nursery. After the 1st of September trout should not be 



