76 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. 



on this wise, on maggots as trout food : "The City of Lon- 

 don contains about three and a half millions of people ; its 

 citizens are great egg-eaters, consuming more than a million 

 daily. To supply this demand in part, egg-producing com- 

 munities have grown up on the opposite side of the British 

 Channel, in France and Belgium. A man, or a family, may 

 own a thousand or more hens ; little or no vegetable food is 

 given to them, but they are fed on maggots, which stimu- 

 late the laying of eggs. This food is obtained in great 

 quantity by digging trenches or pits three or four feet wide 

 and as many deep. The bottom of the pit is strewed with 

 fresh horse manure, and into it is thrown all manner of 

 animal offal ; a dead cat or dog, or any animal that has died 

 naturally, is eagerly sought after. The maggots, which are 

 produced in great numbers, are raked out and fed to the 

 hens." As the matter of food is one of importance to those 

 who intend breeding trout in large numbers, an experiment 

 of this kind is well worth the trial. 



In ponds of large area, much natural food is found on 

 aquatic weeds and other plants. The long green silk-like 

 growth, as fine as human hair, which we observe in some 

 waters, and generally in the spring of the year, we find filled 

 with little red coiled up worms; young periwinkles and 

 snails abound on certain weeds. The larvae of flies are also 

 found on weeds, as well as on decaying brush and logs. Min- 

 nows, and the small fry of harmless and worthless species, 

 can also be grown as trout food. It follows, then, that when 

 fish have more range, less food is required to be given 

 them. But in such ponds they are less under control, and 



