TROUT CULTURE. 753 



ten inches deep. The bottom is covered with gravel of the size of 

 a pigeon's egg, and the top with boards cleated together in con- 

 venient lengths to lift. Here are all the requisites of a nesting 

 place swift, shallow water, gravel, and shade, with its security 

 from overhead enemies and light. If undisturbed, a {>air of trout 

 would whip a nest in the gravel and lay their eggs and retire after 

 covering them, and the next pair would whip them out again in 

 their efforts to perpetuate their species, and in a state of nature a 

 horde of yearlings would follow the breeders to feast upon the 

 eggs, for of all fish baits the eggs of trout and salmon are among 

 the best. The spawning race is only to entice the trout to spawn 

 there ; a net on a frame sliding into grooves at the lower end is 

 slipped in, the covers lifted, and the fish driven into the bag. 

 They are then assorted. Those not ready to spawn to-day or later 

 are thrown back into the pond, the ripe males are put into one 

 tub and the ripe females in another, and to judge of this we note 

 the swollen vent and the softness of the abdomen. This is the 

 first test ; the next is the ready flow of eggs. 



Here it may be well to say, in nature not more than forty per 

 per cent of the eggs are impregnated, owing to the failure of the 

 milt to reach all the eggs. Of those that are impregnated fully 

 one half are killed by the fungus that grows on the dead infertile 

 eggs, and the remainder are subject to suffocation from freshets, 

 depredations by young trout, eels, ducks, and other animals, as 

 well as the sun, while in our so-called artificial propagation we 

 get such a close contact of milt and eggs that the impregnation 

 amounts to about ninety-five per cent, and there is no loss from 

 sediment, fungus, enemies, nor direct sunlight. There is a loss of 

 perhaps five per cent in deformed fish, such as crooked tails, 

 double heads, twins with one umbilicus, and premature bursting 

 of the shell, but we beat Nature in trout-hatching far more than 

 we do in the breeding of any other animal, and the only compari- 

 son that seems fit is' that of cultivating trees and plants, where 

 we produce more than Nature can or does. 



Our brook trout usually spawn from November to January on 

 Long Island, in the early part of the day, while the lake trout, 

 improperly called " salmon trout," spawn at night, thus prevent- 

 ing hybridization by means of drifting milt. About 8 a. m. we 

 place a net at the foot of the spawning race and drive the fish that 

 have run up for nesting into it. They are then put into tubs and 

 assorted. The males are put together; the females that appear 

 to be ripe are placed in other tubs, and those which are not near 

 ripe are returned to the pond. A ripe male is known by its slim 

 body and bright color ; often his back will be buff, the sides scar- 

 let, and the lower abdomen with a black stripe on each side. The 

 ripe female is soft, and the vent is swollen and protruding. Un- 



