THE AQUARIUM 



349 



unless one intends using a large quan- 

 tity, it pays much better to purchase 

 this kind of food than to make it, and 

 if the aquarium keeper wishes to 

 adopt one kind of food, this is perhaps 

 the best as it contains all the necessary 

 elements. 



The one best food for practically all 

 aquarium fishes is the living Daphriia, 

 a crustacean about the size of a flea, 

 which is found the world over, prin- 

 cipally in still ditches. Another in- 

 habitant of still water is the mosquito 

 "wriggler." This is a wonderfully fine 

 goldfish food. After they are large 

 enough to swallow them, the young 

 goldfish grow more rapidly than on 

 anything else. An occasional meal 

 is greatly appreciated by the large fish, 

 and to see them so rapidly eaten partial- 

 lv compensates for the bites one 

 usually gets while collecting them. 



A mono' living foods should be men- 

 tinned the freshwater shrimp. These 

 occur in many brooks and springs. I 

 have never seen them in large quanti- 

 ties, but they are desirable and should 

 be taken whenever opportunity offers. 

 The Germans dry sea-shrimp and use 

 it as the principal part of their foods 

 for all fish. They export large quanti- 

 ties of it to America and other coun- 

 tries where it is reduced to smaller 

 sizes and used largely as goldfish food. 

 It is to be highly recommended for 

 this purpose, and very likely, in a few- 

 years, it will be universally used as a 

 part of American composite foods. 



Tu winter it is difficult to get suit- 

 able forms of living organic food. 

 For several years I have satisfactorily 

 met this difficulty by feeding chopped 

 oysters, using the soft parts only. 

 After chopping it is well to wash the 

 particles slightly to prevent making 

 the water milk)-. A slight milkiness 

 is not objectionable. It soon disap- 

 l cars. ( >ysters may be fed about once 

 a week, that is often enough. 



The principal point about feeding is 

 not to feed too much. No more food 

 should be given than will be consumed 

 mi a few minutes. In my own aquar- 

 ium the last particle of a feeding has 

 disappeared within a minute. I will 

 not attempt to give any rules on the 

 frequency of feeding, but it will gauge 

 by aquarium temperature, which is a 

 more accurate method. When the 



tern, erature is between 40 and 50 de- 

 grees Fahrenheit, once a week; from 

 50 to (:o, twice weekly : from 60 to 65, 

 ever other day; from 65 up, every day. 

 in warm weather I feed a very small 

 quantity twice daily, but I hesitate to 

 mention it for feai some kind-hearted 

 sinner will overdo the matter. 



Successful aquarium management 

 consists in reproducing as nearly as 

 possible, natural conditions. Goldfish 

 in nature eat a variety of food. Re- 

 member, this is still true in the 

 aquarium . — 77; c A qua riu m . 



When the Green Gits Back in the Trees. 



In the spring when the green gits back 

 in the trees, 

 And the sun comes out and stays, 

 And your boots pull on with a good 

 tight squeeze, 

 And you think of your barefoot days: 

 When you ort to work and you want to not, 



And you and yer wife agree 

 It's time to spade up the garden lot — 



W r hen the green gits back in the trees — 

 Well, work is the least of my idees 



When the green, you know, gits back in 

 the trees. 



When the green gits back in the trees, and 

 bees 

 Is a-buzzin' aroun' again, 

 In that kind of a lazy "go-as-you-please" 



Old gait they hum roun' in; 

 When the ground's all bald where the hay- 

 rick stood, 

 And the crick's riz, and the breeze 

 Coaxes the bloom in the old dogwood, 



And the green gits back in the trees— 

 I like, as I say, in sich scenes as these, 

 The time when the green gits back in the 

 trees. 



When the whole tail-feathers o' winter time 



Is all pulled out and gone, 

 And the sap it thaws and begins to climb, 



And the sweat it starts out on 

 A feller's forrerd, a-giitin' down 



At the old spring on his knees — 

 I kind o' like jes' a-loaferin' roun' 



When the green gits back in the trees — 

 Jes' a-potterin' roun' as I — do — please — 



When the green, you know, gits back in 

 the trees. — James Whitcomb Rilev. 



Come on and tramp awhile and see 

 WTiat nature offers you and me. 

 We'll roam the meadows, climb the hills; 

 W r e'll search the source of the rippling rills; 

 We'll sound the depth of nature's heart 

 And gather joy from every part. 



We are part of Nature — in fact, we 

 are Nature. Nature is our Mother; and 

 the more we love Nature, the more we 

 understand Nature, the more we move 

 with Nature, the happier and better we 

 are. — Elbert Hubbard. 



