BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 375 



would make a cheap, durable, and either fragile or soft surface.* If I 

 have au opportunitj" next spring, as I expect to have, to try it, I will do 

 so, and report the result to you as soon as the S[)iit is large enough to 

 make removal desirable. Comparison can then be made with removal 

 from surfaces otherwise prepared, or natural. 



Green Creek, Cape May County, X. J., September 30, 1883. 



1S3.— TRAPPIIVCi KIIVCiFISEIERS, RODENTS, AXD OTHER EXEiUIES 



OE TROUT. 



By DIKECTOR IIAACSi.t 



The question whether large central fish-cultural establishments or 

 numerous small ones, if possible located close to the waters which are 

 to be stocked with fish, should be aimed at has been answered so de- 

 cidedly in favor of the latter that it will hardly be necessary for me to 

 discuss this question. I will here only cite some illustrations from my 

 own practice, in order to give a clearer idea of the danger of coucen- 

 tratiug large masses of fish within a comparatively small space. 



It is well known that the French administration of the Huningen 

 establishment did not devote much attention to the raising of the finer 

 kind of food-fish, or, for that matter, of other fish, its activity mainly 

 consisting in shijipiug impregnated eggs. I suppose that all are fully 

 aware how extensively fish-eggs were shipped, and in what a liberal 

 manner the French administration distributed entirely free the products 

 of its establishment far and near. 



When I took charge of this establishment thirteen years ago it was 

 one of my first objects to give some attention to the raising of the finer 

 kinds of food fish, it being my aim to transform the Huningen fish- 

 cultural establishment into an institution where fish-culturists might 

 study the treatment of the finer kinds of food fish from the egg to the 

 salable fish. One of my first steps was to construct a ditch about 1 kil- 

 ometer (about 1,100 yards) in length for raising trout; this ditch, imi- 

 tating as near as possible a natural trout-brook, was to receive the j^oung 

 trout as soon as the umbilical sac had been almost consumed. Jj^ the 

 very first year I met with good success, as I was able to take from this 

 ditch in autumn several thousand finely-developed trout. During the 

 second year the result was still more favorable, because I had greatly 

 improved the ditch. This ditch receives its water from a small trout- 

 brook, the Augraben ; the fish were invariably placed in it some time 

 before the umbilical sac had been entirel}' absorbed. 



* The cost of pitcliing surfaces and detacliing spat afterwards will probably be too 

 expensive In practice, in view of the fact (hat sowing shells can be so cheaply done. — 

 J. A. Ryder. 



t Central-Fischzuchtanstalten oder zahlreidie Kldnere Anstalten ? From Circular No. 4, 

 4, 1884, of the German Fishery Association, Berlin, June 30, 1884. Translated from 

 the German by Herman Jacobson. 



