410 State Boaud of Agriculture, &c. 



" Take gravel the size of peas, wash it till clean and 

 spread it one inch thick on the bottom of the box. On this 

 gravel lay trout eggs so that they do not lie on the top of 

 one another. Examine them daily, to remove the dead 

 ones or any dirt, and wash the lilters when necessary. 

 They will all hatch when they get ready. * * After three 

 or four weeks two dark specks appear on each egg, and 

 these, when held to the light, are seen to be the eyes of tlie 

 embryo, showing through the translucent shell. This is a 

 good time to pack eggs for transportation. The tiny 

 embryo may be seen jerking itself uneasily in its spherical 

 prison, a movement that continues to increase until, after 

 two or three months from impregnation, according to tlie 

 temperature of the water, the creature bursts its shell and 

 appears in all its grandeur, looking, to say the truth, more 

 like a spiritual polliwog than a real salmonidse. This pol- 

 liwog character arises from the great yolk sack, or rather 

 call it haversack, for it bears the thirty days' rations of this 

 recruit. All that time he lies still, without foraging, but 

 thereafter we must issue to him, for now he appears as a 

 genteel minnow, with bars on his sides. Twice or thrice a 

 day a little clotted milk, rubbed very Hue in water, must 

 be put in tlie trough, and the fry may be seen eagerly to 

 gwallow the floating particles. With enough food, room 

 a,nd water, they will grow fast and will take larger and 

 larger morsels. At a year old, they may very w^ell weigh 

 four ounces, though they may be somewhat larger or much 

 smaller, according to their treatment. Their increase will 

 depend upon depth of water and quantity and variety of 

 food." 



