PiSOICDLTURE WITH ReFERENCK TO FAR\[IN(i. 413 



the experiments have been made. If tliev were made and the 

 information obtained, it has not yet been published to my 

 knowledge. The result of these experiments W(tidd, of 

 <30urse, be interesting to those farmers who wish simj^ly to 

 raise tlieir own fish, but they would have a more practical 

 relation to those engaged in raising fish to sell in the 

 market. I suppose there are few farmers who, when they 

 8ell their })oultry or their beef and pork, can tell exactly 

 what it costs them to raise it, or the profits which they have 

 realized from its sale. We can, with our present means of 

 information, estimate the cost of raising fish fullv as accu- 

 rately as we can the cost of beef, pork and poultry. 



Kow we will say that you have a spring of water on your 

 farm, or a brook from which you can draw into your ponds the 

 water that will run through an inch pipe ; you have con- 

 structed your ponds thirty feet long by ten feet wide, 

 -capable of holding two and one-half feet of water, and 

 have determined to experiment a little as an amateur pisci- 

 culturist. These ponds are suitably divided into compart- 

 ments amply sufiicient to hold four thousand trout. You 

 have purchased each year for four years one thousand 

 spawn, at the average price of eight dollars per thousand, 

 and have hatched and reared them successfully. In addi- 

 tion to the bits fi-om your table, cm-ds, sour milk and an 

 occasional supply of food for them fi*om the animals you 

 have killed, you have purchased twenty-five dollars' worth 

 of refuse meat. This is a large estimate, but let us make 

 this side of the account as large as it will possibly bear. 

 The labor and time you have expended in taking care of 

 jour trout and in fitting up yovu- ponds has been but trifling, 



