44 SUPPLY OF WATER. 



should not be less than seven inches square (that is, forty- 

 nine square inches) and would be still better if it was 

 seventy-five square inches. A less supply will perhaps do ; 

 but with it there is danger of disease and death to the fish. 

 We will say then a supply of water filling a pipe five 

 inches square (making twenty-five square inches) for the 

 size of ponds shown in plate on page (14) calculated to sus- 

 tain five thousand fish in the second, and two thousand 

 fish in the third ponds. The first pond to receive six or 

 eight thousand young fish, need not have more than two 

 or three square inches of the water. This estimate of num- 

 ber of fish is purposely made low. More fish may be able 

 to live in your water with the supply mentioned ; but the 

 number given certainly can. 



Growth of Trout. — It is impossible to tell ihe age of 

 a Trout by its size, as its size depends very much upon the 

 quantity of food which it obtains. It is a general rule 

 that with good feeding a Trout three years old will weigh 

 one pound. They have been known to live for years at 

 the bottom of a well, where the supply of food must have 

 been extremely limited, and remain through all those 

 years, apparently at the same size. Then again, with good 

 feeding, they will more than double their weight in a sin- 

 gle season. Trout will not grow so fast in swift running 

 water as in a pond. The largest Trout are never caught in 

 narrow parts of the stream where the water runs fast. 

 But where the rivulet swells out into a dark and still pool, 

 there the patriarchs are found. We presume that the 

 largest Trout now taken in this country are found in the 

 lakes of Maine. Some will grow much faster than others 

 under any circumstances. A few will always look lean 

 and hungry no matter how much they are fed, and others 

 seem to have a peculiar knack of getting fiit. Still the 

 rule of good feeding applies equally to all. They will not 



