FOOD. 49 



machine runs the food together and mashes it, and the 

 meat-eutters, which do the best, require cleaning and 

 sliarpening so often that they are only a nuisance. The 

 best thing we have found is a butcher's block, or log of 

 wood two and a half feet high on w^iich to cut, and a v^ery 

 heavy knife or light butcher's cleaver. These instruments 

 are very simple, not liable to get out of order, and do the 

 work required of them in the best manner, and w4th no 

 more labor than a machine would require. Sometimes 

 two or three knives are fastened together to make the work 

 go more expeditiously ; but one is best. 



Any kind of meat is good for food. Trout are carnivor- 

 ous and will not eat vegetables of any kind that we have 

 ever tried. We feed them lights and liver because it is tlie 

 least expensive food we can find in large quantities, and 

 answers a very good purpose. In tlieir natural state 

 Trout feed upon insects of all descriptions which abound 

 in or near the water ; worms of all kinds, from the angle 

 worm to the catcr])illar, which the wind shakes from the 

 trees bordering the stream into the water, are eagerly 

 taken. Flies of every kind which either drop down upon 

 the surface of the water to lay their eggs, or may happen 

 to fall into it, are quickly devoured. Young lish of any 

 kind which may be in the stream serve lor food ; so do the 

 grasshoppers and beetles which fall into the water, and 

 even the crawfish is not spared. If any one will examine 

 the bottom of a good Trout stream carefully, he will find 

 every stick, stone and bunch of moss in it covered and 

 filled with insects of various kinds. If you look at the 

 bottom of the creek, also, when it is free from moss and 

 sticks, you will see that in the summer time it presents a 

 curious mottled appearance, as if it were having an erup- 

 tion of some kind ; these protuberances are caused by the 

 eggs of w^ater flies, which, after a time, rise to the surface, 

 and then breaking their shell or case, for the first time. 



