QQ TAKING SPAWN BY HAND. 



number of males and females, thereby giving more chance 

 of saving some of the milt till the last of the season. The 

 males are very amorous and will pair again and again. It 

 very often happens that some of them die from the exhaust- 

 ing eiFects of the season. The best we can do is to have an 

 equal number of males and females, and take the chances. 



Taking Spawn by Hand.— There are two methods in 

 practice for taking spawn. The old method, which 

 we will explain first, is that most generally used 

 hitherto, and with it a good degree of success ha& 

 been attained. The Trout will not spawn in the 

 ponds where the bottom consists of large stones or 

 weeds ; but if there is any sand or gravel anywhere 

 on the bottom of the ponds they will spawn on it. 

 Therefore be careful to have only the raceway, where the 

 water enters, covered with gravel. In October this may 

 be washed and cleaned from the weeds which will have 

 grown in it during the year. Then so soon as the fish are 

 ready to spawn they will ascend from the ponds into the 

 raceway seeking a place to nest. Then they are ready to 

 be taken out and the spawn expressed. At the entrance 

 of the raceway there should be a groove to receive a frame 

 on which is tacked a net of coarse bagging about eight or 

 ten feet long. One corner of this bag should be narrowed 

 and tied with a string, like the mouth of a meal-sack. The 

 race should be covered over in spawning time, as the fish 

 will come under the cover better and are not so likely to 

 be frightened at any one passing that way. If there are 

 fifteen hundred or two thousand fish in the pond the net 

 may be used every day in the height of the season, and 

 when the fish become scarce, once in two or three days. 



Indications of spawning having been observed, the 

 covers are put on the races, and being satisfied by sly peeps 

 through the cracks of the covers that there are fish in the 



