182 DE. BEETT — FISH-HATCHIlfG IX HEETFOEDSHIEE. 



was introduced by those ardent pisciculturists the Romans) will be 

 found in some lakes and not in others, although the lakes may 

 communicate. 



I will now allude to the third of our members who has bred 

 fish in Hertfordshire — the Earl of Essex. 



Trout-hatching was carried on for two or three years. They 

 were Gade trout, and when they were hatched they were put into 

 the river Gade. Lord Essex tells me that he will breed fish again, 

 and that he intends to get some trout ova from France in order to 

 change the breed of the fish. He says that in France pisciculture 

 is followed with such care and success that the rivers and streams 

 are full of fish. 



Our President, Mr. Evans, to whom I applied for information, 

 has kindly told me by letter that some years ago the late Mr. 

 Charles Longman tried the experiment of fish-hatching with trout 

 at Nash Mills, but not with much success. There were, however, 

 a fair number of young fish hatched, so far as he remembers, but 

 the 'difficulty was that the stream, having the canal incorporated 

 with it, is not well adapted for trout. With a pure trout 

 stream he thinks that artificial fish-breeding might be carried on 

 with advantage. 



The late Mrs. Hibbert, of Munden, carried on fish-hatching for 

 five years, under the direction of her game-keeper, Haylock. Fish 

 were bred every year from 1869 to 1873. Mr. Arthur Henry 

 Hibbert, of Munden, one of our members, to whom I applied for 

 inf oi-mation, says, " I am very glad to hear that interest is taken 

 in fish-breeding in Hertfordshire, as some day I hope to follow in 

 my grandmother's footsteps, and preserve for the Colne." Mr. 

 Frank Buckland instiiicted Haylock, and superintended the 

 putting up of the breeding boxes. Mr. Hibbert kindly directed 

 Haylock to give me any information in his power. He says that 

 from a 41b. fish he has got 3000 eggs. This corresponds with 

 Mr. Buckland' s observation, who says, from each lib. weight of 

 fish you may get 1000 eggs. Haylock used to catch the fish 

 on the 3rd of January, and 3000 to 4000 were bred each year. 

 He did not use pump water, but Colne water filtered through 

 charcoal and gravel and white sand. Four troughs were iised and 

 a large cistern at the end. 'J'he troughs were tliree feet long and 

 three inches deep. After the fish were hatched they were placed 

 in a ditch communicating with the river Colne. He thinks it 

 would improve the river as a trout stream if it were dragged 

 twice a year, and the chub and the ])ike taken out. 



Coloncd Goodlakc, of the Deuham Fishery, Uxbridge, says in a 

 letter to me, dated January 7th, 1877 : — 



" I have only got some 80,000 trout in my boxes at present, instead of 200,000, 

 which I could have easily procured had this deluge not been against me. A 

 curious circumstance has occurred m my Fishery. About October I placed sonic 

 200 Fontinalis (that is, Salmo Fontwalis, American brook trouf) of about lib. 

 wciglit in one of my grated streams for spawning purposes, taken from abmit 

 4000 at haphazard. About December I only saw two fish at work on the 

 gravel, so 1 caught a few to see why they were so late; finding these were all 



