10 DOMESTICATED TROUT. 



they are least expected ; they do their work unseen, 

 often in the dark, and leave no trace of their presence. 



For example, one or two of the fine threads in the 

 screen of your hatching trough may be worn through, 

 or there may be some small undiscovered crevice in 

 a corner of your nursery, and day after day, for weeks, 

 the Httle creatures may be slipping through and escap- 

 ing, and an immense loss occur before you even sus- 

 pect the cause of the mysterious waste. 



Or the cover of your hatching trough, although to 

 all appearances tight, may be loose enough to admit 

 a mouse, and every night for a month he and his 

 companions may come into the trough, and feed on 

 your alevin trout in the corners, where they swarm by 

 thousands ; and yet, when morning comes, not a sign 

 or a trace may you discover to show that anything 

 has gone wrong, except that your fish are daily dimin- 

 ishing. Or it may happen that a muskrat, out of sight 

 under the earth, is boring a hole that will let your 

 fish out, when you think they are perfectly secure ; 

 or a mink, wholly unexpected, may have quartered 

 himself in one of your ponds; or the invisible fungus 

 may, without your knowledge, be gathering in the gills 

 of your young fry, to their certain future destruction. 

 Such is the occult character of many of the dangers 

 which threaten the lives of your trout, and hence the 

 need of extreme security in raising them is such that 

 it can hardly be overestimated. Labor, patience, and 

 constant care are required to be successful ; but the 

 one consideration which ranks above all others is to 

 guard them from every species of insecurity. 



