174 The Development of Modern Fish Culture. 



quality. It became evident that the work of the fish culturist 

 must be considerably extended, and that he must learn not only 

 how to produce good fish on a trout farm but also how to improve 

 the existing conditions in an environment which was unfavourable 

 to the growth of good trout. It was found that the natural pro- 

 ductiveness of Avater varied as much as the fertility of the land, 

 and taking a lesson from the farmer the fish culturist set to work 

 to find out how poor water could be rendered more productive. 

 This was an uphill task not only on account of its inherent difii- 

 culties but because there were so few men willing to undertake 

 the work, and consequently knowledge which might have been 

 rapidly accumulated was collected with the greatest diflSculty and 

 at the expense of a great deal of time. We are still working at 

 this problem, and each year brings fresh knowledge, but when it 

 is remembered that there are only about a dozen men in the 

 country who are seriously tackling this work and that all of them 

 are busy men it will be seen what difficulties have to be overcome. 

 It is more than ten years since we arrived at a working know- 

 ledge of the chief factors which go to the improvement of a 

 trout water, but we are aware that to-day there is still very much 

 to be learned, and we are confident that we shall arrive at a 

 knowledge complete enough to enable us to deal with any water 

 as effectively as a farmer deals with his land. 



It must be distinctly understood that this application of fish 

 culture is distinct from the work on a trout farm and is necessary 

 in order to make the growing of trout as productive of good results 

 as possible. 



I will give a simple instance showing how the work on a trout 

 farm may be frustrated at the point when it should be most pro- 

 ductive, i.e., when the fish are turned out into some loch or river. 

 A certain loch in Perthshire contained a good stock of trout, but 

 they were all very small. So small in fact as to be practically 

 worthless either as food or as sporting fish. The owner, without 

 consulting a fish culturist, purchased a number of trout averaging 

 a pound and a half. These he turned into the loch in the autumn. 

 The following June I was sent for to find out why these fish had 

 proved a failure, and to see if it would be possible to do any- 

 thing which would improve matters. The owner of the water 

 took me out to try and catch some of the fish, and at almost every 

 cast we had one of the small indigenous trout. Presently there 



