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XXXVII. On the Breeding of Fish, and the Natural 

 History of i heir Generation. 



Havina been f'avoureJ with a copy of some interesting 

 practical communications on this subject, which were 

 first published some years ago in the Hanover Maga- 

 zine, and having hitherto met with nothing satisfactory 

 in any English publication, we are persuaded that their 

 appearance in our Miscellany will prove acceptable to 

 many of our readers. 



An Account of a Method of Breeding Fish to Advantage^. 



To the Editor. 



Sir, xxs you have desired me to give you my opinion 

 in what manner salmon, trout, and other fresh river fish, 

 of which roes or spawns are to be obtained, can be bred to 

 advantage, 1 was anxious to oblige you ; and for that pur- 

 pose I went to a place in the county of Lippe, lo visit Mr. 

 Jacobi, who has brought this kind of breeding of fish to 

 orreat perfection ; and who not onlv showed me his ma- 

 chines, but likewise told me his method, and produced a 

 ire<Tnant ego in the latest staoe, in which the trout could 

 .jc distinctlv observed. The machine consisted of a large 

 watertrous;h, (which may be made either larger or smaller,) 

 about twelve feet long, and fixed in a place where there 

 was a water-fall from a spring, which was conveyed 

 throufrh a small gutter intp the trough, so as to cause 

 a ureal water-fall. Upon this trough was a cover like 

 the lid of a box, with several holes in it of six inches 

 square, which were filled up with a wire grating, not only 

 to admit air, but so close as to prevent the water-mice pass- 

 ing through, which follow close to the fish at spaw;--ing- 

 time, and are very fond of the spawn-. At the lower end 

 of this trough, about five inches above the bottom, was^ 

 a hole filled up with the same kind of wire grating, and of 

 the same size as that at the top; through which the water 

 runs into a fish-pond or canal, by which means there is 

 always in the tro.igh five inches deep. In this trough was 

 a kind of coarse gravel, such as is commonly met with in 

 o-ravelly ponds, laid about two inches liiick, enough to 

 cover the whole bottom. December is the spruvning- time 

 for trout or salmon. You may at that time take a female 

 fish and press and rub its belly gently, and it will part very 



• From the Hanover Mawzine, No. CC-, March 21, ]7C;5. 



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