46 



EXPERIMENT IN TROUT HATCHING AND REARING 

 IN ARKANSAS. 



By p. p. B. Hyerson, President Mammoth 

 Spring Fish Farm. 



The Mammoth Spring Pish Farm Company was organized 

 and incorporated December, 1888, and received their first 

 100,000 brook-trout eggs January, 1889, and their next 125,- 

 000 of brook and rainbow trout, February, 1889. The eggs 

 came from Gilbert, of Plymouth, Mass., and were packed in 

 wooden cases of 50,000, with moss and ice, the tempera- 

 ture of the weather being 50 to 60 degrees here. The eggs 

 came through by express in good order, and in ten days 

 from receiiDt of same — January 21st and February 1st — 

 they began to hatch. The percentage of loss in hatching 

 these 225,000 was about 20 per cent. Gravel was used 

 instead of wire. The young fry appeared healthy and 

 thrifty, and at six weeks old they began to throw off the 

 sack. However, at thirty days old our hatchery met with 

 an accident from an oversight of those in charge. The 

 water was allowed to come into the hatchery from the 

 spring without being filtered, and, unexpectedly, millions 

 of insects (a water-beetle) got into the hatching-troughs 

 among the young fry, and before they could successfully 

 be transferred into other quarters, where the water was 

 filtered, the mortality became alarming and ran into many 

 thousands per day; so that at six weeks old, when the 

 young fry began to throw off their sacks, their numbers 

 were reduced 70 per cent. At ninety days old we had 

 not over 50,000 of both brook and rainbow trout. At this 

 j)eriod there appeared a trouble with many of the eyes of 

 the trout, and one, and sometimes both, would protrude 

 out, and finally the fish would either go totally blind or 

 die ; so that at the age of five months we did not have on 

 hand over 25,000 to 30,000 trout. After this the mortality 



