15 



and we had 'aj)plications for 4,000,000. We limit the ap- 

 plication to 2,500 for each applicant, and this year the 

 applications so much exceeded our supply that we had to 

 cut them down considerably." 



Mr. Mather said : "In relation to this subject of natural 

 food, it would be very desirable to accomplish the results 

 spoken of. I saw the report referred to about the man who 

 grew his tish food in a little box. There was also another 

 method mentioned by which a man could rear hsh by mov- 

 ing them from one pond to another, just as you would 

 drive cattle from one pasture to another. I wrote to the 

 director of the fish-culture establishment at Heiningen on 

 the subject, and he wrote back saying that the man had 

 only a few hundred trout. Mr. Peter Cooper Hewitt of 

 New York City, came to see me about the subject, and 

 asked me if I knew anything about it. I told him that I 

 did not. He wrote himself to the man, however, and this 

 spring, when I asked him if he ever heard anything from 

 him, he shook his head, and said, 'No.' " 



Mr. Seal said : "I belie ve it is much easier to produce 

 this food in large areas of water than to drive the hsh from 

 one pond to another. I can produce in tubs just as much 

 of this food as I want, but, of course, it is limited by the 

 area. By doing the same thing in ponds, enormous quan- 

 tities can be raised. These other crustaceans that I sj^eak 

 of are, of course, a more valuable food for the trout." 



Mr. Clark said : " We have a j^ond that has not been 

 used for some time and is grown over with moss or water- 

 grass. In this the fresh water-shrimp will accumulate in 

 great numbers ; take a jmilful of water from this pond, and 

 after shaking it up, you will hud the bottom of the pail 

 covered with these shrimps." 



The Chair said : " The question that concerns us as Fish 

 Commissioners is the question of economy in raising hsh 

 for distribution. Up to the present time, as I said before, 

 it has been simply a question of expense." 



