49 



increase of food, and so the wonderful scheme was dis- 

 missed from serious consideration. 



A while after the first announcement of this dis- 

 covery of how to rear trout without expense, it leaked 

 out that the process was to use the dung of animals in 

 water to grow diatoms by the million, and the diatoms 

 in turn would furnish food in plenty for the smaller 

 crustaceans, as daphnia, c^'clops, gammarus, and per- 

 haps other forms of life on which young trout thrive in 

 a state of nature. This was perfect in theory, but I 

 still was skeptical as to its value in practice, and the 

 scheme passed from memor}^ until it was brought 

 before this Society two or three years ago and lightly 

 discussed. You may remember that Mr. Frank N. 

 Clark said that he had experimented a little in this 

 direction with several forms of ordure, but had pro- 

 duced no results that were satisfactory to him. Last 

 summer I had leisure to try this scheme, and will give 

 the result of the experiments. 



There was a dripping fountain in my yard supplied 

 from springs in the hill above, which also supplied a 

 portion of the water used in the state hatchery, on 

 lower ground. This fountain was supplied by a ^ in. 

 lead pipe, and the water trickled and dropped over 

 rockwork into a basin, and from there the overflow 

 went through a series of small pools in my garden, 

 where the year before several species of wild ducks 

 had been confined. An examination of the water in 

 the first pool and also in the small open pond above, 

 which caught the flow of the several springs, revealed 

 the fact that it contained the forms of minute life 

 named above, as well as rotifers, hydra, snails, and 

 several kinds of water insects, as well as their larvse. 

 Therefore, all the conditions seemed favorable. 



For the benefit of those who have paid no attention 

 to the minute forms of life which it was proposed to 

 breed, it may be well to say that diatoms are invisible 



