American Fisheries Society. 129 



During the whole time you feed, be sure that the whole surface 

 of the water is covered with this mixture of fine food, then you 

 will know that all fry in }Our troughs have had some food at each 

 feeding. To feed fish at head of troughs and expect those at lower 

 end will come up to feed, is folly. Once a trout is ofif its feed it 

 will not come for the food thrown in a pond or at head of trough, 

 but there little weaklings will literally starve to death, as thou- 

 sands of them do at most every hatchery institution. 



The next thing to be done is to thin out from troughs to nur- 

 sery ponds and to feed properly there. You should have water 

 falling into your ponds in at least a dozen places, say through 

 small open tin spouts on each side and upper end of your ponds. 

 You will' find thousands of fry at all times under these spouts, that 

 should have a 6-inch fall to aereate water; there the fry stay and 

 watch for food. When you pour in the liquid food at intake of 

 your ponds, it flows out through these spouts and all fish in nur- 

 sery ponds get fed, otherwise starvation and death are the results. 



When it is possible keep young trout in spring water, that 

 never is at a higher temperature than 50 degrees Fahr., but any 

 water from 40 degrees to 50 degrees is excellent. After trout are 

 six months old or yearling and adult trout, water from 50 degrees 

 to 60 degrees will cause no mortality; but plenty of food and 

 plenty of nmning water is absolutely necessary to get the best 

 results. 



I do not believe in forcing the growth of the trout, like one 

 man I founc* at Caroline, R. I., who refused to show me his ponds 

 or trout for fear I would infringe on his right of rapid trout pro- 

 duction. He said: Sir, I can grow trout so fast that I can get the 

 eggs from my fish and get them on the market as long yearlings 

 and make them weigh three to the pound ; that beats selling your 

 two-year-old trout that the other fellow raises and has to put in 

 four to the pound." But when I asked that man if he sold all his 

 trout as long yearlings, if there was not danger of him selHng him- 

 self out of business. He replied that he forced the eggs to grow in 

 the fish by the time they were one year old. This beats the growth 

 of troa.it on natural food, which abounds in the waters of the Big 

 Horn Mountains, and creates a growth of trout of one pound to 

 the year after they are two years old. 



For the past four years I have had better results in feeding 

 cooked food to trout when prepared very fine, than I ever did 

 in feeding raw liver that bleaches out and swells when put in 

 water; also fouls the water in troughs when fish do not eat it. 

 Whereas cooked food is always eaten by the fish when finely pre- 



