55 



Ainsworth did not take in, but which closely follows every business 

 like an evil genius, namely, risk. 



What this fluctuating item ought to be in the above calculation I 

 will not attempt to say, but I am afraid that at the time the estimate 

 was made it was more than enough to swallow up the profits. It 

 has been growing less and less every year, as trout raising has become 

 better understood, and I believe the time is near at hand when Mr. 

 Ainsworth's figures may be realized on a reduced scale, with not 

 more than fifty per cent deducted from the profits to cover the item 

 of risk. 



It may occur to some to inquire what makes the item of risk so 

 large ? 



I will reply, that it is because the business is new and but little 

 understood ; the subject-matter is of a peculiarly hazardous sort, and 

 perhaps, more than all, fish breeders will not take pains to insure the 

 security, which is absolutely necessary to success. These things have 

 made the risk very great, and account for the very significant tact 

 that, in the five years since Mr. Ainsworth's table was pubHshed, no 

 one has made a fortune by raising trout for tlie table, nor to my 

 knowledge derived any very extraordinary income from this source 

 alone, I think, however, the next five years will tell a different 

 story, and I am very much mistaken if some of the trout ponds now 

 under way do not yield within that time some very handsome returns 

 from their marketed trout. 



Thus far we have considered the business of trout growing in only 

 one of its branches of profit, viz., raising marketable trout. 



There are, as is well known, two other sources of revenue. 

 (1.) The sale of spawn. (2.) The sale of young stock. 



The first branch can hardly be considered a legitimate branch to 

 base permanent returns on, because the sale of spawn is limited to 

 establishments that are just commencing operations. This trade is a 

 large one now, because so many establishments are starting, but these 

 will some time furnish their own spawn and become sellers instead 

 of buyers, and when the prospective fish breeding operations of the 

 country are under way, there will be a great supply of eggs, with a 

 very disproportionate demand. Indeed, the prospect is that the 

 spawn trade will not be a permanent one of any great value, and 

 therefore cannot be regarded, in its present state at least, as a legiti- 

 mate ground for basing payment expectations on. It is not so, how- 

 ever, with the trade in young fry and yearlings for stocking other 

 waters. 



