Median.— Goitre Among Trout 71 



each pond contained about the same number of fish. They had origi- 

 nally, of course, been counted in at the average of about 1,500 to 2,000 

 to the pond. The fish in the ponds in which there was very little dis- 

 ease and in the ponds where the disease was quite prevalent might 

 have been of the same age, because we found the same thing happening 

 among yearlings, among two-year-olds and among three-year-olds— I 

 would not say four-year-olds, because we had only one pond of four- 

 year-olds. We had only two ponds of three-year-olds, but we had 

 7 or 8 ponds or more of two-year-olds, and 12 or 13 ponds of yearlings. 



Mr. Thompson: 1 think you did not understand my question. What 

 1 meant was whether you did not have fishes of practically the same 

 age and number in the ponds. 



Mr. Meehan : They were practically the same as to number and age. 



Mr. Thompson: It is a fact, is it not, that the fish that were over^ 

 fed grew much more rapidly than the others? 



Mr. Meehan : The fish in each pond were all practically of the same 

 size, because we sorted them very carefully. But the number of fish 

 in each pond was about the same, taking fish of the same age. 



Mr. Thompson: In the beginning? 



Mr. Meehan : Yes, all the way through. Whether they were finger- 

 lings, yearlings, two- or three-year-olds, we held about what we be- 

 lieved to be the number of fish capable of existing in health in that 

 particular pond. 



Mr. Thompson: The point 1 want to bring out particularly from 

 a fish-cultural standpoint is this : We believe, of course, that prevention 

 is much better than cure. 1 am "from Missouri," and I have to be 

 shown where good generous feeding of young fish is detrimental to 

 them provided growth is not so rapid as to cause overcrowding of the 

 ponds. Take two ponds, each containing 2,000 fish of the same age and 

 size, feed the first lot twice as much as the other, and that lot of fish is 

 bound to grow beyond all comparison with those fish fed but half what 

 they will eat. Consequently, in the course of a few weeks or months, 

 as the case may be, the first pond, while containing but the same num- 

 ber of lish, is going to be very badly overcrowded, and, of course, will 

 then suffer all the consequences due to overcrowding, while the other 

 one remains in a normal condition. You can't keep 2,000 fingerlings 

 no. 6 in a pond intended for that number of fingerlings no. 3 or no. 4. 



I believe Mr. Meehan spoke of this trouble as occurring at one of 

 the hatcheries during the absence of the superintendent, and he like- 

 wise said that all food before being put in the chopper was examined, 

 and the tainted parts excluded. Xow, if the superintendent was absent 

 and this condition came about, is it not possible that the men may not 

 have been quite as careful as they should have been in excluding tainted 

 food: "l", on the other hand, it might have been kept a day or two too 

 long before feeding and thus acquire a taint. Granting that the fish 

 were overcrowded and fed tainted food, unquestionably such conditions 

 would bring on disease, but if they were simply fed generously, had a 



