144 Tzvcnty-niiith Annual Meeting 



functional action of the organs is sudden and radical rather than 

 slow and gradual? No progressive breeder in these modern dayi 

 ever thinks of waiting till weaning time before accustoming his 

 young stock to the change of food. The transition is made so 

 gradual that the sensitive digestive organs do not resent it, the 

 change from milk to grain is accomplished almost imperceptibly, 

 not an ounce of flesh is lost, not for a day is the growth checked 

 from infancy to maturity. This is the secret of the wonderful 

 development of herds and flocks of to-day. It is true that in days 

 gone by the farnier, in his wisdom, rai/ things differently. A 

 direct transition from absorption to digestion is much more radi- 

 cal and dangerous than from milk to grain. Which are we, farm- 

 ers or breeders? 



Let us watch our newly-hatched fry. At first his only- 

 instinct is to hide, to burrow somewhere out of harm's way ; 

 nature's provision is all sufficient for the present. Some weeks 

 have passed, sac two-thirds to three-quarters gone, then we note 

 a change. At nature's changing call, segregation begins, the older 

 and stronger fish draw apart ; they are no longer a component part 

 of the burrowing mass, but take up an independent existence as in- 

 dividuals. Though unable to swim, our young alevin can and does 

 move around on the bottom. Why? Knapsack getting light, he is 

 now on the lookout for minute animalcule. Let us test the matter. 

 We dip our feather in the food, specially prepared, infinitesimally 

 fine, draw it lightly over the surface of the water, the minute par- 

 ticles sink verv slowly, one inch, two inches, three inches, and 

 still not a strike ; as surface feeders they are evidently not ready. 

 But wait a moment ! Just watch that big fellow on the outer edge 

 there. See the glitter of his eyes, his whole body seems tremulous 

 with excitement. The particle slowly approaches, only an inch, 

 only a half inch away. A whisk of the tail, a quick dart upward, 

 and one little fellow has found what his nature craved, one fish has 

 learned to eat. He settles back to the bottom ; then, at the new 

 and strange sensation as the food passes into the stomach, he leaps 

 and darts about for a few seconds, seemingly in a very paroxysm 

 of dehght. That atom was the lever that threw into gear the 

 whole machinery of digestion and assimilation. He has found 



