930 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



which they are confined. So long as the fish lie quiet in the bottom of the tub there is 

 sufficient air in the water to sustain them, but as soon as they begin to come to the surface 

 and try to leap out, it is a sign that the air is nearly exhausted and the water should be 

 renewed. They will also open their mouths wide, just as a person would when gasping for 

 air. The question has sometimes been asked how long a trout would live out of the water; 

 the answer is, about as long as a man would live under the water. Trout will die in a tub 

 out of which the oxygen has been exhausted by their breathing, more quickly than they 

 would die in a cloudy day if out of the water entirely. 



A fire may be made in the hatching-house to warm your fingers, which will probably get 

 cool while engaged in this operation. A six-quart milk pan is to be provided, if you have 

 many fish, and also another tub of water, into which to put the fish after they are deprived 

 of their spawn. Select a fish, and holding it over the milk-pan, which has been dipped in 

 water to wet it, rub it gently with the fore finger and thumb, from the pectoral fins to the 

 vent. A little experience will show how this is to be done. If the fish is ripe, a few drops 

 of pearly colored milt, or orange hued eggs, will be forcibly expressed into the pan. If the 

 milt is not of this color, it shows that the milt is not good, and another male must be taken 

 and treated in a similar manner. The female must be pressed more slowly and oftener than 

 the male. If the eggs are not ripe, by passing the hand lightly over the belly, you will feel 

 them beneath, hard, like shot. In that case put the fish back into the pond, for the eggs to 

 ripen. When the eggs are ripe, the belly will be soft and flabby, and the eggs beneath the 

 skin feel loose and change their position at the touch. So loose are they, that by holding 

 the fish in a horizontal position, and then moving it up and down, the eggs will change, and 

 fall downwards or upwards as if in a bottle. The operation must be continued until the fish 

 are emptied of eggs and milt. The eggs in the pan may, at intervals, be gently stirred by 

 moving the pan ; this is to change the position of the eggs, so as to be sure that all come in 

 contact witli the milt, and when the operation is completed a half-pint of water is poured on 

 them and the pan set in one of the hatching troughs through which the water is running; 

 this will keep the eggs up to the proper temperature, and prevent a sudden change when they 

 are transferred to the trough. The eggs will now agglutinate or stick to the pan, and to each 

 other, for a little while. 



In handling the fish, gentleness is essential. A trout, it is well known, may be tickled 

 under the belly, and rather seems to like it, and will lie quiet in your hand while you are 

 doing it. By putting the hand quietly in the water, moving it cautiously around the fish, and 

 gently lifting him he may be raised high and dry, and will lie quietly without a struggle. 

 There is a way of grasping a trout firmly, but gently, so that he cannot squirm, and yet not 

 hard enough to break the skin. 



The fish must be grasped by the head, if you are right-handed, with the right hand, and 

 by the tail, or rather the lower part of the body, with the other hand, and held over the pan 

 with the belly near the bottom of the pan. As soon as the fish is quiet, the right may be 

 gently slipped down from the head, and the fore finger and thumb used to press the belly, 

 the fish still being held by the tail and lower part, in the left hand, and partly supported, 

 perhaps, by the sleeve of the coat, or by the bare arm, and the remaining fingers of the right 

 hand. Every one will have a way in which he can do this best, and will find it out after a 

 few trials. If the fish is large and struggles violently, the usual direction given in the books, 

 is to let an assistant hold the head. We counsel you, if the fish struggles violently, whether 

 it be large or small, to drop it back into the tub, manipulate another, and after a few minute^ 

 try it again; it will lie quiet after a while. If you attempt to hold a fish which struggles 

 violently, you will be very apt to kill it. If, in addition to your own two hands, you get the 

 two hands of an assistant on the struggling fish, there is not much chance of saving him 

 alive. A better way is to file the barb off a No. 4 hook, then tie it with three feet of line to 

 a pliant switch three feet long. Hook your fish on this, through the jaw, and holding it in a 

 tub of water, let it struggle until it is exhausted. Then the hook can be slipped out, no 

 injury having been done to the trout, which can be handled without difficulty. 



The large trout are harder to handle, struggle more violently, and are more apt to be 

 killed than the smaller ones, and do not average so many eggs, although now and then one 

 will have a very large number. Therefore, we consider that the best fish for breeders, when 

 the operation is conducted by hand, are those weighing from one-quarter of a pound to one 

 pound. 



The pan should be elevated at one side, during the operation of taking the spawn, by 

 standing it on a block half an inch thick, and enough water will drip from the fish so that by 



