934 



THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



they are burdened with a load which they can hardly carry, to get out of sight and out of the 

 way of harm as much as possible. At this stage of their growth many curious deformities 

 appear, more interesting perhaps to the physiologist than to the trout culturist. Some of the 

 fry will have two heads, and some will be united after the manner of the Siamese twins. A 

 very common deformity is a crook or bend in the trout, giving it a semi-circular form, so that 

 when it attempts to swim it can only progress in small circles. All the deformed soon die, 

 and may as well be removed from the trough at once. They live as long as the sac supplies 

 them with food; when the sack is exhausted they cannot swim about to get food, and die of 

 starvation. 



This instinct of hiding will make the young fry very uneasy if they are placed in a 

 trough without gravel. They will keep continually in motion, or will crowd upon one another 

 in masses, each trying to work his way out of sight under the others. They must now be 

 watched, and carefully moved from time to time if there is danger of their smothering. 



Nursery. The most critical period in the life of a trout commences when the umbil 

 ical sac is absorbed. More, perhaps, die from the time they begin to feed until they arc six 

 months old than at any other time. In consequence, many different plans for nurseries have 

 been suggested and used. The fry require a largely increased supply of water, but where 

 only a moderate number is to be raised, in place of erecting other and wider troughs or boxes 

 for nurseries, the better plan is to put only a few eggs, say five hundred, into each square or 



SALMON TROUT (ONE-THIRD FULL LENGTH). 



(One, two, and three years old). 



nest of the hatching trough. The square is then large enough with the water raised to keep 

 the trout well for a month or two after they commence feeding, when they may be transferred 

 into the first or upper pond. This plan economizes space, saves one removal, and the fish do 

 better after a month or two in the ponds than they would in troughs or rearing boxes. It is 

 better to remove the gravel from the troughs as soon as the fish commence feeding, because 

 then the troughs can be kept clean more easily, else particles of food will lodge in the gravel, 

 whence they cannot be removed. The water must be raised by the cross strip before 

 mentioned as soon as the eggs hatch out. It would be well to fix a small screen in each 

 alternate cross strip, which can be done by cutting out a space of eight inches by two, and 

 nailing a fine screen over the opening. This will prevent the trout from running up and 

 down in the troughs, and inconveniently crowding together. 



The fry are removed from the troughs into the pond by the use of a small net, such as 

 described among the implements of the fish raiser. Take them upon this, a few at a time, 

 and put them in a pan of water; they will swim off the net, and you may draw it from under 

 them. In the pan they may be carried, a thousand at a time, to the pond in which you wish 



