82 How to obtain it. 



'' Wigan, I4th October, 1886. 



" J. J. Armistead, Esq. Dear Sir, I enclose you a copy of a letter 

 which I have written about the trout I have bought from you, cut from the 

 Wigan paper, which I think will be interesting to you. What strikes me 

 as strange is the extraordinary rate at which the trout appear to have 

 grown. And, from what I have been told, one has been taken out during 

 the last few days weighing four pounds. Do you think it is possible such a 

 large fish can have grown in the time from the fish which you supplied ? 



" I have exceedingly strong evidence that the pond contained no fish 

 whatever before I stocked it, and yet it seems almost incredible that the fish 

 now being caught can be part of those which I bought from you. I shall be 

 much obliged if you will tell me whether, in your experience, such a rapid 

 growth has occurred. 



Yours faithfully, 



" CHARLES APPLETON. 



" P.S. There are millions of the shell fish mentioned in my letter in the 

 pond, and all the trout seem to be gorged with them and nothing else. 



"C.A." 



This case does not by any means stand alone, although 

 the growth is somewhat exceptional. It was equalled, if not 

 exceeded, in the Dalbeattie reservoir at Buittle, in the county of 

 Kirkcudbright. Trout fry introduced into this water in May 

 were taken iflb. in weight a year the following September, 

 that is in sixteen months, and later on 2 Ib. The reservoir 

 is small, and had the fish had more range they would probably 

 have outweighed the Whitley fish in the same time. It had been 

 newly made, and had, after filling, remained unstocked with fish 

 f for some time. On examination I found it to be full of fresh- 

 water shrimps ( Gammarus pulex), on which the fish had been 

 feeding. Had these reservoirs been properly stocked by means 

 of eyed ova I believe the above weights would have been 

 exceeded. 



It is not at all difficult to obtain such results, and it can 

 be done by so cultivating the water as to bring it into that 

 peculiarly favourable condition for receiving the fish that mostly 

 occurs where the surface of the ground has been left in its 

 original state. 



This highly encouraging condition of things will not last, 

 however, unless due care be taken to cultivate those aquatic 

 plants which are necessary to take the place of the submerged 



