How to obtain it. 107 



with yearlings. Strong, well bred, and healthy fry, are very good 

 for stocking waters that do not contain any fish. 



In cases where other fish are present it is needful to take 

 care that the fry are not devoured by them, and this may be done 

 by planting them in the stream feeding the pond, or in some 

 small tributaries, where they will soon learn to take care of 

 themselves. Instinctively they soon do this, and I will guarantee 

 that a lot of fry in good condition will, if properly turned out, 

 make considerable addition to the crop of large fish in the 

 future. It is because fry have been injudiciously turned out, on 

 the one hand, that they have often not produced the desired 

 results, while on the other they have not been in condition, and 

 so have had little chance, if any, of surviving all the dangers to 

 which they are exposed. I have again and again met with people 

 who have hatched a quantity of trout ova, and kept the fry in 

 rearing boxes, where they have been fed until they began to die 

 off. They have then been at once turned out into the lake or 

 stream for which they were destined. Is it to be supposed for 

 one moment that they would cease dying after being turned out ? 

 I say, no ! most emphatically. Probably it may be the means of 

 saving some of them, but the mischief has been done, and it is 

 impossible to undo it. Fry so reared are not in condition for 

 turning out, and therefore the planting of them results in failure. 

 They have been fed on various artificial foods, and the working of 

 their delicate little stomachs sadly disorganized. This course of 

 unnatural diet has at last upset them to such an extent that they 

 begin to die off. It is much better to turn them out just before 

 they begin to feed, that is, before they have quite absorbed the 

 umbilical sac. 



Stocking with yearlings is a simple and easy matter ; any 

 intelligent keeper can do the work successfully. But with fry it 

 is an entirely different affair. It does not matter how intelligent 

 the operator may be, unless he has a fair knowledge of what he is 

 doing, the chances are that some mistake may be made which 

 will frustrate his good intentions. I have now stocked the same 

 waters with fry for many years in succession, and have got 

 excellent results, but they have been introduced at the right time, 

 as well as in the right place, and in the right manner. 



