128 How to obtain it. 



other buildings which are used as accessories having an additional 

 supply. 



By way of caution to ^beginners I would say that concrete 

 should in all cases be very well seasoned by use, before allowing 

 the water passing over it to be used in the hatchery. All work is 

 done at the Solway Fishery, as far as possible, a season in advance, 

 or in early summer, and by allowing the water to run for a few 

 months, everything is rendered perfectly safe. I have seen places 

 where the work has only been finished the day before the eggs 

 have been laid down, and where the water supply has actually had 

 to be cut off afterwards in order to rectify little matters that had 

 been overlooked. These are the sort of places that bring 

 discredit upon fish culture. A fish hatchery and everything about 

 it should be clean and sweet as a dairy, and should be kept so, 

 and on this largely depends its success or failure. Good 

 ventilation is essential, just as it is in a house for growing plants. 

 Too much light should be avoided, and especially large windows 

 facing the south, which would let in the glare of the noon-day sun. 

 It does not matter much how the place is lighted, if attention be 

 paid to these points. It may be by sky-lights or by side windows. 

 I commenced work thirty years ago in a conservatory, which is 

 now about the last place I would choose for the purpose, but yet 

 I got on very well. 



The floor of the hatchery should be of concrete, or of stone, 

 or suitable pavement of some kind. Whatever material is used, 

 take care that it is rat^rpof. The level is also a matter for con- 

 sideration. Some fish culturists advocate dry floors, the waste 

 water being carried off in pipes, and drained away underneath. 

 This may be all very nice, but in a working hatchery it does not 

 answer very well. There is no harm in having the floor wet, if 

 the house be properly ventilated, apd as water must often be 

 spilled or even emptied upon it, it is, for several reasons, better to 

 have open gutters under the hatching boxes than drains laid 

 underneath the floor. There are two great objections to such 

 drains. One is, that if anything should happen, and they have to 

 be examined, it necessitates the pulling up of the floor, and should 

 anything go wrong in the middle of a hatching season it might be 

 a very awkward matter ; another is that drains are apt to encourage 



