266 How to obtain it. 



should be built. They are simply wooden houses, with an upper 

 compartment, into which the meat should be put. The bottom 

 of this chamber ought to be made of wooden slats, or, if preferred, 

 an iron grating can be used. The object of this will be seen at 

 a glance. It is for the maggots to drop through. A wooden tray 

 is placed underneath to receive them, and this tray should be 

 about two or three inches deep, and two of its sides should slant 

 outwards at an angle of about forty-five degrees. In addition to 

 maggots it receives also the juices which drop from the meat, and 

 it should, therefore, be made perfectly tight. The maggots crawl 

 easily over the sloping sides, and drop down on to the bottom 

 floor of the maggot house or factory, which should be covered 

 with an inch or more of fine dry sand. The grubs roll themselves 

 in this, and become thoroughly cleaned, and are raked out into a 

 receiver of any convenient kind, and the sand riddled out, dried, and 

 used again. Then they are put into a tub or a box and mixed 

 with a fair quantity of fine meal and dry sand. In the course of 

 twenty-four hours the meal is consumed by the maggots, which 

 are very much improved thereby, and the dry sand with which it 

 is mixed prevents them working it up into a paste, and also helps 

 to scour them still further. The sand is then riddled out again, 

 and the grubs are scalded, and after this preparation look 

 delicious, and are most tempting morsels for hungry trout. The 

 trout think so too, evidently, by the way in which they take them 

 when thrown into the ponds. 



In addition to the maggots, which may easily be produced in 

 large masses, a great quantity of food can be provided in the 

 shape of tadpoles. In spring many tons of frog spawn are 

 collected and placed to ' hatch in ponds about two or three feet 

 deep. When the hatching takes place these ponds are black with 

 tadpoles, and as there are a great many more than nature can 

 provide for they must be fed. The scraps of meat which later in the 

 season go to the maggot factory are now used for fattening tadpoles. 

 They are voracious little beings, and will eat any carrion which is 

 thrown to them. They do not like much running water, but a 

 very gentle flow should be kept going through, the ponds, in order 

 to prevent contamination by the decomposition of the meat. 

 They eat ravenously and grow amazingly, and in a few weeks get 



