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ing themselves more and more upon a nation of hard 

 working men, who are confined day after day, and often 

 half the nights, at the desk or in the counting room, and 

 who suffer to so. large a degree from paralysis and soften- 

 ing of the brain. All work and no play has been found 

 not only to make Jack a dull, but a sickly and miserable 

 boy. Our ancestors had in a thinly settled country as 

 much physical labor as their bodies needed, but their 

 descendants are suffering for the want of out door exer- 

 cise. 



Nor is this all. Perhaps in no branch of fish culture 

 are the results more immediate and more apparent in 

 the mere return of food than in brook trout culture. 

 Innumerable inland streams that were once inhabited by 

 trout are now wholly depleted and denuded, not only of 

 that kind of fish, but of all others. They are bright, 

 sparkling, noisy, like some men and utterly empty. 

 They make an instantaneous and wonderful return for 

 restocking. Fry placed in them are absolutely safe. 

 There are no enemies to threaten their existence. They 

 have the whole water to themselves without even a par- 

 asite to bother them. Food is abundant^ for it has been 

 increasing for years, and they-not only live in security, 

 but grow with rapidity. In the year 18Y5, the State of 

 New York directed its Commissioners to purchase a 

 trout breeding establishment, and to raise and distribute 

 brook trout. Since then some million and a half have 

 been hatched yearly, and many streams have been re- 

 plenished. In every instance the results have been most 

 gratifying. It would seem almost as though every fish 

 lived and increased in size steadily, till he was caught. 

 Those that were taken first were small of course, those 

 that were left had the more food and by next year 

 yielded nearly as much in weight although fewer 



