Spawning. 47 



As to the number of eggs to be allowed to a 

 square foot of trough, to secure perfect health 

 and strength, we should recommend that the 

 number should be restricted to a thousand, 

 which is a perfectly safe number; and is, after 

 all, amply sufficient for the private hatching- 

 house, in which quality, not quantity, is the 

 great object in view. 



In arranging eggs a feather may be of great 

 service, if lightly used ; as, by its means, the 

 eggs may be easily separated, so that no two 

 may touch each other. They will hatch out 

 better for this, as each egg will have a current 

 of oxygen-bearing water passing all round it, 

 which cannot be the case when all the eggs are 

 left in heaps. 



The operator should be very careful to see 

 that the eggs are well and carefully cleansed 

 before distributing them in the troughs, as the 

 object in view is to have eggs, gravel, and water 

 in the apparatus, and nothing else. 



