CHAPTEE V. 



REARING YEARLING AND TWO-YEAR-OLD TROUT. 



THE fry, after being turned into the 100-feet ponds, are left to 

 themselves for one day, during most of which time they are 

 incessantly roaming about. By the following morning they have 

 settled down considerably ; and one of the most difficult pro- 

 cesses of fish-culture, namely, teaching fry to collect for feeding, 

 is begun. 



If the 100-feet ponds have been filled for several weeks before 

 they are stocked with fry, a certain amount of natural food is pro- 

 duced, which will be found of great assistance in strengthening the 

 young fish. But it frequently happens that it is impossible to have 

 the 100-feet ponds cleaned ready to be refilled with water sufficiently 

 long beforehand to permit much natural production of food, and the 

 success of the transplantation mainly depends on the skill of the 

 attendant in collecting the young fry when they are fed. To do 

 this successfully two things are necessary : (l) They must not be 

 disturbed by strangers, in fact, for the first few weeks it is 

 highly important they see no one but the attendant told off to feed 

 that set of ponds ; (2) Each pond requires constant attention for 

 about twenty minutes at a time at least three times a day. The 

 attendant proceeds by throwing a little of the prepared food, in the 

 form of vermicelli, on the surface of the water over the deepest 

 portion of the pond, which, in all the 100-feet ponds, is about the 

 centre. The artificial worms, having to fall through about 4 feet 

 of water, occupy a perceptible interval of time in their descent, 

 and one or two fry are sure to quarrel over the food. The dis- 

 turbance they create attracts others ; and when the food has dis- 

 appeared a very small quantity of pounded horse-flesh is washed out 

 of a long-handled spoon over the fish (Fig. 23). The smaller the 



