80 DESPATCHING LIVE TIIOUT. 



net. If the ponds are frozen, a saw is passed down the sides 

 to make a passage for the ropes, and the net is drawn below the 

 ice. When the net is brought to the end of the pond, and the 

 mouth rolled back, the lower part of the net is then gathered on 

 shore ; considerable care is necessary in doing this to prevent any 

 of the fish being lifted out of the water. Men are then stationed 

 at distances of 30 yards between the pond and the despatch- 

 house. When all are in their places, a landing-net is used, and 

 the fish transferred from the net into five-gallon pails. About 

 200 are placed in each pail, and when two pails are filled the 

 nearest man carries them to the next, and by the time he returns 

 a second pair of pails are ready. We find in practice a man 

 with a landing-net can easily place 200 fish in a pail in the 

 same time that a carrier walks 30 yards, and the transference 

 of 2000 fish in ten pails from the ponds to the despatch-house 

 is a matter of a very few minutes. As the fish arrive in the 

 despatch-house, they are at once emptied into the six prepariug- 

 tanks facing the door, and a strong current of water turned on. 

 So soon as the water is clean, a netful is taken out and placed in 

 a pail ; a second, fitted with a square perforated zinc window near 

 the top, is placed in the centre of the floor over the grating of the 

 waste-pipe. The fish are then poured from the first pail over the 

 hand of the operator, and any under-sized fish removed. The 

 yearlings are counted while passing over the hand, a good per- 

 centage being allowed to cover any possible loss in preparation or 

 transportation. They are then placed in one of the twelve preparing- 

 boxes nmning at right angles to the door, each box holding the 

 same number, to be sent in a small tank, or half the number to be 

 sent in a large tank that is, 125 to 175 in the one case, and 200 

 to 300 in the other. So soon as a preparing-box is filled, its lid 

 is placed on, and the number noted against the order. When all 

 the preparing-boxes in the despatch-house are filled, the old 

 hatching-house at Howietoun is used as a supplementary despatch- 

 house. It holds eleven boxes and a large tank for two-year-olds. 

 Fourteen large tanks and one small one can thus be despatched 

 by one train, containing over 7000 yearling trout. The time 



