236 THE TROUT 



expense of transporting yearlings by rail too is com- 

 paratively small, as they require less water than two- 

 year-olds, and there is seldom any necessity for a 

 consignment to be accompanied by an attendant. 



Yearlings should, if well grown, range from three 

 to six inches as early as November. Many of them 

 should be more than six inches, but very few indeed 

 should be under three inches. This, at any rate, is 

 my experience in Norfolk with the eggs of selected 

 breeders, although I am aware that the growth of 

 yearlings reared in higher latitudes is not so rapid. 



As to the number of fish of a certain age which 

 can be advantageously used annually or otherwise 

 to stock a given lake or stretch of water, it is not pos- 

 sible to lay down any hard-and-fast rule. Questions 

 as to acreage, depth, character and volume of water, 

 temperature, natural food supply, presence of coarse 

 fish, and a host of other questions have to be con- 

 sidered, and the existing conditions studied. 



Should the number of trout introduced be greater 

 than the natural food will support, they will not thrive 

 without the help of artificial feeding, any more than 

 cattle on an overstocked pasture can be expected to 

 fatten on the grass alone. 



It is often found that a very heavy stocking of 

 trout in an old piece of water of limited extent will 



