On Stocking. 33 



ment contained in the sac becomes necessary to the life of 

 the fish. 



' DESPATCHING FRY. In the early days of trout culture 

 fry formed the principal sales ; few cared for the trouble of 

 hatching the ova. The carriage of yearlings was far too 

 expensive ; clearing-house rates were unknown ; proper pre- 

 paration not understood ; nothing better than a carboy had 

 been thought of for their transport. The water in which 

 they were conveyed required to be frequently changed ; air 

 required to be supplied either by splashing the water or by 

 bellows, and an attendant's constant anxiety frequently 

 supplied an illustration of the proverb, "Care killed the 

 cat," especially if he solaced himself with a pipe of tobacco 

 during an extra long spell at the bellows. In those days fry 

 were very costly, and, as a natural sequence, they were care- 

 fully counted before despatch. Now, if there is one thing 

 more fatal to fry than another, it is catching and counting 

 them; the least touch removes the mucous, and fungus 

 follows. This was very early discovered at Howietoun, and 

 many methods were tried to mitigate the evil. They were 

 caught up on perforated zinc, counted, and washed off into a 

 pail ; they were skimmed up with a light muslin skimmer 

 mounted on fine wire ; they were spooned up with a soup- 

 spoon; they were shovelled up in a miniature dust-pan 

 (used for sanding birds' cages); they were poured into milk- 

 plates, and counted as they passed over the spout into a pail ; 

 but none of these methods were satisfactory. The miniature 

 dust-pan was, however, far the best and quickest of the lot. 



' After much consideration, and seeing that two grilles of 

 ova were laid down to hatch in each box which was always 

 7000 eggs, and frequently more than 8000, # was decided 

 to sell fry by the box, guaranteed to be not less than 5000. 

 This left a margin of about 50 per cent., and the Fishery had 

 the satisfaction of knowing that the fry despatched were un- 

 injured ; and although the price might appear high in com- 

 parison with that of ova, the results obtained were so satis- 

 factory that the sale of fry has steadily increased every year. 



c 



