34 On Stocking. 



* PREPARING FRY. The preparation of fry is a very difficult 

 matter. It does not do to starve them, or they lose vitality, 

 and cannot find their own food when turned adrift in strange 

 waters. On the other hand^ if they are fully fed, they travel 

 uncommonly badly. We have found them travel best if fed 

 on sheep's liver for a week before they start ; but it makes a 

 foul mess on the bottom of the box, which must be carefully 

 cleaned before pouring the fry out, as, if the water in which 

 they are transported is the least dirty, a large proportion of 

 them will perish. If they are fed on the prepared food up 

 to the day of starting, their stomachs are too distended, and 

 inflammation would be the result. If fed on pounded horse- 

 flesh, the matter they deposit is too gross, and the water 

 becomes fouled. 



' Fry stand cold badly, and travel best in the daytime. 

 They may be lightly fed over-night before starting, but not 

 in the morning. 



'FRY TRAVELLING TANKS. Fry will not stand much 

 knocking about, and if the yearling tanks are used to trans- 

 port them they must be filled until the water stands above 

 the point of the perforated zinc cone, the wave rising and 

 falling though the zinc is cushioned, and the motion at the 

 bottom of the tank greatly modified. 



' The bottom of a tank used for transporting fry should be 

 stiffened by cross-pieces soldered underneath, as, if it saggs 

 at all, the fry soon get fatigued, possibly because the least 

 spring from the bottom frightens them, and they exhaust their 

 strength by frequent and aimless sallies through the water. 



* The old tank used to carry the fry from Middlethird to 

 Loch Leven in 1875 answers the purpose well, but the area 

 of the bottom is so small only a few thousand fry can be 

 contained in it. It has, however, the advantage of being 

 light, and can be placed on a dog-cart or the box of a four- 

 wheeled cab, and is perhaps the handiest shape for amateur 

 work. Pieces of wood carrying iron lugs have been bolted 

 on to the side, so that it can be carried between two sticks- 



