404 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



water over my spawn, and if any sediment gets on them and 

 is allowed to remain there long, it will surely kill them. Re- 

 move all sediment with the bearded end of a quill by agita- 

 ting the water, without touching the spawn. 



" Large ponds with but little water get too warm in sum- 

 mer and too cold in winter for trout to do well. It is detri- 

 mental to have any other fish with trout. Any kind of fish 

 or fish-spawn is good for feed. The young should be fed 

 twice per day, very slowly ; if fed fast, the feed sinks and be- 

 fouls the trough, and the trout will sicken and die. If fed 

 regularly, and the trough kept clean, with a good change of 

 water, and not kept too thick, they will live and do well. If 

 neglected, they will surely die. 



" What is Death to Spawn. The sun, sediment, rats, mice, 

 snails, crawfish, and many water insects. 



"My troughs are 25 feet long and 15 inches wide. The 

 water that feeds each trough would go through a half-inch 

 hole with a three-inch head. Use fine gravel that has no iron 

 rust in it. My troughs are three inches higher at the head. 

 The average temperature of the water is 45 $ and the fish 

 hatch in 70 days. Every degree colder or warmer will make 

 about six days difference in hatching. Trout hatch the soon- 

 est in warm water. The sack on their bellies sustains them 

 for 40 or 45 days after hatching ; then they need food. 



" When the fish are hatched, raise the water in the troughs 

 about four or five inches by putting on a piece of board of 

 that width on every cross-piece, thus keeping the fish sepa- 

 rate about an equal number in each square. If you have 

 small streams of shallow water near the head of your pond, 

 put a few in a place in the stream and pond, and they will 

 take care of themselves better than you can. The object of 

 distributing them is that they will get more food. All old 

 streams and ponds have plenty of food for small trout and 

 large, which you will find by examining the moss, sticks, and 

 stones in your ponds and streams, as they are full of water- 

 insects. 



