FISH BREEDING. 



NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL BREEDING OF TROUT. 



Among the friends to whom the publication of this book has 

 been the means of introducing its author, is a gentleman who has a 

 pleasant summer home in Niagara county, New York. It is gratify- 

 ing to know that his love for the useful and beautiful amongst the 

 wonders of nature, has prompted him, though at considerable expense, 

 and after much judicious investigation, to avail himself of some 

 natural facilities afforded for instituting a piscicultural establishment 

 there. With what success, although his experiment is yet in its 

 incipiency, the following " brief of the case" will show. 



Form and Structure of the Ponds, — The water is taken, from under 

 sandstone formations, from the side of a hill, at an elevation of about forty 

 feet, at two points, near the edge of the ponds, each spring flowing a 

 stream of about 2J inches diameter, and entering the ponds at a distance 

 of only a few feet. The water is exceedingly clear, the temperature in the 

 ponds throughout the year varying only from 47* to 50° Fahr., and being 

 unaffected in volume to any perceptible extent by seasons of drouth or 

 rain. 



One of the springs, affording a stream of about 2J to 3 inches in diame- 

 ter, is introduced into a filter, by which it was hoped to take from the 

 water any possible impurities: from this filter the water is taken in three 

 separate streams of equal size, through faucets, and thence into troughs 

 about forty feet long. These are hatching-troughs, which are covered with 

 a coarse rough building, to guard against depredation and protect the 

 operator in stormy weather. The (three) troughs are each about 8 inches 

 wide ; the bottoms of which are covered with fine gravel, over which the 

 water flows in a gentle current, and at the lower end the streams again 

 unite. At this point the water is conducted through a hole, covered with 

 wire gauze to confine the small fry in the troughs above, and, falling 

 about 12 inches, enters the firgt of a connected series of three ponds, all 

 which are artificial reservoirs of solid masonry. 



The first pond is about 18 feet wide, 30 feet long, and varying in depth 



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