682 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



being chopped upon a block by the side of the pond, they gather in dense 

 groups, apparently eager and, if they were not mutes, even clamorous for 

 the expected treat. And so tame and familiar do they become, that they 

 will feed from the hand thrust into the water and offering them food. At 

 the end of the second year," being too small to prey upon their fellows, and 

 too big to be preyed upon, they are transferred to the deeper water of the 

 third pond, to disport and enjoy themselves as becomes mature and expe- 

 rienced fishes, until, at some unhappy moment, they may happen to be 

 silly enough to be seduced by the allurements of some attractive fly, 

 attached to a cruel hook of steel cast by some cunning angler standing on 

 the wall ; thus affording sport and delicious food for man. 



Stocking the Ponds, and Results. — The first and second ponds were com- 

 pleted early in the fall of 1863, and about 2500 young fish, some of them 

 yearlings, and the rest small fry, were obtained from a neighboring 

 establishment to breed from. The small fry have grown to be from 4 to 

 8 inches long and the others from 9 to 13. They have been invariably 

 healthy, and probably not twenty-five of them all have been lost by dis- 

 ease and accident. Their spawning season commenced late in October 

 and continued until the last days of December. The period of incubation, 

 which has been nearly uniform with each batch of eggs, has been, as 

 nearly as can be ascertained, from sixty-five to seventy days. The number 

 of eggs obtainable from a single female depends upon her size : it has 

 been impracticable, in the experience had with these ponds, to test the 

 question, because it has been ascertained that during the spawning season 

 the females, as well as the males, present themselves to the operator seve- 

 ral times. The subjects of these experiments were all young and only 

 partly grown, and not more than one-fourth of them were females, and yet 

 the small fry which they have yielded, that have survived all the accidents 

 of manipulation and incubation, will number more than 10,000. With 

 these facts in view, and considering the exceeding fecundity of the full- 

 grown fish, and bearing in mind that the Trout, when fit for the pan, will 

 bring 50 cents per pound in market, it is easy to conclude that piscicul- 

 ture may be made not merely a practicable and pleasant business, at 

 places and with erections affording the right conditions, but, above all 

 other rural pursuits, an exceedingly profitable one. At any rate, the 

 experiment here tried has been a complete success. 



