FISH BREEDING. 687 



New York have private Trout ponds on Long Island, or are members 

 of clubs owing or renting ponds ; and frequently during the fly- 

 fishing season find a few days' recreation in this quiet sport. Persons 

 who have visited the island, away from the railroad, have also 

 observed the frequency of the rivulets and spring branches running 

 into South Bay. Most of these have dams on them, which in former 

 days furnished water-power for saw and grist mills. The timber has 

 all been sawed and the difi"erent parts of the island brought within 

 such easy distance of the metropolis as to require but few grist-mills ; 

 and these ponds have now become valuable for the sport which they 

 may be made to afibrd in Trout-fishing, whilst other ponds, where 

 natural facilities warrant it, have been established. These circum- 

 stances have created a demand for young Trout for stocking new 

 waters or replenishing those where improvidence, or over-fishing, or 

 poaching has diminished the number of fish. 



A gentleman, whose hospitality I enjoyed at his fishing lodge on 

 Long Island in the early part of April, furnished me a few interesting 

 facts relating to ponds. He informs me that his was stocked two 

 years ago with little fingerlings, but a few inches in length, and has 

 since been replenished by young fish reared by artificial means in 

 the neighborhood. The usual price of these small fry, brought and 

 placed in the pond, is generally ten dollars a hundred. 



Now, observe that it will not require more than six well-grown 

 spawners — say of a pound each — to produce twelve thousand eggs, 

 and two or three males to fecundate their ova. Allowing a loss of 

 one-sixth for accidents, their produce would be ten thousand young 

 fish ; these, when a year old, at the moderate price of ten dollars per 

 hundred, are worth a thousand dollars. How easy, then, would it be 

 for a farmer, who has the facilities on his premises, to inaugurate a 

 cheap fish breeding establishment, and thus add largely to his income! 



The angler above alluded to, who alpo rents an adjoining pond, 

 that his guests may not be stinted in their sport, informs me that 

 certain ponds are known for the uniformly large size of the Trout 

 reared in them, while others are remarkable for those of small size; 

 and says that the small fry placed in his own pond attained to the 



