84 FISH FARMING : 



regular and painstaking 1 methods of feeding the fry, and. 

 beyond everything else, their willingness to act according to 

 the instructions of the expert in charge of affairs, instead of 

 adopting methods of their own, a male assistants are, un- 

 fortunately, apt to do, have resulted in the employment of 

 women in preference to men in numerous cases. But, still^ 

 the fact remains that in some cases it is cheaper amd better to 

 purchase stock than to breed it, this being so especially in 

 cases where the number of fish required is small, or sport i? 

 wanted at once, and the owner of the water has not yet realised 

 the possibilities of breeding a stock of fish for himself and 

 others ait the same time. 



Be the reason whatever it may, I will suppose for my pre- 

 sent purpose that at fishery Las been made, and that it has HG 

 inhabitants other thain those that go to form food for the trout 

 that are to be introduced. It may happen that you have A 

 decent stock of fish already ; if so, let well alone for a while, 

 and see what yo-u can do with those you have after the various 

 methods of cultivation presently described. But I will deal 

 with a fishless water. By-the-bye, let me also make it quite 

 clear to my readers that these present remarks apply to stock- 

 ing with the common brown trout of the British Isles (Salmo 

 fario). Stocking with other varieties is treated separately in 

 another chapter. 



The most simple method of stocking is to. purchase a number 

 of yearlings from the nearest commercial fish-farm, place ihem 

 in lake, or pond, or fenced-off portion of river or stream, and 

 cany them forward to the two-year-old stage, when, if they 

 have had a proper supply of natural food and have further 

 benefited by judicious artificial feeding as well, they should 

 be ready foot* the rod or for the market. This form of fish- 

 fairming may be indulged in with successful results, without 

 any knowledge beyond that possessed by the average angler. 

 And it pays financially. Moreover, it is a; good way of 

 starting fish-culture operations, and is sure to whet the appe- 

 tite for more serious work. I have already explained how the 

 necessary precaution should be taken for the protection of 



