FOR PLEASURE AND PROFIT. 115 



satisfactory results are obtained. It is where large quantities 

 of horse-flesh are used as food that absolute condemnation of 

 the fish for spawning purposes occurs. And for this reason : 

 A horse-flesh diet results in fatty degeneration of the ovaries. 

 There is no getting away from this fact, I shall have more to 

 say about the artificial feeding of trout presently ; meanwhile 

 I commend the foregoing remarks to the earnest consideration 

 of mv readers, and would remind them that the same advice 

 holds good, of course, in connection with any eggs that may be 

 pur-chased. 



It will be noticed that I have placed fcur years as the earli- 

 est age at which the eggs from a trout should be used for fish- 

 culture purposes. Some authorities go farther than this, and 

 affirm that old spawners are to be preferred, and by 

 old spawners ane meant fish of from six to nine years 

 of age. The late Sir James Maitland wrote : " The 

 maturity of the parent fish is of paramount importance 

 in determining the chance of the offspring in the 

 struggle for existence. Old spawners produce strong 

 and healthy fry; young spawners, though comparatively 

 more prolific, produce weaker offspring, with a much 

 smaller chance of holding their own in the waste cf 

 waters." This is a most weighty and valuable statement; but 

 in connection with it thei fact must be taken into consideration 

 that the Howietoun Fishery is situated in a. district where the 

 water is far lower in temperature for a greater part of the year 

 than it is in some of the waters in the South of England, and 

 consequently the fish, to which Sir James was more particu- 

 larly indebted for his information, probably did not mature 

 quite so soon as do South-country fish. Be this as it may, 

 there is no doubt that spawners are more valuable at from five 

 to seven yeanis of age, and that with very few exceptions in- 

 deed the fourth year is the first in which they are of any real 

 use to the fish-culturist who is desirous of doing good and 

 permanent work. 



The operation of spawning a salmon or trout, necessitates the 

 exercise of great care, even by an expert. From the com- 



i2 



