FISH FARMING : 



mencement of November onward, female trout begin to 

 " ripen," and when quite ready for spawning may be netted 

 from, the river or stock-pond for that purpose. Salman, of 

 course, are obtained from the redds in their proper season also. 

 If there is ai spawning house convenient to the ponds or river r 

 the operation of " stripping " the fish and impregnating tli3 

 ova is better carried out under cover, especially in rough wea- 

 ther ; but unless the building is quite close it is advisable to 

 spawn out in the open and close by the water, if only for the 

 reason that the males will turn sulky should they be retained 

 from the water too long. To spawn a sailmcn or trout, take 

 the fish firmly by the "wrist "i.e., the fleshy part of the 

 body, between the vent and the tail in the left hand, while 

 the right hand somewhat loosely encircles the head (or partly 

 encircles.it, according to the size of the fish) at the gill covers. 

 The fish is then held so that its vent is directly over and 

 within about six inches of the spawning dish, which should be 

 quite dry and clean. This: article is in the fc>rm of a large 

 earthenware dinner-plate, but deeper, and it has a broad, 

 shallow lip added, which is most useful for the purpose cf dis- 

 tributing the eggs over the bottoms of the hatching trays 

 later on. These dishes are known in Scotland by the name cf 

 milk-plates. The operator now proceeds to "strip" the fish, 

 i.e., deprive it of the ovai. This process, in the case of trout of 

 less than 51b. weight (which means a very large proportion of 

 trout handled) is performed by slightly bending back the fish, 

 which action causes the egsrs to flew freely from the vent ; ory 

 I ought rather to say, such action should cause the eggs to 

 flow. If it does not, the fish is not " ripe," and it must be 

 returned to the water. In the case of larger fish (salmon and 

 trout), the operator presses the fish's back against his breast 

 to obtain and retain more command ever it. Where fish of 

 very large size are stripped, it becomes nec:ssary to have an 

 assistant, whose dutv it is to control th2 tail or " wrist " parts 

 of the fish. A fish will not always yield the whole of the eggs 

 it holds; in a natural manner the time of spawning may ex- 

 tend over several days, the fish shedding some of their eggs. 



