662 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



dark red. This coloring is due to water temperature and 

 character and quantity of food available and not at all 

 to sex or species as a great many people believe. A 

 fish taken from one water to another will, in all likeli- 

 hood, change color of meat. I would say that the redder 

 or darker the meat, the more healthy and nourished 

 the trout. 



In waters where there is an abundance of feed, a min- 

 now trout will make an average growth of seven inches 



STRIPPING THE FISH FOR ARTIFICIAL HATCHING. THIS 

 SHOULD BK DONK ONLY BY SKILLED OPERATORS, FOR 

 WHILE IT IS SIMPLE. THE FISH MUST BE HANDLED VERY 

 QUICKLY AND CORRECTLY IN ORDER TO SAVE THEM AND 

 SECURE THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF EGGS 



in two years, most of the growth being made the second 

 year. Jf he continues in good waters a period of five 

 years, he will test the strength of your rod and. tax 

 your skill to the utmost. He will doubtless cause you 

 to tell that old, old yarn about the "big one" that got 

 away. Your friends will wag their heads ominously 

 and perhaps the minister will call to expostulate the need 

 for more regular attendance at church. 



The trout abounds and thrives in waters varying in 

 temperature from 45 to 55 Fahrenheit. Cold ! Yes, 

 it's cold. Just consider a moment that his body tem- 

 perature is around 45 lower than that of the human 

 body and you will realize that cold water is very 

 essential to him. It must be more than cold, it must be 

 clear and uncontaminated and running freely all the time. 



Trout demand a great deal of oxygen and they find a 

 sufficient quantity only in fast moving, tumbling waters. 

 The motion of the water keeps it aerated and charged 

 with this element. Ask any old fish raiser what a trout 

 lives on and he will tell you "air." 



A trout placed in a bucket of water will live only until 

 all the oxygen is exhausted. An hour will render him 

 torpid, in less than two hours he will be dead. For this 

 reason, trout placed in brackish or sluggish waters with a 

 temperature of 65 or greater, will not survive. Not much 

 space can be given here to the food of the trout although 

 it is a matter of utmost importance and one which must 

 be thoroughly understood before one embarks upon the 

 troubled sea of fish culture. The known "good waters" 

 are all gone, but there are many remaining barren waters 

 that must come under cultivation through some means 

 or other. 



It must be understood that the trout does not feed 

 upon plant life, he feeds upon the insects which cluster 



IN ARTIFICIAL HATCHING THE "MELT" IS THOROUGHLY 

 MIXED WITH THE EGGS BY PLACING BOTH IN A SHALLOW 

 PAN CONTAINING WATER AND GENTLY MIXING THE CON- 

 TENTS BY ROTATING THE PAN 



upon and feed upon plant life. Now, to introduce the 

 species of plant life which will in turn collect the certain 

 species of insect life conducive to the life and well being 

 of the trout, is a field of study that is almost wholly 

 unexplored, yet every fish man will tell you that it must 

 come to pass before we can materially increase our fish 

 supply. The trout, I regret to say, is cannabalistic, feed- 

 ing upon its own kind when necessity compels and in 

 numerous instances when necessity does not compel. The 



