THE FRESH-WATER SHRIMP 133 



WEEDS 



You may well ask me ! If these weeds are so 

 dangerous and so often rob the fisherman of his fish, 

 why are they left in the river ? 



There are several considerations which have to be 

 taken into account with reference to the water plants 

 or weeds in a trout stream. The owner has to con- 

 sider the necessity of keeping open his water way and 

 preventing these rapid-growing plants from choking 

 up the channel of his stream, a fault which would lead 

 to the flooding of the adjacent property, damage to 

 the river-banks, and the probable loss of many good 

 fish. 



On the other hand, he has to remember that these 

 weeds, when kept within certain bounds, are most 

 beneficial to trout life, forming shelter and refuge to 

 the trout, not only from mankind, but from the otter, 

 the heron, and other enemies, and providing a never- 

 failing supply of natural food, as well as acting as filters 

 and natural purifiers of the waters in which they exist. 

 The Ephemeridse and other water insects are always 

 plentiful in weedy rivers. The fresh-water shrimp, 

 one of the principal foods of the trout, abounds and 

 multiplies amid the shelter of the weeds. Several 

 trout-breeding establishments make a regular business 

 not only of supplying fly larvae, fresh-water shrimps, 

 and other water insect life, but of cultivating and 

 supplying the best weeds and water bushes for trout 

 streams. Riparian owners, therefore, who wish to 



