28 PEACTICAL TROUT CULTUBE. 



ture of the surrounding soil, and choose that upon 

 which earth is found most suitable for bank con- 

 struction. Sandy loam or gravel will, with proper 

 care and expenditure, form good banks, but clay 

 is far preferable. It may here be suggested that 

 the immediate vicinity of a large town is to be 

 avoided, as the roughs, that class of population to 

 be found in every city, have a fondness for trout ; 

 and a nocturnal visit from individuals of this 

 stamp is generally attended by results far from 

 pleasant. In fact, the stealing of trout from a 

 private pond is too frequently regarded by even 

 the so-called better classes as a venial offense. In 

 many of our States it is considered in law only 

 as a trespass ; and many have been deterred 

 from engaging in fish-farming from want of proper 

 protection for their crop ; but unfortunately no 

 distinction is made between fishes reared with 

 much labor and expense and. the wild denizens 

 of the mountain brook, all, wherever found, being 

 regarded as f era, and their captors being liable 

 only to a small fine and the market value of the 

 fishes taken ; in fact, Mr. Ward, of Mumford, 

 N. Y., was obliged to suffer an imprisonment in 

 the county jail, a few years since, for peppering 

 with shot the carcass of a scoundrel whom he 

 detected in the act of stealing his fishes. Ca'n 

 it, therefore, be considered strange that a large 



