58 PRACTICAL TROUT CULTURE. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE SPAWNING RACK. 



FROM one of the simplest appendages to the 

 ponds, the spawning race has of late become, per- 

 haps, the most complicated. Its use is, of course, 

 apparent to all. It is the place to which the fishes 

 resort for the purpose of depositing their ora. In 

 some cases this action upon their part is forestalled 

 by the proprietor, and the result is artificial im- 

 pregnation ; while in others, by means of screens, 

 the eggs are collected and transported to the 

 hatching-house, after having been fertilized with- 

 out human intervention ; while in a third form, 

 the fishes, after depositing their ova, are driven 

 out, and the naturally impregnated spawn allowed 

 to incubate in the gravel in which they were de- 

 posited. 



Let us first glance at the operations of the trout 

 while in a state of nature. In the months of No- 

 vember or December, in our latitude (40-41), the 

 pregnant female, accompanied by her attendant 

 male, seeks a shallow, shady spot, generally at 

 the mouth of a small, cool stream, where the bot- 



