SECOND AND THIRD YEARS. 123 



CHAPTER X. 



SECOND AND THIRD TEARS. 



THE sojourn of the troutlet in the first pond is 

 but short ; the l&st of our crop are generally placed 

 in it about April 15th, and by November it is im- 

 portant that they should be removed, that the 

 aquatic plants may grow and the insects be pro- 

 vided for the next year's crop. The method of 

 removing them to the second pond has been men- 

 tioned. They have now passed their babyhood 

 and require more food, their growth is extremely 

 rapid, and they are much more able to take care 

 of themselves ; and again we meet with the food 

 question. Food they must have, and in full quan- 

 tity ; and what shall that food be \ It must be 

 appropriate, cheap, and readily obtained. Curd 

 has, of course, been used ; we have tried it, and 

 proved it, in our case at least, to be not only not 

 suitable, but absolutely poisonous. Our losses 

 were at first very great, fifteen pounds of dead 

 fishes per diem being not unf requently picked from 

 the bottom or screens of our pond. For a long 

 time we attributed this excessive mortality to other 

 causes ; at length the truth dawned upon us ; we 



