SECOND AND THIRD YEARS. 125 



pond it is well to pass the "chop" through the 

 machine a second time. The lights floating upon 

 the surface of the water, any uneaten pieces float 

 away instead of falling to the bottom and contam- 

 inating the water by their decomposition, while the 

 somersaults turned by the fishes in their efforts to 

 obtain them is a sight which, after over four years 

 of daily occurrence, is still as interesting and amus- 

 ing in our eyes as when first we beheld it. Since 

 our stock of fishes attained its present size^ we have 

 never been able to obtain as large a supply of food 

 as we would desire ; yet we find that our stock- 

 fishes, weighing in the aggregate about a ton (2,000 

 pounds), thrive upon fifty pounds a week, fed them 

 in equal portions on alternate days. Our loss by 

 deaths has been reduced to almost a minimum, not 

 fifty fishes having died during the past year. 



Yet other and perhaps more appropriate food 

 can be obtained in other and more favored locali- 

 ties. The killey fishes, which abound upon the 

 shores of Long Island, answer this purpose admir- 

 ably, being passed through the ordeal of the chop- 

 per before being fed to the smaller trout. Upon 

 the Connecticut shore any quantity of the intes- 

 tines of fishes may be procured, which are equally 

 valuable. What is wanted is animal food; and 

 the best which can be cheaply obtained should in all 

 cases be used ; and upon its cheapness will greatly 



