14 HOME FISHING AND HOME WATERS. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE WASTE OF SEEDS AND EGGS BY NATURE'S 

 METHODS. 



IT is somewhat singular to note the method with 

 which nature has carried out her design in the appa- 

 rent over-production of the millions of seeds of 

 plants and trees, and the millions of eggs fish are 

 made to produce. Many millions of each perish if 

 left to themselves, leaving comparatively few to 

 grow, and of these but a small percentage ever reach 

 maturity. 



How many have noticed, in the fall of the year, 

 the countless numbers of seeds falling from the trees, 

 and have seen them swept about by the winds, cov- 

 ered up by leaves, blown into the water; and the 

 next year, out of the myriads that fell, but few hun- 

 dreds ever raise their heads above the soil. Perhaps 

 the spot in which they have been cast is unfavorable 

 to their growth ; the land may not be rich enough 

 to properly nourish them; weeds may spring up and 

 choke them, and there are numerous other causes, 

 quite familiar why they will never survive. Only 

 one out of many ever reaches full development, to 

 reproduce its own kind. As with plants, so with 

 fish. A wise Director has given them large quanti- 

 ties of eggs, knowing that with these, as with seeds, 

 many are destined never to reach maturity, and for 

 causes, though widely different in their nature, yet 

 comparatively the same. When the eggs are first 



