36 HOME FISHING AND HOME WATERS. 



ing season, a great deal of good work may also be 

 done in cutting brush and scattering it along the 

 edges of the stream. This will form hiding places 

 and protection for the young when they hatch out 

 in the spring. It is not a good plan to cut the trees 

 and bushes away from the shores, as they form 

 shade for the fish and the roots hold the water back, 

 and prevent the streams from drying up. 



A great many trout streams have been ruined by 

 cutting away the trees from the head waters, 

 and where they flow through the meadows. By so 

 doing the streams are exposed to the entire heat of 

 the sun during the summer months, which renders 

 the water too warm for the trout and they soon dis- 

 appear. From sixty-eight to seventy degrees F. is 

 about the limit of warmth of water in which trout 

 ca*n survive, and unless they can have immediate 

 access to the springs feeding the main streams, they 

 will die. 



I have no doubt that many of our young readers 

 have heard their fathers tell of the brooks in which 

 they used to fish when they were boys, and of the 

 numbers of the speckled beauties they had drawn 

 from the waters ; but the brooks have now, for the 

 above reasons, become unsuitable for trout, and the 

 haunts which knew them once know them no more ; 

 and so I wish the farmer boys of to-day to profit by 

 the mistakes of their fathers, and protect the trout 

 streams that still remain, before it is too late. 

 Another point to which I wish to call your atten- 

 tion is, to throw back the " fingerling " trout. 



Do not save any that are under six inches in 

 length. In another year these will more than 



