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CHAPTER II 



ARTIFICIAL PERCH CULTURE 



FOR some years now the artificial culture of perch, 

 which is a more or less simple matter, has been 

 carried on with varying success. The first Fisheries 

 Exhibition in London gave a considerable impetus 

 to the culture of coarse fish of various kinds ; but 

 the special boxes and apparatus for perch hatching, 

 which were then exhibited, have not come into 

 general use. 



In modern trout culture the whole matter is taken 

 almost entirely out of the hands of Dame Nature. 

 The fish are spawned artificially, the eggs are milted 

 artificially, hatched artificially, and the resulting fry 

 are fed artificially. It is an instance of science giving 

 vastly better results than anything Nature can do. 

 In the course of the natural process many eggs are 

 destroyed, large numbers fail to get impregnated with 

 the milt, and of those which are impregnated a con- 

 siderable percentage do not hatch out, owing to their 



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