Trout Breeding. 79 



in three or four days. In the streams all these dangers 

 are mutiplied ten-fold, and to them are added : ducks, 

 geese, swans, eels, suckers, chubs, bullheads and year- 

 ling trout, for the eggs of trout and salmon seem to 

 have an attractive odor for fishes, and in England 

 poachers use salmon eggs, probably not impregnated, 

 but direct from the fish, as a lure for trout that is said 

 to be irresistible, and salmon roe is even salted down 

 for that purpose. 



Hatching the eggs of brook trout is a simple matter 

 if proper arrangements are made at first. The condi- 

 tions required are a steady flow of water at a low tem- 

 perature, the absence of sediment, and the exclusion of 

 light, enemies, and all decaying animal or vegetable 

 matter from the water, especially such as might arise 

 from dead eggs conditions which can usually be best 

 obtained where a spring rises, but are often available 

 below it if sufficient fall can be obtained. 



Let us suppose that the owner wishes to make an 

 experiment to see what he can do in hatching trout, 

 with which he has had no previous experience, and does 

 not care to go to the expense of building a hatching 

 house until he has proved his ability to manage one. 

 He wishes to try 10,000 eggs with as little expense as 

 possible beyond their cost. 



A tight trough of clean, well-seasoned pine, ten feet 

 long, fourteen inches wide, and eight inches deep, with 

 one end open, will do. Make according to directions 

 for troughs. Place strips across it at eighteen inches 

 apart, making nests an inch deep ; cover this with fine, 

 well- washed gravel, about the size of buckwheat, or 

 larger, to the depth of half an inch, put on a cover with 

 hinges and lock, place a screen in the lower end to keep 

 put mice and insects, and the trough is tnen ready. The 



