TROUT-BREEDING 103 



eggs sent away every year are numbered by millions ; 

 there were orders on the books for all the Colonies and 

 various parts of the Continent, and to execute them all 

 the spawning has to be cunningly regulated, so that 

 some of the ova may hatch out as late as April. In 

 one year, I know, eggs were taken from one hundred 

 females as late as March 24th. It demands the best of 

 management to keep the proper balance of yearlings 

 and two-years-old in stock, and the secret of the high 

 reputation of the Guildford Hatchery must be sought 

 in the extraordinary character of the yearlings. These 

 always vary considerably in size, and occur from 2 Jin. 

 to 7 in. or even 8 in. Marked results were achieved in 

 hybridizing at Crichmere, and for years the ponds 

 containing the hybrids have been one of the most 

 interesting features of the Hatchery." The demand 

 for the young trout has risen from the growing recog- 

 nition by the owners of country-houses that trout-pools 

 are both useful and ornamental additions to their 

 gardens and grounds, and not less interesting than the 

 poultry-run or the pheasantry. The successful making 

 and management of a trout farm is a branch of rural 

 engineering and economy which, though forgotten for 

 three centuries and a half, is now better understood 

 than it was in pre-Reformation times, when it was the 

 common annex of every manor-house ; and the credit 

 of its revival is due to Frank Buckland. 



