Miscellaneous Suggestions. 423 



John told me another interesting incident, perhaps 

 somewhat remote from the matter in hand, but notwith- 

 standing I cannot omit it. While trapping in November 

 of 1883, he came across a spawning-bed, upon which a 

 quantity of trout up to a pound weight were still en- 

 gaged. The water was but about a foot or so in depth, 

 and was covered with a thin sheet of ice as clear as crys- 

 tal. He is a natural investigator, as I suppose all real 

 woodsmen must be. He saw his opportunity, and that 

 it was too good to be lost. So unslinging his pack, he 

 stood his rifle against a tree, and fumbling in his pock- 

 ets, produced a fly and a piece of string. A neighboring 

 alder-bush supplied a rod, and rigging it up he cast his 

 fly upon, and drew it across the ice over the trout below. 

 Again and again they rose with the utmost eagerness, 

 bumping their little noses against the under surface of 

 the ice. 



Those who rear trout say, that under like conditions 

 there is considerable individuality in their growth. Seth 

 Green, in his "Trout Culture " (1870), says with good feed- 

 ing they will reach one pound in three years ; that they 

 grow slower in running water than ponds; that the rate 

 of increase diminishes with age, and puts their average 

 longevity at twelve to fourteen years. Norris, in his 

 "American Fish Culture," gives an instance of four 

 pounds at a little over four years. In a New Jersey 

 pond the fry placed therein, with the yolk-sack still at- 

 tached, attained two pounds in three years. In a Long 

 Island pond trout one year old and five inches long, 

 grew to eleven inches in their second year, and in their 

 third to fourteen ounces or a pound (thirteen and a half 

 to fourteen and a half inches, about) in weight. 



In the spring of 1899, Mr. Edward Thompson, of the 



