TROUT AND BLACK BASS. 133 



safely through ; but whenever the temperature rose higher, they 

 invariably died. 



Now there are other fishes which breed in the spring, and 

 which, to be hatched successfully, must have the warming influ- 

 ence of the sun ; and yet they, too, require a certain moderate 

 temperature. The water cannot be allowed to rise very high, 

 otherwise they, in their turn, die ; nor can it be allowed to fall 

 very low. The temperature best suited to these fishes which 

 breed in spring is between 60° and 65° or 70° Fahrenheit. I 

 have not experience enough to tell you now what would be the 

 most suitable temperature for^raising pickerel, for instance, or 

 black fish, or black bass, or striped bass, or any of these kind of 

 fishes ; but you can easily ascertain it by finding their breeding- 

 grounds and ascertaining the temperature of the water, and 

 then you must try to keep the temperature of your artificial 

 breeding-pond at that temperature at which you have found the 

 water in those places which they naturally select to lay their 

 eggs. 



Let me say a few words upon the different kinds of fishes 

 which it may be worth while to introduce where they are not 

 native, and what are the different conditions under which these 

 different kinds are most likely to prosper. 



In your mountain brooks, or in the little lakes into which 

 these brooks empty, you would succeed best with trout. Trout 

 is a fish which requires clear, cold water all the year round, and 

 which in summer is likely to fail if the temperature rises above 

 50°. The colder you can keep the water in which you raise 

 trout, the better will you succeed. In the waters of low regions, 

 such as the sand-flats of Cape Cod, you have an opportunity 

 for raising the black bass. That fish will stand a variety of ex- 

 posures, for it is found in the great Canadian lakes, as in Lake 

 Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, where the 

 water is much colder than even in our ponds during summer ; 

 and therefore that fish is capable of being brought up in a 

 greater variety of exposures than many others ; and as it is one 

 of the most delicious fishes, and grows rapidly, you have the 

 opportunity of producing here a valuable article, in a compara- 

 tively greater number of localities, than many others. I think 

 that that is one of the most valuable fishes which can be intro- 



