134 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



diiced into Massachusetts. It has already been introduced into 

 a great many localities, and it is prospering very finely. 



Another point to be taken into consideration, in order to be 

 successful, is the selection of the breeding animals. Trout will 

 grow larger in large brooks, and they remain small in the 

 smallest brooks ; and in proportion as they are naturally large, 

 they will produce more rapidly an offspring which will grow 

 fast. I would therefore advise those who establish breeding 

 trout-ponds to secure trout from those brooks where they are 

 largest, in order to be very rapidly successful, and to introduce 

 into their ponds a breed which is of rapid and large growth. 

 These are just the same principles that you would follow in the 

 selection of your cattle. If you were to breed for beef, you 

 would select such breeds as grow large. If you have another 

 object, you will of course be guided by your intention ; and so, 

 in breeding fish, you must look to the objects you have in view. 

 Here, for the present, you can hardly have another object than 

 a large production and rapid increase ; and, in order to secure 

 that, you must provide for additional food. Your breeding- 

 ponds will not naturally produce a sufficient amount of food to 

 secure the rapid growth of your fish. You must feed them just 

 as you feed your cattle. You must feed them regularly, and 

 you must give them a variety of food. Tliey get tired of the 

 same food ; they like a variety, just as much as we do ; and if 

 you do give them plenty of a variety, you are sure to secure a 

 satisfactory result ; but if you do not provide for a supply of 

 this additional food, you will be disappointed. I saw, last 

 spring, to what extent the difference may go. Trout which had 

 been bred from the same spawn were put in two different places, 

 and in one locality left to shift for themselves, without much 

 care, while in the other they were fed plentifully, and with a 

 variety of food. In six months there was a difference which 

 was astonishing. The one set of trout had not grown to more 

 than two and a lialf inches in length, and weighed hardly an 

 ounce ; the other had grown seven inches in length, and weighed 

 over six ounces. We have here an evidence of the beneficial 

 result arising from proper care. 



As I cannot enter into all the trivial details, where the ques- 

 tion is to guide your first steps in a new enterprise, I would say 

 that the intestines of sheep or any other animal killed at our 



