82 DOMESTICATED TROUT. 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE SPAWNING. 



It is very desirable to have the preparations for the 

 spawning season completed before the season begins, 

 as it is often very inconvenient to attend to them after- 

 wards. The hatching apparatus and experiment boxes, 

 the filtering tank, and all the aqueducts above the 

 hatching apparatus, should be thoroughly cleaned out 

 and put in readiness. The spring or supply reservoir 

 should be put in just the condition you mean to have 

 it left in for the winter, for that often cannot be dis- 

 turbed after the spawn are laid. The gravel for hatch- 

 ing should be obtained, sifted and washed and boiled, 

 two sets -of flannel filters made, and ready to place, 

 and the outlet screens ready to drop in their grooves. 

 A set of nippers and a bunch of feathers should be in 

 their places, as also homoeopathic phials for examin- 

 ing the eggs, the spawning pans for taking them in, 

 moss to pack them with, and the tin boxes in which to 

 send them away. 



At the breeding ponds, the spawning races should 

 be thoroughly cleaned out, and clean gravel put in, 

 or the Ainsworth and the Collins apparatus * placed in 

 readiness where these are used. A notice should be 

 put up that visitors must not go to the breeding 

 grounds till the season is over. The covers for tho. 

 spawning beds should be ready and down. The nets 

 and the rest of the spawning outfit should be at hand, 



* For description of the Ainsworth and the Collins Spawning 

 Apparatus, see pp. 29 - 36. 



