248 DOMESTICATED TROUT. 



where they can be caught or shot ; and, secondly, hav- 

 ing plenty of the food which they like best, namely, 

 live trout, you have nothing better to tempt them into 

 a trap with. Your only chance is this. Place a dry 

 plank on the north side of the pond, so that one end 

 rests in the water and the other slants some ways up 

 the bank. Put a steel trap on the plank, near the 

 lower end, and fasten it so that the mink, if caught, 

 will throw it into the water. Minks like to sun them- 

 selves in the winter, and though your intrenched ene- 

 my will not be baited into a trap, he will sometimes 

 step into one in trying to get to a dry spot in the sun. 

 If minks are so troublesome as to warrant the outlay, 

 enclose the pond on all sides and on the top so tightly 

 that a mink cannot get in ; then you are safe. 



There is no way to manage the snakes but to kill 

 them ; but they are not so very destructive to large 

 trout ; and, if you keep off all other enemies, I do not 

 think you will suffer much from snakes. 



POACHERS. 



I know the prevailing opinion is now that there is 

 not much danger from poachers. I wish to lift up my 

 voice against this delusion. Your trout in an exposed 

 pond are just about as safe as your money would be 

 in it ; indeed, in some respects, not so safe, for there 

 are people who will steal trout who would not steal 

 money. Yet persons will lock up their money in vaults 

 in banks, and then not feel safe, and will leave a hun- 

 dred or a thousand dollars' worth of trout in an un- 

 protected pond and think there is not much risk. It 



