CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 265 



being the same, with the exception of food, they will 

 cost about 24 cents a pound. If you raise one fourth, 

 they will cost somewhere near 36 cents a pound. If 

 you raise one eighth, about 54 cents a pound. If you 

 raise less than this, they will cease to pay a profit. 



To assist the beginner in estimating his expected ex- 

 penses and returns, I will give the following maxims : 



a. Under favorable circumstances, five pounds of 

 meat food may be considered an equivalent for one 

 pound of trout growth with two-year-olds and three- 

 year-olds. 



b. For any given quantity of two or three year olds 

 one per cent of their weight may be regarded as an 

 adequate average daily ration the year round. 



c. Two and three year olds will double their weight 

 annually, and can be made to do so in the six months 

 from May to September, by extra care and feeding. 



d. Good food for grown-up trout, namely, lungs and 

 plucks of slaughtered animals, can be purchased any- 

 where for two or three cents a pound. The cost of 

 the actual food of the young fry the first six months is 

 inappreciable. For further information see chapter 

 on food. 



e. First-class trout bring $ i.oo a pound in Fulton 

 Market in April, and can be forced, almost any time, 

 when in season, at 50 cents. 



f. Freshly killed trout, well packed in ice and saw- 

 dust, will stand a direct journey in the summer, by 

 rail, of five hundred miles, without injury. 



Mr. Stephen H. Ainsworth's estimate of profits, 

 published five years ago (1866), is as follows: 



