444 SALMON AND TROUT. 



THE HATCHERY. 



Livingston Stone, in his excellent work, 'Domesticated 

 Trout,' observes ' that the time has come when trout can be 

 hatched, reared, and brought to maturity in great numbers, 

 and with comparatively little loss. . . . The peculiar nature 

 of the things you deal with, however, namely, fish and running 

 water — and the magnitude of the numbers you operate with, 

 are such that there is hardly an occupation in the world where 

 a want of security is followed by such wholesale loss.' 



The word 'security' in trout raising implies a great deal 

 more than most people imagine. It means not only that all 

 joints and screens in the hatchery and in the ponds are perfect, 

 but that the supply of water must be * secure ' against falling 

 short, secure against violent and excessive flushings, against 

 becoming fouled, heated, or frozen ; and all this requires an 

 amount of foresight and tenacity of purpose, constant vigilance 

 and caution, that very few men will undertake to exercise and 

 persevere in throughout the whole season, and year after year ; 

 but this makes all the difference between successful and un- 

 successful trout-breeding. 



Security does not cease to be a sine gud non as soon as the 

 hatching season is over ; during the whole of a trout's life- 

 time it has to be protected from innumerable enemies, and 

 secured in many ways, to be of any ultimate value to the 

 oiiginal owner. 



In the limited space at my disposal I cannot, of course, 

 enter into £very little detail, and explain all the different 

 sources of danger incidental to trout-breeding. A volume 

 could easily be filled in treating of every separate stage in the 

 life of a fish ; therefore a good deal of condensation is un- 

 avoidable. 



Assuming, then, that the supply of water for hatching 

 purposes is of a suitable temperature, ample, fairly pure, and 

 free from much sediment, it now remains to consider the 



