156 TRANSACTIONS OP THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Hiker's Strawberries. 



Mr. N. C. Ely, from the committee to examine the strawberry beds of 

 Mr. Riker, at Stamford, Conn,, further reports : 

 The total quantity gathered on the piece of ground 37 feet 



by 162 feet, up to June 29, was 1,477 pints. 



From that date to the 13th of July 639 " 



2,116 " 



Being in all one thousand and fifty-eight quarts. I would remark that 

 the variety was the Austin. 



Artificial Fisu-Breedinq. 



Stephen H. Ainsworth, West Bloomfield, Ontario county, N. Y., gives 

 the following interesting acc(»unt of his experiments in fish-breeding. He 

 Bays : " I have taken a very great interest in the growing of brook trout 

 artificial!}' in ponds on my place. I have tried from seven years old down 

 to last spring's hatching, in three different ponds, keeping the young fry 

 till two years old before I put them into the large pond with the older ones, 

 at which time they are able to take care of themselves. The original 

 stock was put in my large pond, containing 61 square rods of ground, li 

 feet deep, supplied from springs, three years ago last spring, 1,400 in num- 

 ber, age then from one to four years old. They weigh now from one to 

 three pounds each. The}' have been fed daily with liver, and are about as 

 tame as kittens — come at call, and take their food like pigs, throwing 

 themselves clear out of ihe water in their haste for the food, by the 500 at 

 a time, and even take it out of a spoon six inches above the water. Think 

 of seeing 500 trout, all at the same instant, weighing from one to three 

 pounds, and from twelve to eighteen inches long. The like has never been 

 seen in this country, to my knowledge, before. It will well pay the dis^ 

 ciple of Sir Izaak Walton a long journey to see ; visitors from hundreds 

 of miles come to see them — ponds and fixtures for breeding and growing- 

 The trout spawns in November, December and January. When on their 

 spawning beds I take them, and exude their ova artificially, and impreg- 

 nate them with milt from the males, and then place the spawn in troughs, 

 on gravel with pure spring water running over them. They hatch in 78 

 days, and commence feeding from 40 to 50 days after, during which time 

 they live on the egg attached to them. 



Last fall I took in tliis way about 60,000 eggs, and hatched say 40,000 

 of them, which are now from two to four inches long. With all things 

 right, nearly all will hatch in this way. These will grow to a pound 

 weight in four years, with good water and plenty of food. 



A two-pound trout will furnish about 8,000 spawn ; smaller ones less in 

 proportion. They commence spawning when one year old. 



In this way they can be increased and grown to any extent, and all the 

 ponds and streams in the country stocked to overflowing. 



They can be raised in this way with great profit for market. Price from 

 four to six shillings per pound. 



On motion it was resolved. That when we adjourn, we adjourn to the 

 first Thursday in October. 



Adjourned. John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



