50 
fore, may be stocked with much greater prospect of suc- 
cess; and it may safely be asserted that 3,000 or 4,000 
young fish, ten to twelve months old, are infinitely more 
valuable for stocking a river than 10,000 or 15,000 very 
young fish, which, not being strong enough to bear the 
change from the basin to the river, often perish in large 
numbers when placed in the river, where they become an 
easy prey to older fish living in the same waters. 
_ This opinion is at this day shared by the vast majority 
- of pisciculturists in Great Britian. Nearly everywhere in 
England and Scotland it is considered that the best young 
trout for stocking rivers are those which are about a year 
old, and which for this reason are called “yearlings” (4). 
These young fish are strong enough to seek their food 
and consequently to avoid the principal cause of mortal- 
ity in young fish, viz., inanition ; they can easily be trans- 
ported and will bear a change of water without difficulty. 
These young fish cost, it is true, considerably more than 
others, but as the final expense is much less, and the 
result is more prompt and certain, there is an absolute 
advantage in using them for stocking rivers. 
There is only one point in the system which leaves 
something to be desired. If one operates on that large 
scale which is required for stocking an entire river, it 
envolves considerable labor to insure the feeding of the 
young fish with artificial food. As the animal is, so to 
speak, made during its early age, and as during this 
period its assimilating organs acquire their strength and 
their power of absorption, a young fish which is insuffi- 
ciently fed not only grows very slowly, but will never 
become a fine fish. It has been ascertained long since 
that if, of young fish of one and the same hatching, one 
(4.) This ae is really applied to fish which are in many cases from ten to four- 
teen months old. - Practically speaking, the age of a fish is counted from the date 
when it begins to eat, and not from the date when it was born. Thus, a trout 
of 1887 is a fish which commenced eating in February or March, 1887. although it 
may possibly have been born about the end of the year 1886, and not in the begin- 
ning of 1887. e 
