64 
The following discussion then ensued: 
Mr. May—I want to call attention to the fact that 
this paper that was published by the United States Fish 
Commission, is largely theory. The man who says that 
from one cubic foot of water he can raise enough of the 
daphnia and crustaceans to feed a thousand trout, I 
should like very much to see him do it. As for sweep-* 
ing a light net over watercress and getting enough to 
feed, it may do very well for the man who raises a thou- 
sand or two, as most fishculturists in Europe do; but if I 
should ask for ten pounds a day! Angle worms are no 
doubt good food, but how am I going to get them? If 
I want twenty pounds of little crustaceans, the little 
water flea, (the daphnia) and others,where will I get them? 
Or to collect twenty pounds of snails a day! it would 
cost more than anything I know of. The food question, 
as I have said before. is a vital one in fishculture. Most 
places can get cheaper food than we get, right near New 
York City, where there is a population that eats most 
everything eatable. In a paper which I will read by-and- 
by, I show that we have tried beef liver, which is very 
expensive here; we cannot get the hazlets of sheep, as 
they are called, because there is a large poor population 
here that buy them up. But I would like to see some 
practical man come forward and say that he has raised 
ten thousand trout and found enough of this natural 
food. by sweeping a mosquito net over some watercress 
or something of that kind, and get ten or fifteen pounds 
of it during the day. [ am an unbeliever in it, as you 
will probably see by this time. 
Mr. Farrsanks of Illinois—I did not come here with 
any idea of saying anything on this subject, but these 
papers have interested me very much indeed, and have 
been right in the line of what I am doing. 
The remarks of Mr. Mather I regard rather as a chal- 
lenge. I have at Lake Geneva, Wis., some trout ponds 
which I commenced there about fifteen years ago. I 
