REARING 197 



the disease in its early stages, and you may even 

 remain in ignorance of the cause of the mischief until 

 numerous deaths have led you to hold a post-mortem 

 examination on the victims of your own neglect at an 

 earlier stage. 



The abolition of gravel from the hatching-boxes 

 has certainly tended to diminish the fish-culturist's 

 opportunities of making himself familiar with the 

 diseases to which the trout is subject. Prevention is 

 better than cure, and it is now well understood that 

 the grand preventive of disease among the trout is 

 cleanliness. Under the old system in which gravel 

 and artificial 'hides' played such a conspicuous 

 part, cleanliness, as it is now understood, was an im- 

 possibility ; but with the hatching-boxes of modern 

 design there is no excuse for contaminated water. 



Just as improved sanitary conditions have banished 

 many forms of human disease from among us and 

 relegated them to the pages of history, so the modern 

 arrangements of a well-managed fishery have entirely 

 got rid of many of the epidemic scourges which used 

 to harass the breeder and decimate his fry. Hut 

 lest the beginner, lulled by immunity into a sense of 

 false security, should grow inattentive to the care of 

 his little charges, let me mention some of the maladies 

 to which trout-life is exposed. 



