312 * president's addbess. 



ton distachyon) was still in bloom notwithstanding the frost. A 

 walk of a quarter of a mile brought us to the nursery or year- 

 ling ponds, in which the fry are placed in April or May, and 

 here we saw a nice show of yearling fish. These ponds occupy 

 the side of a hill, so that there is considerable fall from one to 

 the other, and the various supplies of water after passing through 

 them are united into one focus, and do duty in some larger ponds 

 lower down. The yearling house is on a lower level than the 

 fiy ponds, and the fish can either be carried in tanks or allowed 

 to swim down into it, the advantage of the latter process being 

 apparent. Here in a comfortable building they can be sorted, 

 counted, placed in the numerous preparation tanks, and when 

 the time appointed for their departure arrives, 2,000 yearlings can 

 be packed and loaded on to a wagon in less than ten minutes." 



Some remarks of Mr. Armistead on the success which has been 

 attained in the artificial hatching of fish may fitly conclude this 

 part of the subject : — 



"Whereas, twenty-five years ago," Mr. Armistead writes, 

 " we were working very much in the dark, and had many diffi- 

 culties to contend with, which were little understood, we now 

 look upon the everyday work of a fish farm as calmly as the 

 agriculturist does upon his daily labours. Still, there is a vast 

 deal to learn; but we are sure of our ground, and the rest is 

 simply a matter of time. In glancing at the work which has 

 been done, the difficulties that have been overcome, the improve- 

 ments that have been introduced, there is much cause for satis- 

 faction at results. In the beginning trout ova were collected 

 by hundreds, and it was a common thing for three men to be 

 occupied in spaAvning a trout ; and some of the earlier writers 

 describe one holding the head, another the tail, while a third 

 operator took the ova, which often took nothing bigger than a 

 saucer to hold them. Now hundreds of fish are spawned by one 

 man in a few hours at the Solway fishery, and piles of dishes 

 are required to contain the eggs, which are measured by gallons ; 

 and, as the season goes on, are counted by the million. For a 

 long time it was supposed that the gravelly bed of a stream was 

 necessary for the successful hatching of the ova of the Salmonidce. 



