CAT-FISH CULTUEE 65 



the cat-fish, notably the common bullhead and 

 the yellow cat-fish. Their cultivation is pecul- 

 iarly to be recommended to farmers. Almost 

 every man engaged in agriculture possesses a 

 piece of low wet land with a spring-run or a 

 small stream flowing through it. This land is 

 perhaps not extensive enough for ponds of a 

 sufficient size for commercial value, but it would 

 have to be less than half an acre to be too small 

 to be converted into two or three cat-fish ponds 

 large enough for an unfailing supply for table 

 use. 



Mature fish in confinement will readily take 

 almost any food which may be given them. 

 They eat living minnows, dry bread, or chopped 

 lungs, with equal gusto, and in taking any float- 

 ing food make a sucking noise nearly as loud, 

 and remarkably similar to, that made by ill-bred 

 men when eating soup or drinking coffee. 



Under favourable circumstances cat-fish will 

 be ready for the market when nearly two years 

 old, and certainly at the age of three. Their re- 

 markable tenacity of life should make them par- 

 ticularly valuable for the market, since there is 

 a very large element among consumers who in- 



