128 FISH CULTUEE 



season. A few days after the first ripe fish 

 have been found, numbers of others will be 

 ready, and after that egg-taking proceeds daily, 

 with growing rapidity, until the height of the 

 season is reached. It is not expedient to draw 

 all the ponds every day, partly because the num- 

 ber of the spawners found would scarcely pay 

 for the trouble, but chiefly because frequent 

 handling is not good for the fish. Yet many 

 days must not pass without every pond having 

 been overhauled, or eggs will be lost. 



Handling Ripe Fish. — The act of spawning, 

 as well as the period immediately preceding and 

 following it, is always a drain on the vitality 

 of fish, and some are certain to die. Handling 

 and artificial extruding are still harder ordeals, 

 under which further loss may be expected; 

 hence great care must be exercised not to bruise 

 nor roughly treat the fish while they, are 

 sorted and stripped. Some men use wet gloves 

 made of canvas or other material during this 

 process, in order that the trout may not slip 

 from their hands; but this practice cannot be 

 condemned too strongly. The glove is a death- 

 dealing apparatus. Neither ought a fish to be 



