THE STEW. 161 



was eaten long before it had floated down to 

 the perforated zinc fence at the lower end of the 

 stew, it was evident that even this largely- 

 augmented supply was not too much. The 

 effect of the increase of food was surprising, 

 and the trout grew so rapidly that it was a con- 

 stant source of regret that it had not been 

 given at an earlier date. This is a difficulty 

 encountered even by the most experienced 

 trout breeder. He finds that the fish, whether 

 fry, yearlings, two-year-olds, or adult, seem to 

 improve in condition and grow more rapidly as 

 the quantity of food is increased, until in time 

 he begins to fancy that it is impossible to over- 

 do it. Generally about this period, however, 

 the memory of disastrous results from over- 

 feeding in former years prompts him to exercise 

 extreme caution , and stop the experiment in 

 time before the first symptoms of poisoning the 

 trout by decomposed food and foul water make 

 themselves visible. 



On November 30th 130 of the largest re- 

 maining fish were again taken out of the stew 

 and turned into the river, and of these the 

 three largest measured 1 1 inches in length and 

 6\ inches in girth, three more measuring fully 

 10 inches in length and 6 inches in girth, and 

 the majority were from 9 inches to 10 inches 

 long, very few being under the 9-inch standard. 



M 



