THE STEW. 171 



may, perhaps, account for it, but in any case 

 this may be deemed the best time of year to 

 transfer the fish from the stew to the river. 

 If there is anything in the theory that artificially 

 fed trout are not good at catering for them- 

 selves in the river, evidently the season at 

 which they require a minimum of food is pre- 

 eminently a favourable one for letting them 

 acquire the habit. 



On the 22nd December all the fish were Final results 

 taken out of the stew and counted, with the 

 result that they were found to consist of 398 all 

 well over ^lb., and 347 below this size; or 745 

 in all, representing a loss of 255 out of the 

 original 1000. The smaller ones were returned 

 to the stew, and fed for about a month longer, 

 and the larger were turned into the stream. 

 The largest of them were estimated at quite 

 lib. 20z., many were quite of lib. weight, and 

 the majority were well over the -|lb. when put 

 into the river. The size of these fish, none of 

 which had reached the age of two years, was 

 sufficient proof (if any is needed) of the wisdom 

 of the policy of feeding liberally in the stew. 



