THE CULTIVATION OF COARSE FISH. 383 



when he drew the water off before a large company he had 

 invited to witness the result, more than eighty thousand fine 

 young carp were found. 



I have referred to the difficulty experienced in obtaining 

 parent fish for breeding purposes ; there are hundreds of 

 streams and other waters in this country which contain coarse 

 fish, which are considered by the proprietors of these waters 

 as, I was going to say, vermin ; at any rate, they do all they 

 can to get rid of them, to make room for their trout and gray- 

 ling. The National Fish Culture Association would find this 

 a most profitable field to work. I am perfectly certain that the 

 proprietors of trout and grajling fisheries would be only too 

 glad to give the society all the coarse fish they could catch in 

 their waters, and the very finest pike, perch, chub, roach, &c., 

 are those which are bred in a trout stream. The expense of 

 netting and fish-carriers would not be great. I am led to make 

 this suggestion because, when on a trout-fishing excursion, 

 I have often thought how welcome these shoals of despised 

 coarse fish would be if transported to some of the depleted 

 waters around London and other large towns. 



Having described the methods in which coarse fish culture 

 may be carried on, I will now give a brief general account of 

 the natural conditions under which some of these fish breed — 

 to give a complete list would occupy too much space. In 

 coarse fish culture the more closely we follow the conditions 

 laid down by nature, the more likely are we to meet with 

 success. Being fully aware of the scantiness of our knowledge 

 respecting the breeding of many of our coarse fish, I wish to 

 disclaim any pretension to complete accuracy in what I state 

 respecting this matter. I have got my information, such as it 

 is, partly from personal observation, and partly from foreign 

 works which refer to the subject. 



