122 



These screens may be made as wide as your raceway, 

 if it is not over two or three feet, and of a square shape. 

 If your raceway is four feet wide, it is better to have your 

 screens each two feet square, as this size is most con- 

 venient to handle when they are filled with gravel. 

 Enough of them can be placed in the raceway to fill its 

 whole length. One thing requires to be noted here. It 

 takes a much larger raceway, for this process of natural 

 impregnation, than it does when the eggs are impregnated 

 artificially. In the latter case you need only room enough 

 to make one trout after another believe she is going to lay 

 her eggs; in the other you must have room enough for 

 her to carry out her intentions. This is known as the 

 Ainsworf h screen, and was inventted by Stephen H. Ains- 

 worth. 



Much discussion has taken place among fish-breeders 

 and others interested in the art, as to the comparative 

 value of the two methods, aside from the manual labor 

 and loss of fish involved. That is, by which of the two 

 methods the most eggs are impregnated, and which are 

 the most healthy or will produce the best fish. In answer 

 to the ^ first question, we say that a skillful workman 

 will impregnate more by hand than are impregnated in 

 the natural way. To the second question, we answer, 

 that the fish hatched from eggs rightly impregnated by 

 hand, are just as strong, grow as fast, and live as long as 

 the others. 



Stocking Ponds. — The question is often asked by begin- 

 ners, with what shall I commence fish-farming ? Shall I 

 buy the eggs and try to raise them, and wait three years 

 for full-grown fish, or shall I buy adult fish, and from them 

 take eggs ? The answer to this question depends upon 

 two circumstances. First, how much money you have ; 

 and second, how long you wish to wait. It is much cheaper 



