129 



on necessary occasions. It would be better if they had 

 a thin shell, for then persons would more quickl^' see the 

 fatal results of any carelessness. 



Mr. Palmer's method. -Mr. Palmer, one of the most 

 successful fish culturists of the "West, has kindly furnished 

 us the following communication describing his method 

 of growing tront which differs a little from that in 

 general use. He recommends the use of zinc troughs, 

 but we doubt whether that metal would answer in all 

 waters which might when loaded with certain substances 

 have a chemical effect upon them that would be deleter- 

 ious to the eggs. However, under his management and 

 in his location they answer well : 



For hatching of trout and salmon, I prefer zinc lined troughs, 

 they are easily kept clean, and the fish are where they are wanted un- 

 til they exhaust the food sac. While I can not hatch as many in this 

 way as with the Brackett tray, or Holton box, I think I can hatch 

 healthier fish. 



My hatching troughs are twelve feet long and eighteen inches wide, 

 and I hatch from fifty to eighty thousand to the trough. I run the 

 water about an inch deep over them, and let on all the water I can 

 without washing the eggs off. 



I cleanse my water by settling It in deep boxes before it goes on 

 the eggs. For the last ten or twelve years my trout fry have been 

 remarkably healthy, prior to that I had lost them by tens of thous- 

 ands, and think that the cleanliness and simplicity of the process has 

 much to do with their health. My experience, not alone around my 

 own ponds, but with others that I had occasion to visit, is that the 

 longer trout are confined or domesticated the healthier their progeny 

 becomes, and in. this connection I would say that this applies to 

 their pisciverousness or canibalism, I have one pond in which I 

 have trout from two to eighteen inches long, and never see one de- 

 vour another. Taming them for generations seems to take away 

 their wild voracious nature ; of course I would not recommend the 

 raising of diflFerent ages together, and think when mixed together, if 

 neglected, they would return to their old practice of living off one 

 another. 



