26 



the water pure and clear in all the ponds, and the fish in a 

 healthy and vigorous condition. 



HATCHING BOXES, 



The only sure method of success in hatching the eggs, is 

 to place them in troughs from eight to eighteen inches wide, 

 according to the volume of water, six inches deep, and from 

 ten to fifty feet long, with a slight descent — enough to pro- 

 duce a gentle current, but not enough to move the spawn 

 when placed in them. The bottom of these troughs are to 

 be covered with two inches of fine gravel, and clean, coarse 

 sand. These troughs are completed with a lid to cover 

 tightly, and with screens at each end. They are now ready 

 for the water. The water should be from one and a half to 

 two inches deep over the gravel and eggs. The number of 

 these boxes may be increased with the amount of water and 

 number of eggs. The nearer the boxes are to the springs 

 the better. The water from the spring should run directly 

 into a box placed at right angles with the hatching boxes, to 

 be used, say from three to fifteen feet long, twenty inches 

 deep and wide, and drawn from this box through fine screens 

 and spouts into the hatching boxes, graduating the amount 

 of water required in each hatching box, to give the required 

 depth to the water over the eggs. The boxes are now ready 

 for the eggs. 



SPAWNING SEASON. 



In my pond, the trout commenced spawning on the 12th 

 of November in 1860, on the 5th iu 1861, and on the. 3d in 

 1862, and finished each year from the 10th to the 15th of 

 January. I am informed that in some other sections they 

 commence the first half of October. The female trout sel- 

 dom come iuto the race until the very day they begin to 

 spawn. As soon as they commence to deposit the ova they 

 should be taken out and the spawn procured artificially. 



