GROWING THE LARGE TROUT. 249 



is a great mistake. I would throw every barrier I 

 possibly could between my trout and trout-thieves, and 

 would make my ponds just as secure from poacher 

 raids as the value of their contents will warrant. 



Poachers are of three classes. First, the regular 

 thief. He steals the trout the same as he steals his 

 firewood and poultry, because he prefers to get his 

 living that way. He comes regularly, but, with a 

 thief's caution, by the least suspected path, and usually 

 takes just enough each time not to have them missed. 

 A year's steady work at it, however, will leave its 

 marks on your trout stock, you may depend. Possibly 

 the role will be changed some time, and all your trout 

 be taken off in one night and shipped to market and 

 sold. It is of no use to say that the law will keep 

 this kind off. The law has no effect on them. They 

 make a business of breaking the law, and if it does not 

 keep them from other property it will not keep them 

 from trout. 



The second class of poachers are those who steal 

 the fish partly for the lark of it, and partly because 

 they want the fish, and have not enough principle to 

 care whether it is right or wrong. The law restrains 

 these somewhat, and makes their visits scarcer, but 

 does not keep them off entirely. 



The third class are those who have principle enough 

 not to steal other things, but seem to have such a 

 passion for trout fishing that a stocked trout pond is a 

 temptation they cannot resist. I will only say of these, 

 that the sight of their names in print would be a start- 

 ling revelation of what otherwise respectable persons 

 can be sometimes tempted into doing. 



