STOCKING 381 



home in their new surroundings, are inveterate wan- 

 derers, and are thus of no advantage to the fishery. 

 The usual method of carrying out the plan of 



stocking with large stew-fed 

 Stocking with large fish is to buy yearlings from 

 stew-fed fish. the pisciculturists, turn them 



into stews constructed for the 

 purpose, and feed them very liberally until they are 

 two or three years old. The advantage claimed for 

 this method is that when the trout are turned in, 

 generally in the early spring, they are sizable and fit 

 to kill. The pros and cons of this plan, which has 

 been advised by some experts, will be treated in detail 

 in a subsequent part of this chapter in connection with 

 the question of what some of us term the degeneration 

 of the chalk-stream trout. 



Stocking with two-year-olds purchased from the 



trout-breeder and turned direct 

 Stocking with two- into the river, is certainly the 



year-olds. least troublesome method of 



stocking. If the best fed and 

 healthiest are selected, and if the pisciculturist who 

 raises them is up to his work and has not attempted to 

 force their growth by overfeeding, they are likely to 

 do well. Of course they are no better than their 

 parents, and it is of importance that the parent stock 

 should be of a good strain. It is probably a better 

 plan and less costly to purchase yearlings and grow 

 them up to two-year-olds in a stew on or near the 

 fishery. 



