398 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



also by the other numerous enemies of the trout. 

 The fish for stocking are usually purchased from one 

 of the numerous pisciculturists, and turned in either 

 as yearlings, two-year-olds, or even three-year-olds. 

 It must be remembered that these fish have been, 

 hand- fed in stews for one, two, or three years, so that 

 they have never had to find their own food under 

 natural conditions, and the older they were when 

 turned adrift the more they suffer from this inability 

 to fend for themselves, and the more heavily they are 

 handicapped against the wild fish in the river. 



Then, too, as Mr. Corrie pertinently remarks in the 

 " Journal of the Fly- Fishers' Club " : — 



" To-day the average wild mature trout in the open 

 river is a bad fish to breed from ; it has most probably 

 been reared by artificial means, until one, two, or 

 three years of age, and the older it was when turned 

 out to fend for itself the worse parent fish it becomes. 

 Nor at the trout-farmer's establishment is time friendly 

 to our breed of trout. Instances there are when 

 parent fish crossed with wild strains maintain the 

 hardiness of their stock, but it becomes more difficult 

 every year to obtain ova and milt from hardy wild 

 stock, and, although artificially raised young trout 

 make grand-looking fish so long as they are carefully 

 tended and fed, the majority of them fail to thrive 

 really well in the open river." 



The pisciculturist does not as a rule assist us much 

 in regard to this question of degeneration. Candidly, 

 we cannot blame him. It has been the custom for the 



