fHow to obtain it. 135 
life lasts give them a chance. This is easily done, by putting 
them into the gutter which takes the water away from the hatching 
boxes. The writer was surprised, the first season this was tried, to 
find how many of them revived and made good fish. It will be 
easily understood that amongst a number of little fish in a 
hatching or rearing box, a few are liable, like chickens or any 
other beings, to become sickly. If left where they are these soon 
die, but by being given freedom, and plenty of room and water, 
and turned into a pond which is densely planted with suitable 
aquatic vegetation, many of them recover, and the wholesome 
natural food upon which they live soon makes good fish of them. 
All hatching boxes should be provided with covers or lids. 
These should be made as light as possible in weight, and half 
inch boarding does very well. The eggs are much better for being 
in the dark; in fact light is bad for them. Be careful, then to 
have lids for all the hatching boxes. 
No one should be allowed to enter a hatchery but those 
whose business it is to work in it and visitors who desire to see 
the hatching and other operations. The latter should always be 
conducted through the building by the manager, or some other 
responsible person, who will be able to describe the various 
processes, and to see that nothing is disarranged. There is a 
latent propensity in human nature that from time to time shows 
itself in certain individuals, leading them, if they see a tap, just to 
turn it, or to try if a sluice be fixed or movable. These little acts, 
simple as they may seem, may cause incalculable damage in a 
hatchery. The same applies amongst the ponds. I once hada 
number of connecting rods projecting above the water, for the 
purpose of working some of the pond plugs, and quite a number 
of visitors who carried walking-sticks or umbrellas, gave these a 
tap in passing, and caused disarrangement of the outlet valves. I 
got over this difficulty, as I thought, by shortening the rods, so 
that the projecting ends remained some few inches below the 
surface of the water. Soon after this had been done, I was showing 
some visitors round, and one of them, seeing the end of a rod 
underneath the water, gave it a vigorous poke with his umbrella, 
asking at the same time what it was for. I showed him what he 
had done in disarranging the outlet valve, and he was profuse in 
