142 Flow to obtain it. 
bestowed upon their proper development during this period, the 
fish, like other valuable farming stock, requiring to be very well 
looked after, the sexes kept separate, and the food varied accord- 
ing to season and circumstances. It is a matter that requires 
much skill and judgment, and no novice can expect to rear breed- 
ing fish successfully at first. I say breeding fish, for it is quite a 
different and an easy matter to rear fish for the table or for angling 
purposes. This can be done, and is now being done extensively, 
and I am glad to say, successfully. It seems strange that we have 
been so long in realizing that the discovery made by two obscure 
French peasants, that the ova of the trout could be fertilized and 
cared for, might be turned to good practical account, largely 
multiplying the number of fish in our waters. 
In the early days of my experience as a trout culturist, when 
we were dependent upon natural streams for supplies of ova, a 
careful watch had to be kept upon the trout as spawning time 
approached. About the end of October, when the autumnal 
tinted leaves begin to fall in showers as the wind sighs through 
the grove, and the mountain tops have already been capped with 
snow, the trout begin to leave the larger rivers and streams, and 
push their way into almost every little rivulet on our hills, and in 
our valleys, in search of suitable places for making their nests and 
depositing their ova, and places unfrequented by them except in 
their earlier stages at other times of the year are then often found 
to be full of fish. Notwithstanding all our pains the trout often 
succeeded in eluding us, as floods would come down and prevent 
any work being done in the streams for two or three days, during 
which time the fish had spawned and perhaps even left the locality, 
for they do not remain long in the small tributaries ; while there 
they are in danger, and they know it. 
Let us take an imaginary ramble to a wild mountain glen. 
The little stream which tumbles over the rocks and boulders 
empties into a lake, which is full of an excellent breed of trout. 
As we near its mouth three herons rise and flap lazily over the 
placid surface of the lake, and a flock of wild ducks noisily departs 
from the reed bed in which it had been hiding. A little further 
on another heron leaves the brook—they know full well the trout 
are on the move. Passing on, we notice the solitary footprint of 
