CHAPTER XIV. 
MANAGEMENT OF MATURE TROUT. 
Maturity considerd—How mature trout are dealt with—The net—Its use— 
Emptying the pond—Business pond differs widely from a lake or river—Trout 
eating trout—Sorting the fish—Food—The maggot factory—Tadpole rearing— 
Frogs and Toads considered—Trout get very tame—Approach of spawning time 
—Can trout hear—Do fishes sleep—The senses of taste and smeli—Varieties of 
colour and markings—How many species—Selection and crossing of races—Trout 
anadromous in New Zealand—Reversion to type—Square tail and forked tail. 
eas management of mature trout is a subject on which a book 
might and probably will some day be written. A trout is 
said to be “mature” when, according to its sex, it either sheds 
its milt or deposits its ova. This has, I think, been the generally 
accepted explanation of the term. It does not, however, quite 
convey the idea that a fish culturist would have of maturity. I 
have seen yearling trout (fairo) yield milt, and two-year-olds 
sometimes yield ova. Neither of these fish are considered 
mature, however, on a fish farm. Three-year-old females will 
spawn, but the eggs are small, and not so good as those from 
older fish. It is in reality not until a female trout-is four years old 
that it is of much use to the cultivator. It then yields a return in 
the shape of eggs which are worth having, but those from older 
fish are better. 
We have traced the growth of the fish from the egg up to the 
two-year-old stage, and when it passes beyond this it has done 
with what is a very important part of its life history. I allude to 
the time during which it may be sent long distances at the proper 
seasons ofthe year without any special difficulty, a time, in fact, 
during which Nature seems to have made special provision for 
accommodating the wants of man. Up to two years of age trout 
can easily be transferred from one place to another, even though 
the places are hundreds of miles apart. After that age the 
difficulties and cost of transit increase so materially that larger 
