464 
THE TIJOPICAL AGRICULTTTISiT, 
[•Tan 2. 1899 
uienibers were luliuitted ilurinq the year. This of 
course shows a decrease under both lieads, hut 
only perhH[)s what was toheexpecled iti hard times. 
'IHK OUTTURN OK OVA. 
A Khaiice at the last lepoit will sliow wii'it a 
tale of disaster it was then necessary to unfoM 
under this head. Tliis year was marked by a 
similarly disastrous commencement, and a success- 
ful finish. MesM's Andrews asked leave to iiy a 
new method of transportint^ ova — in an air-tight 
case ; promising to pay for the ei;^-; if the trial 
was unsatisfactory. I'he case duly arrived early 
in January, and was transported frofn Colombo 
with great care and promptne'<s by Mr. Elhart- 
I opened it here with breathless interest, only to 
be met by an uiicom[)roinisiiig mass of corrup- 
tion. Eyes and nose agr^'ed that the e.vperiment 
was an utter failure. Lu(diily 40,000 ova had 
been ordered in addition, to arrive in two batches. 
The first bat'di came by the " (i.jlconda " about 
the middle of January ; as soon as they were 
opened, it was plain that insutlieii-nt caie had 
b^eii taken of them on hoardship, and decay had 
already begun to .spread through the trap's. It 
was entirely, due to the unremitt iiig care and 
.skill of Mr. Elhart and his assistant, that even 
a portion of the eggs weie saved, and 1,500 fry 
eventually liatched out. The second of the two 
batches came by the N. D. L. "G3ra "and went 
to prove the tantalising fact that, if only proper 
care is taken, carriage ag". need do \ery little 
harm to ova. It was evident on unpicking the 
boxes that they had not lieen disturbed, by tilt- 
ing over and rough handling, and that they iiad 
been regularly iced. This is all we ask, and we 
hope to secure it by employing the German line, 
and by a largely increased fee(RlOO) to the Stewaid, 
to be paid on t/ic ret urn voyaf/e of the. sh ip. We are 
quite content that our ova should be partly " !nade 
in Germany " if they turn out as well as tiie*e did. 
Tiiey were in remarkably s^ood condition, and we 
hatcheil out over 10,000 fry— perhaps the best result 
everobtained. The fry were distributed as follows : — 
;}000 to Nuwara Eliya streams 
3343 to Horton Plains 
1100 to Fattipola Gorge and Dimbula 
800 to Sita Eliya and Elk Plains 
400 to Maskeliya streams 
500 to Bopataloya 
400 to Lower Kurunduoya 
1300 to 
200 to Nuwara Eliya Stew Ponds 
11043 
The thanks of the Club are due to Messrs. 
Bagot, R. Jackson, J. Eraser, Lyall and Cuff for 
supervising the distribution to several of the above 
streams. Good accounts have been received irom 
Messrs. Jackson and Bagot of the progress of the fry . 
THE FISHING DURING 1898. 
The fishing during the year has been decidedly 
poor. One record is annexed w.hich, as coni- 
pared with the record sent by the same gentle- 
'nan last year and published in appendix 1, of 
last year's report, is certainly inferior ; while 
other members have written to lament diminished 
takes. This was only to be expected considering 
how very few fry were put in in 1896 and 
1897 ; but it may fairly be iioped that this 
year a more bountiful supply will greatly im- 
prove afiairs. Moreover the extraordinary drout;ht 
in June, July and part of August militated 
strongly against successful fishing. I do not believe 
that many fish are poached now. The keeper 
goes round all the Nuwara Eliya waters daily ; 
and the doubling of the cost of carp licenses iiat 
liad the desired efl'ect : only iho-.e people lake 
them out who really li-h for hpon j and the 
crowd of <lubious sportsmen, with cirp r lU and 
poaching instincts, has di6a].peare<l. No doubt 
the otters do a great .leal of barm, but war 
has been <leclared uj.on them, not without good 
results. Four large «ues have been trappeil in 
the Lake within the last month, and .Mr. Grin- 
linton also shot a tine specimen. Five traps are 
now constantly set, and would do belter busi- 
ness if they couhl be .set on the land, but thiii 
would be very dangerous for dogs and children. A 
very line trout weighing 0 lb, 10 oz. was cau-dit in 
Nuwara Edya byMi. H. V. Maseli. Id, wijileTt was 
being hotly pursued by an equally line otter. 
STicwroxus. 
It is a much debated question whether .St«wpondij 
should be used (1) universHlly, or (2) pariially, or 
(3) not at all. In 1890, H.E. the Governor kiiidly 
allowed us to maka use of one of his li.ie ponds 
for the purpose. It was prepared at considerable 
expense, gravelled and fenced oil', and all big fi.^|| 
removed One hundred fry were put into it in 
March 1897, an«l it was netted in Janu ij 1898. 
Not a sign of a trout was to be found. W q icok 
out a great many larva' of drai'on Mies ; and Mr. 
E. E. Green (Hon. Entomolosfist to (Jovernment) 
who was kvith me, was of opinion that any one 
of these was big enough to swallow fry. It U 
obviously no ii-<e hatching trout to feed dragon 
Hies. On the other hand the fry put into the-veiy 
•small pond behind the hatchery, and into the 
pond at St. Leonard's l.y Mr. Bagot, appear to b^ 
doing well. Tne diHiculty is to discover the 
subsequent history of the fry put <lirect into the 
streams ; and this can only be done if fi-liernieu 
are goo<l enough to obs-erve, and record their 
observations. I am myself in favour of making 
more small stew ponds, and putting into them at 
least half of the fry hatched out. But it is a 
matter to be decided by more competent trout 
.specialists than myself. It is evident that by the 
present method the loss of fry is enormous. 
the other hand it may be interesting to note the 
exact result of the experiment in the small stew 
pond at the hatcheiy. Two hundred fry were 
put in about the middle of April. The jiond 
was emptied today (November 19) in my 
prese'.ee ; and 43 iish were taken out. This 
represents a loss of .f, but on the other hand 
the fish taken out were remark.ibly stron<' and 
well grown, measuring from four to live inches and 
full of go. They were at once put into the Nuwara 
Eliya stream and not one died in transit. The 
pond is most carefully wired in so that otters can 
have had no share in the loss. It would thus aj)- 
pear that if in a very favourable year, w« hatchtd 
out 20,000 fry, we might under the small stew 
pond system, expect te put 5,000 line young fish 
into the various waters. It is for members to sav 
wiiether it is better than the uncertain results of 
the present system. 
SPAWNIXG. 
There is still no certain evidence whether trout 
are yet breeding in our waters or not. There is 
certainly any quantity of spawns in the females 
and a curious deticiLncy of milt in the males. 
One nieml)cr writes that he has seen wiiat he is 
certain must be locaily-bied fish ; and I mysel 
have seen suspicious looking pairs lying together 
in shady pools up the Elk Plain streani.s." The 
direct evidence goes no further ; and failing the 
advent of that peison whom we all pray for a 
leisured man with past experience and with time 
