302 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
One of oui' best-known flsh-onltnrists told me of liis experience in rearing front for market on 
mammal food. He said lie lianled his liver, etc., to the pond in a two-borse wagon, and carried tlie 
tront to market in a basket on bis arm. 
It is very possible that tliis misguided brother was one of the best-known fish- 
culturists, but it is certain that he was not one of the knowing, for, while he was 
employing two-horse wagon loads of liver to prodnce basketfuls of tront, otlier fish- 
cnltnrists were rearing them on a mixed diet of liver and mush for S cents and 10 
cents a pound. 
On page 49 of Seth Green’s Trout Culture is the statement that “trout are car- 
nivorous, and will not eat vegetables of any kind that we have ever tried.” This 
statement, in exactly the same language, is repeated nine years afterwards on page 
80 of Fish Hatching and Fish Catcliing, published in 1879 by Mr. Green and Mr. 
Eoosevelt, commissioner of lisheries of Hew York. Mr. Green’s efforts in this direc- 
tion could not have been verj^ extended. The trout at Heosho are very fond of 
crackers (stale oyster crackers), and I have frequently given the fry a treat of boiled 
potatoes, forced through a masher (C. F. Henis qtatent, Avhich I regard as superior to 
Sir James Maitland’s feeding spoon), boiled rice, pease, and beans. 
There is a statement in Mr. Green’s first book (1870) touching the matter of feed- 
ing which takes almost the form of prophecy. On page 47 he saj^s: 
Trout can be bred to any color by feeding and tbe use of proper ponds, and we believe that in the 
future they will be bred to color, shape, flavor, etc., with as imich nicety and certaiutj' as the cattle 
fancier breeds his animals. 
At the Yivero hatchery, Mexico, the food consists largely of Ganmants, which 
are there to be had only in a miry marsh. These impregnate the trout with a peculiar 
muddy or marshy taste. To obviate this trouble the shrimp food is suspended some 
two mouths before the marketing of the flsh, and nutmeg and ginger is added to the 
other articles of food for the i»urpose of imparting an aroma or flavor to the flesh of 
the trout. If the American palate objects to the combined flavor of nutmeg and trout 
there is reason to believe that the objectionable article might be replaced by some 
other flavor more acceptable. It is the writer’s opinion that such a condition as 
prophesied by Mr. Green can not be induced by the use of a mammal diet solely; but 
Sehor Ohazari has demonstrated the possibility of llavoriug the trout flesh by mixing 
vegetable with animal matter. 
Should it be urged that trout raised on a mixed diet and intended for stocking 
streams would, when liberated, by reason of a iierverted nature and taste, be unfitted 
for natural food, I may answer by referring to the difficulty of retaining fowls which 
have been hatched from eggs taken from wild nests. In infancy they live, thrive, and 
fatten on the farm grains and kitchen scraps of bread and meat. One fine day they 
leave for the woods or moors. Is it reasonable to suppose that they die for want of 
the diet which served them so well in.iuffincy ? The process of reversion from domes- 
tication to nature is always easier than the change from nature to domestication. 
Little as is known of the correct rations and best food for fishes under domesti- 
cation, there is less known (and from the nature of things it will be more difficult to 
determine) of the very important and high-porver factors of range and space in deter- 
miiuug the development and rate of growth of fishes. It is well known to every 
culturist of experience that these are factors which should not be disregarded, and if 
disregarded neither extra feeding nor additional water supply will compensate for 
the lacking elements. At first, range and space may seem to involve natural food, 
