190 PROPAGATION OF TROUT IN AMERICA. 
covered to the depth of a couple of inches with sand and small pebbles, 
upon which is laid a pavement of stones from three to six inches 
diameter. The water should be as much as two inches deep above this 
pavement and fill the boxes two-thirds full. The boxes are open at the 
top. Then pour the fecundated roe equally over the paved bottom of 
each box, and it will soon find its way into the crevices of the stony 
bottom, and within from sixty to seventy five days the trout will be 
hatched, and a bag connected to the abdomen by the umbilical cord 
contains sustenance sufficient for forty days, after which the tiny creature 
begins to seek food and should be removed to their pond. 
The principal object to be aimed at in forming artificial spawning 
beds with boxes is to imitate Nature as nearly as possible, and improve 
upon the natural spawning stream by preventing the enemies of the 
trout and lovers of spawn from gaining access to it. In stocking ponds 
at first it is well to do it with trout at least two years old, but after the 
preserve is stocked it is more economical and certain to continue its 
supply by artificial propagation, for while it is true that young trout 
have so many enemies in their natural streams that not one in ten 
matures, and, of ova planted in the natural streams, scarcely one in a 
hundred is hatched, because of being devoured by roach, eels, and the 
parent trout, or destroyed by a host of other causes, such as freshets, 
which either sweep them clean away or leave deposits of mud and 
other debris so deep as to destroy both eggs and the fish which were 
lately hatched. "While these are the concomitants of the natural pro- 
creation of trout, artificial propagation prevents those losses by protect- 
ing the eggs until they are hatched, and afterwards by preserving the 
young trout in shallow ponds by themselves until they become two 
years old, when they may with safety be turned into the common pre- 
serve. If the boxes are to be supplied from a spring direct, pipes in 
that case will conduct the water as from the pond, bearing in mind 
that you so place the boxes as to produce fal I enough to keep the water 
always in motion and passing through them regularly. The waste 
water may then be conducted by a ditch to the main creek, and a dam 
formed so that the backing water will not interfere with the spawning 
boxes, and after keeping the trout in the boxes forty days after they 
were hatched turn them into a shallow compartment of the main pond, 
when they may be fed with liver, curds, the offal of any animal or fowl 
you kill, or meal. It is best that they have variety in diet, but afterthey 
become a year old they will devour worms, flies, and very small fish. 
For the trout there is no food more dainty and wholesome than a young 
shiner, either whole or cut into small pieces. There should be charred 
wood and stones in the pool for hiding places, and the bottom should be 
formed of sand and gravel. 
Mr. Robert Ramsbottoni's Directions for forming Artificial Spawning 
Beds or Boxes, and procuring Ova from Trout or Salmon and planting it. 
— A suitable rill, contiguous to the river, and affording a sufficient 
