TOBBITE AND ITS USES. 197 
to four years. They weigh now from one to three pounds each. They 
are about as tame as kittens — come at call, and throw themselves clear 
out of water in their haste for food at the five hundred at a time, and 
some take it out of a spoon six inches above the water. Think of seeing 
five hundred trout, all at the same instant, weighing from one to three 
pounds, and from twelve to eighteen inches long ! " 
Mr. Ains worth states that he takes the trout while on their natural 
spawning-beds and exudes their ova and milt artificially, and then places 
the spawn in troughs *on gravel with pure spring- water running over 
them. They hatch in seventy-eight days, and commence feeding from 
forty to fifty days thereafter, during which time they live on the egg 
attached to them. Last fall I took in this way about 60,000 eggs and 
hatched say 40,000 of them, which are now from two to four inches 
long. With all things right, nearly all will hatch in this way. These 
will grow to a pound in weight in four years, with good water and plenty 
of food. 
A two-pound trout will furnish about 8,000 spawn ; smaller ones 
less in proportion. They commence spawning when one year old. 
In this way they can be increased and grown to anj extent, and all 
the ponds and streams in the country stocked to overflowing. 
We conclude with the statement of both hope and confidence, that 
the reader will find fish-breeding in boxes so simple and sure that he 
will at once prepare to engage in the interesting and profitable occupa- 
tion of the Propagation of Trout. 
ON TORBITE (A NEW PREPARATION OF PEAT) AND ITS 
USES.* 
BY D. K. CLARK, C.E. 
The writer had occasion a short time since to inspect professionally the 
works at Horwich, in Lancashire, to manufacture fuel and charcoal 
from peat, and was so struck with all that came under his notice, and 
impressed with the importance of the results obtained, that he feels 
he cannot bring a more interesting subject before the meeting. 
The question of the manufacture of peat into fuel is in reality a 
question of supplementing the natural supplies of coal with a fuel, 
which may be made superior to it in every respect, more abun- 
dant and more readily accessible. The consumption of coal is so 
enormous and goes on annually increasing at such a rate that for 
some time past, serious apprehensions have been entertained that our 
* Read before the British Association. 
