386 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
become perfectly tame. I have a number of thousand in my 
ponds that will flock around me and take food from my hands. 
The brook trout, (I have no practical knowledge in the raising . 
of other fish) are more attached to their homes than any fowl or 
animal within my knowledge. I would as soon undertake to drive 
a flock of turkeys off the farm at nightfall, as a school of even 
wild trout from their pond or pool, and the farmer who owns the 
head of a brook can stock it without fear of his neighbor below 
him ever getting them. 
They will only leave a home that suits them at the spawning 
season, and then stop at the first suitable gravel bed that is unoc¬ 
cupied, deposit theirspawn, and after lingering around a few days, 
apparently to guard it, return to their homes. 
Nature has been very prodigal in providing the fish with the 
means of procreation, so much so, that the ordinary observer on 
seeing the amount of spawn they contain, wonders that they do not 
become so plenty as to obstruct the free use of water for mechanics 
and navigation ; but if he investigates the matter, he discovers that 
this spawn is not yet fertilized, and the probability is that notone in 
ten of the spawn of wild fish ever are impregnated, and the un¬ 
fertilized not only spoil themselves, but cause all that are near to 
them to decay, and the spawn as well as the young fish, during their 
helpless stage, are a prey to other fish, rats and various water fowl. 
But civilization is the greatest enemy to our wild fish; the building 
of dams hinders the ascension of the fish to their spawning beds, 
and the making of roads, and ploughing of the land causes the 
soil to wash down and cover up the spawning beds, often destroy¬ 
ing the whole crop of the season ; the emptying of filth, the run¬ 
ning of vessels and the use of nets on the lakes have a like effect. 
To avoid this waste, the fish culturist takes his spawn and places 
it on clean gravel under a gentle current of water, guarding it 
against all harm. The young, he places in a pond by themselves, 
where they cannot be disturbed by their natural enemies, until 
large enough to care for themselves. As our fish have natural 
pastures the year round, they are produced very much cheaper 
than pork or beef, (amount of course governed by amount of water.) 
This being the case, political economy would dictate their protec¬ 
tion and encouragement. 
