PRACTICAL PAPERS—FISH CULTURE. 
407 
amusement. Let us suppose such a stream to be stocked annu¬ 
ally with five thousand trout-fry, at an expense of $100. In 
about three years the stream will be in full bearing. Let us look 
at the returns. At the lowest estimate three hundred pounds of 
trout, worth one dollar per pound at present prices, may be taken 
from the stream annually. Then, too, there is always a demand 
for fishing privileges, and in most places such a stream could be 
let to sportsmen at a profitable advance on the cost of stocking. 
Besides, if a place is to be sold, a well stocked trout stream on 
the premises will add several dollars per acre to the value of the 
ground. Even a little spring rill, across which a man can step, if 
stocked yearly with a thousand fry, costing twenty dollars, will 
yield a profitable interest on the money expended. The labor of 
catching them is, of course, to be considered. But in most cases 
their capture is thought to be a pleasure, and if there should be a 
proprietor who finds no enjoyment in trout fishing, he will find 
enough to do that work for him without wages. It must be ob¬ 
vious that stocking streams, though limited as to results, is yet in 
its degree more profitable than the other method of fish raising, 
inasmuch as there is no outlay for feed, and the trout require no 
care. 
The two methods may often be combined with advantage. I 
once met an old farmer who was taking a trout to the village ho¬ 
tel for sale. The fish weighed plump four pounds and was a 
beauty. I learned that he was in the habit of bringing such fish 
occasionally, and on questioning him, found that he had a little 
spring stream of water running through his land, and that in its 
course he had dug out a deep hole—simply a hole in the ground, 
without screens or apparatus of any kind. The larger trout from 
the stream collected in this hole, and he would feed them with 
scraps from his table, refuse meat from his butchering, etc. 
With the outlay of very little trouble, and no cash, the old gen¬ 
tleman must have gathered a good many dollars per year from his 
liole-in-the-ground trout pond. As a hint of what can be done in 
fish-raising with small means, his example is worthy of consider¬ 
ation. 
There are a few erroneous impressions still lingering in the pub¬ 
lic mind which it might be well, if'possible, to correct. No man 
