Color

A. trout is always the color of the bottom over which it lies; and in passing from one color of bottom to another, it will change in a minute. The trout in deep and shaded pools are notoriously deeper in color, or rather darker than those in shallow, bright waters; and they not only look darker while they are in the water, but stay darker when they are removed. The trout-raiser must make his ponds accordingly: shallow and exposed if he wishes light-colored trout; deep and shaded if he wishes a darker color. Fish often become blind from various reasons in the ponds, and when they do so they turn very dark - black, one would almost say by comparison with the others. The cause of this is not clearly understood, and it would suggest that the fish have control over their own color and adapt it to what are their surroundings or are supposed by them to be. The trout becoming blind imagines that everything about him is black and so assimilates his own hue to it as nearly as he can. It is possible that the power is bestowed upon these creatures as a defence against predacious birds which can not see them so readily if they are the color of the bottom on which they are lying.

Food

In keeping large numbers of fish either for breeding or for sale, the first thing to be determined is, what is the best food which can be obtained cheapest and in the greatest quantities. This question is important because the profit depends upon it. All other circumstances being equal, he who can obtain the cheapest food will make fish raising pay the best. In France and Germany dead animals are gathered from the farms around the fish establishments and made into pates, or pies, which are fed to the fish as wanted. However good this may be for the fish it is somewhat repugnant to the taste of the fish eater. In this country we pur-eue a cleaner method. The pluck of animals killed (that is the lights, liver and heart) is obtained from the butchers. This food can be obtained fresh at least once or twice a week in most localities and kept fresh by means of an ice house. In fact trout will not eat decayed or spoiled meat unless they are very hungry. They are very dainty in their tastes and will often go hungry rather than take anything which they do not fancy. We feed meat to them raw.

The lights should be given to the larger fish as it can not be chopped as fine as the liver and is more apt to hang in strips or strings. The liver which can easily be cut into small pieces may be fed to the smaller fish. Trout will sometimes choke to death ; they are so greedy that they attempt to swallow a very large piece of food and it sticks in their throats and kills them. Often it it is caught in their teeth and thus prevented from going down the throat, or it gets into their gills and stops their breathing. They will, when choking, come to the top of the water, and may sometimes be saved by taking the piece out of their throats, or pushing it down. But the best remedy is to chop the meat fine, say one-half or one-quarter inch squares for two and three years old.

No machine which we have ever tried would do the work of chopping to our satisfaction. A sausage machine runs the food together and mashes it, and the meat cutters, which do the best, require cleaning and sharpening so often that they are only a nuisance. The best thing we have ever found is a butcher's block, or log of wood two and a half feet high on which to cut, and a very heavy knife or light butcher's cleaver. These instruments are very simple, not liable to get out of order, and do the work required of them in the best manner, and with no more labor than a machine would require. Sometimes two or three knives are fastened together to make the work go more expeditiously ; but one is best, or at most one in each hand.

Fish fed on liver or lights are not as good eating as wild fish ; this is especially so of trout, which should never be sent to market or the table directly from the stew pond. But they soon recover their flavor when they are turned loose, and made to seek their natural food in a natural way.

Any kind of meat is good for food. Trout are carnivorous and will not eat vegetables of any kind that we have ever tried. We feed them lights and liver because it is the least expensive food we can find in large quantities, and answers a very good purpose. In their natural state trout feed upon insects of all descriptions which abound in or near the water; worms of all sorts, from the angle worm to the caterpillar, which the wind shakes from the trees bordering the stream into the water, are eagerly taken. Flies of every kind which either drop down upon the surface of the water to lay their eggs, or may happen to fall into it, are quickly devoured. Young fish which may be in the stream serve for food; so do the grasshoppers and beetles which fall into the water, and even the crawfish is not spared. If any one will examine the bottom of a good trout stream carefully, he will find every stick, stone and bunch of moss in it covered and filled with insects of various kinds. If you look at the bottom of the creek, also, when it is free from moss and sticks, you will see that in the summer time it presents a curious mottled appearance, as if it were having an eruption of some kind; these protuberances are caused by the larvae of water flies, which, after a time, rise to the surface, and then breaking their shell or case, for the first time, spread their wings and fly away. On these before they have assumed the fly-state, the trout feed; and the eggs of water flies, together with minute insects and worms are the special food of the very young trout.