There are other methods of hatching the eggs which are partly natural and partly artificial, and which persons can use who are not in condition to oversee the eggs during their long period of incubation. Frames of wood have heen built over a raceway made from springs, and on them gravel has been placed. The strips or slats of the frame were wide enough apart for the eggs to fall through into the lower part of the raceway, which was closed at the lower end so as to force the water up among the gravel. The frame was set at such a depth as to give a couple of inches over the gravel, and more or less under the frame. The fish were allowed to spawn by themselves, covers being laid on to protect them from disturbance. The eggs fell through the slats as they were impregnated, and hatched below where nothing could get at them. This yields a moderate percentage, and will work better than if the gravel is laid on six inches thick, so deep that the eggs are retained in it and cannot fall through.

Another plan was to place a double set of trays or screens, the lower one of such fine wire that the eggs will not pass through; that is, of about ten or fourteen threads to the inch. This wire is attached to a frame, made of inch stuff, and another inch strip nailed above it. The upper frame is of the same width and length, but the sides are from three to four inches deep; upon this a coarse screen, of three or four wires to the inch, is fastened. The fine screen is first laid in the race, which being made of proper width, it fills, and the coarse screen is laid over it, with the wire side down. There is a space, between the two screens, of one inch, protected from invasion on the top and bottom by the wire screens, and on all the sides by the inch strip of the small screen. The top screen, which has sides three or four inches deep, is then to be filled with coarse gravel, so coarse that it will not pass through the meshes, to the depth of two inches. This gravel will overcome the buoyancy of the wooden frames, and cause them to sink in the water. Now the screens are ready for use.

A trout comes along, and finds the gravel. She sees no screens - only some nice gravel for nest-building, in what appears to be a shallow box. Suspecting no evil, she proceeds to make her nest, and in the process of " slirting out" gravel with her tail, she moves it away from the meshes of the coarse screen, and leaves the bottom of her nest an open network. On this she emits her eggs, which are at the same time fecundated by the emission of the milt of the male trout lying by her side. The eggs fall down into the nest, but pass through the coarse wire screen, and are caught by the fine meshes of the lower screen. There they are safe. The trout covers up the hole as usual. The hangers-on find no eggs to devour, and go their way. Another trout may make her nest in the same place, without disturbing the eggs already laid, safe in their resting-place. Here they may be left to hatch, or you may take a pan of water, and taking off the upper screen, gradually lift up the lower screen, brushing the eggs to one corner with a feather, and tip them all at last into your pan without having exposed a single egg to the atmosphere, without any trouble in handling the fish, and without any loss of the breeders.

These screens may be made as wide as your raceway, if it is not over two or three feet, and of a square shape. If your raceway is four feet wide, it is better to have your screens each two feet square, as this size is most convenient to handle when they are filled with gravel. Enough of them can be placed in the raceway to fill its whole length. One thing requires to be noted here. It takes a much larger raceway, for this process of natural impregnation, than it does when the eggs are impregnated artificially. In the latter case you need only room enough to make one trout after another believe she is going to lay her eggs; in the other you must have room enough for her to carry out her intentions. This is known as the Ainsworth screen, and was invented by Stephen H. Ains-worth.

Much discussion has taken place among fish-breeders and others interested in the art, as to the comparative value of the two methods, aside from the manual labor and loss of fish involved. That is, by which of the two methods the most eggs are impregnated, and which are the most healthy or will produce the best fish. In answer to the first question, we say that a skillful workman will impregnate more by hand than are impregnated in the natural way. To the second question, we answer, that the fish hatched from eggs rightly impregnated by hand, are just as strong, grow as fast, and live as long as the others.

Stocking Ponds

The question is often asked by beginners, with what shall I commence fish-farming ? Shall I buy the eggs and try to raise them, and wait three years for full-grown fish, or shall I buy adult fish, and from them take eggs ? The answer to this question depends upon two circumstances. First, how much money you have; and second, how long you wish to wait. It is much cheaper to buy the eggs than the adult fish; but then you will have to wait two or three years before you have any breeders. The wisest and safest plan would be to try a few thousand eggs, and also a few hundred two-year old fish. Ten thousand eggs would cost thirty dollars, and two hundred two-year olds would cost about forty dollars. Two hundred two-year olds would probably give about twenty thousand eggs. If you take this advice, you will have eggs to experiment with the first year. With care, you will hatch out more or less, but in any case your experience will be invaluable to you for the next year, and you will have a stock of breeders, to furnish eggs, as you want them.