I think it quite possible that an arrangement might be devised whereby the greater part of the labor might be saved.  Perhaps a series of breeding tanks arranged in proximity to the fish troughs, into which the water containing the larvae might be drawn when desirable by the simple opening of faucet, would solve the problem.

Various methods of serving the food have been tried, but at present everything is given with a spoon.  The attendant carries the food with the left hand—­in a 2-quart dipper if chopped meat, in a larger vessel if maggots—­and, dipping it out with a large spoon, strews it the whole length of the trough, being careful to put the greater portion at the head, where the fish nearly always congregate.  Finely chopped food, for very young fish, is slightly thinned with water before feeding.  At one time the finest food was fed through perforations in the bottom of a tin dish; the food was placed in the dish, which was dipped into the water a little and shaken till enough of the food had dropped out of the perforations; this practice was laid aside because it was thought that the food was too much diluted.

In feeding maggots it was, at first, the practice to place them on small “feeding boards” of special construction suspended over the water in the troughs and let them crawl off into the water; but whatever advantage this method may have had in furnishing the meal to the fish slowly was more than counterbalanced by the extra labor of caring for the boards and by the offensive odor, and it was abandoned.  For use in feeding fish in a pond a box containing a series of shelves, down which the maggots slowly crawl, was found sufficiently useful to be retained.

It is the common practice to feed all meat raw except the lights, which chop better if boiled first, except also occasional lots of meat that are on the point of becoming tainted and are boiled to save them.  All meats fed direct to the fish are first passed through a chopping machine.  The machine known as the “Enterprise” is the one now in use.  It forces the meat through perforated steel plates.  The plate used for the smaller fish has perforations 2 inch in diameter, and for coarser work there are two plates 3/16th inch and 3/8th inch, respectively.  It is operated by a crank turned by hand.

Food is given to those fish just beginning to eat four times a day (in some cases even six times).  As the season progresses the number of rations is gradually reduced to two daily.  In winter such fish as are carried through are fed but once a day.  The cleaning of the troughs has been a troublesome matter, and the subject of much study and experiment, but nothing more satisfactory has been found than the following practice:  The troughs are all to be cleaned daily—­not all at one time, but as time is found for it in the intervals of other work.  To facilitate cleaning, the troughs are inclined about 2 inches.  The outlet is commanded, as already explained, by a hollow plug.