The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-02-19
rRJJE FOOD OF FISH.
!, ,eu1 uNfoLolNe or wHArSAHE
-ue WONDERS OF NATURE.

...,-Minuts Antmsi Lie An s"e
The Rearing Of Trout.
...rd 40 fasb, and particularly their
IA re last word has not BY any means
ioOo' nresented. II by means OF nsh oui.
peen lonne comprehension has Deen gained
tu, H,s ring trout what we know apous the
Oh ar,dm Is not to be applied TO the nu-
ss i.,"n Of all other fish. The error as 20
wv. ..a feeding of oysters, or what Is oaiie1
tne ,"ttsning of them, by scattering meal
.li0 .hs barrels where tho moilusks nave
Id VIZ sont IL the most absurd OF practices.
peen ~. whether there Ia any Tat
- -, IN an oyster and whether he can un-
n"r anv circumstances increase his STOCK
usf n5ensed hydrocarbons. He feeds, OF
under certain circumstances and
eo u,o and increases In Size and
vat and becomes corpulent, but ne does
.n ~. satten as would pig. 81
pV The SPECTATOR, whose articles on natural
.,..arv are as intelligent as they are prao-
l.a", shows what 1t designates as the in
uOa,' food of fish," II we get an mixing
Ns .o tho river in which fish feed, the prob
w % the free ranging sea fish Is not SO
pn aa,,v determinable. In the rivers rum
Ta a. Through comparatively narrow banks
lhoss mnst be always certain amount OF
' sne iife. These are the pastures, In which
P.a tho innumerable small crustaceans,
e,,,rute forms, on which the river fish
Good But at sea this Is by no means
49,. .,' case. II OH the coasts there Is marine
w.. at a certain distance from the
shore there is no such growth.
nray bucket of water from the ATTAIN
.,o ocean. and there are to your eyes no
sooting organisms in It, and yet there
.nav he innumerable fish In good condition
sound in the same open water. The anad-
ronous fish do not apparently move far
awav from the mouths of the rivers at
rhoso sources they were born, but In the
oooan there are countless fish, pelagio ones,
that move where they list and keep In
GOOD condition. II there Is nothing visible
;r the water of the ocean, 1t cannot, how
sver be "a foodless waste" We cannot
understand what is growth in bird, four
tooted animal or In fish without being
positive that increase In size comes from
ABSORPTION of food. Something that takes
m additional weight and size never came
from nothing.
When certain sea fish are caught near
the shore, as is the cod, or the bluefsh, or
the striped bass, these being carnivorous,
wa know on what they they had been feed
ing There would be very many more lob
steers II there were not SO many cod, and, as
To menhaden, innumerable would be their
shoals If it were not for the hungry bluefish.
How explain for the smaller fish, such
az the herring, and finding 1t at certain
seasons in its primest and fattest condi-
tionP III we can understand the movements
of a shoal of herring, moving along in a
solid phalanx and sometimes at high
rate of speed, we could understand why
there is no opportunity for them to stop
and feed.
The explanation why certain fish keep
at certain periods Of the year in good con-
dition is because salt water, transparent
as it may seem to us to be, abounds with
food. These creatures microscopic though
they may be, nature supplies in limitless
quantity for the support of the fish. We
know that in parts of the ocean frequent
ed by the whales the only food of certain
of these huge cetaceans Is what Is known
as "brit," and these are small aquatic
creatures which arc found in incalculable
quantities. The whale, then, may be said
to live at times on "a sea of soup" and
has only to open its mouth, strain out the
water and swallow its food.
There are innumerable other microscopic
creatures in the water of the sea WHICH
support the fish. They are like the NOTES
In the air. These minute creatures art
endowed with marvellous fecundity
There is one known to scientists as TIT
cyclops, which in the year produces a
many as $4,000 young. 1t may be 70
marked here that nature Is always on TIT
when any one of its creatures is likely Il
be imperiled 1t endows 1t with marvelou
fecundity. But then, again, what feed
these small forms and perpetuates them
Nature here again shows her great eco
nomic process. All these MICROSCOPE
forms exist in the refuse carried into tn
sea and thrown on it. If they assimilat
this waste and thrive on it, they agail
give new life to the fish which devou
them, and thus the cycle of existence
ever going round and round.
The Germans, In their fish culturu
studies, have put In prominence what the
designate as the intensive process. Th
name itself is rather farfotched, and no
readily understandable. The idea Is rathe
one meaning the condensation of the wor
oil fish culture, or that within certain lin
N'i AVPiSoohucu ny pOnu, UHoro ouShV y
DO found all the food young fish Nigh
want. The advocates of this syster
strongly urge the cultivation of plant Iii
IN ponds and the growth of crustacean
which thrive on this vegetable life. In
recent lecture on fish culture, given l
London by Mr.. Armistead, the necessit
was urged Of making separate pools, grow
ing weeds and plants there, in which I'll
millions OF entomostraca might increas
ana serve as food for the young trou
Formerly 1t was believed In Germany tn,
carp were exclusively vegetarian, and a
Cordingly carp ponds were drained an
planted with rye as carp food. 1t WI
nought that the carp ate the grain. TIL
might DO true In small measure, but Il
carp took to the grain not for the veget
pie substance in 1t, but because 1t was
narborage of innumerable small crust
oeans.
English experts are answerable for tn
s.atement-that trout fed on worms gre
slowly; others, fed on nlinnows, did bette
put those fed on insects grew twice as fas
New York Times.
A Youthful Epicure.