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ALBERT R. MANN
LIBRARY

NEw YorK STATE COLLEGES
OF
AGRICULTURE AND HomME ECONOMICS

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

THE GIFT OF

WILLARD A. KIGGINS, JR.
in memoty of his father

a University Library
SH 34.R

d fish catching.

mann

Cornell University

Library

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

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the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003244633

FISH HATCHING,

—AND—

FISH CATCHING.

4 —BY—
. a
R. BARNWELL ROOSEVELT,

Commissioner of Fisheries of the State of New York, Author of
Game Fish, ete., etc.,

AND

SETH GREEN,

Superintendent of Fisheries of the State of New York.

ROCHESTER, N. Y.:
UNION AND ADVERTISER CO.’S BOOK AND JOB PRINT,

1879.

FISH HATCHING.

—___+.

INTRODUCTION.

During the few years which have intervened since the
discovery of fish culture, its practice has advanced with
rapid strides, and although it is still little more than in
its infancy; the laws which govern its management have
been so far ascertained and applied that it is now an
established art, capable of yielding vast results for the
benefit of mankind. The days of doubt and uncertainty
have passed away, and numerous experiments leading
invariably to the same end have established it on a firm
basis. For a time cautious persons, even: when most
enthusiastic could not help questioning in their own
minds what the final outcome would be, and whether all
that was predicted for the new undertaking would be
realized, but success in all well considered and properly
conducted attempts has swept away fear and hesitation,
and experience may now be said to have fully confirmed
the highest hopes of the most sanguine. ‘The possibilities
which fish culture suggested were so far beyond what can
be obtained in other fields of human labor, so greatly
exceeded the best results in agriculture that it seemed
impossible that they could be realized, or that this enter-
prise would have remained so long undiscovered or un-
developed. But day after day and year after year the
theory has been put in practical operation, where all its
steps could be and were accurately noted, and the incredi-

ble increase and profit obtained left but one conclusion
possible. No persons could be more cautious, more slow

to express a positive opinion, or to accept a hasty judg- |
ment than the authors of this work, as they can show by
all their writings, acts und utterances, but they feel at
last that they and the public can give perfect credence to
the claims of fish culture, provided it be conducted as
intelligently and wisely as other departments of modern
human labor.

It must not, however, be forgotten that this new art is
as exact and exacting as any other, nor that it has its
limits and must be managed with care and not slurred
over or slighted. To the ignorant and indifferent it will
-yield no more than the cultivation of the land and possi-
bly not so much, and precisely what those limits are of
which we speak and what are the requisites of circum-
stance and manipulation, this work is intended to show.
This is meant for a practical book on a practical subject, in
which nothing shall be stated on conjecture; no mere
fancy picture however alluring shall be presented to the
public, and the bare facts with plain directions shall be
given that all who wish may read and understand, and all
whe have the opportunity may practice what is herein set
forth. With that view no attempt will be made at grace of
diction, and scientific names, formulas and information
will be omitted as far as is thoroughly consonant with
the purpose to be attained, and no farther. Many mis-
apprehensions exist in the public mind in relation to a
matter which has dawned upon the world so lately and
so suddenly, expectations as extravagant in some direc-
tions as they are depressed in others, and while one man
will try to raise the best of fish from the worst of waters,
another doubts if anything can be achieved from the
most favorable opportunities. It is the function of
this book to correct these mistakes and prevent. these
blunders.

The culture of fish has been gradually extended from
one species to another until we have a fair idea of what
can be done in all cases, and those even who try new ex-
periments have much to guide them, and can, up to a
certain point tread with assured tootsteps. At first the
only species treated by the artificial method was the sal-
mon, the most valuable and highly prized; thereafter the
process was applied to trout, then to shad and after-
ward to whitefish, lake-trout, herring, perch, bass, striped
bass, sturgeon and many others with more or less suc-
cess. The greatest promise for purely artificial manipu-
lation is with the salmon, the trout, the lake-trout and
the shad, but the close study of the habits of other varie-
ties which followed the attempts with them have so fa-
miliarized the fishculturists with the necesities of their
growth and increase that a subsidiary branch of fish-cul-
ture has grown up in which the natural process is assist-
ed, protected and developed. This incidental method
has yielded benefits that,allowing for the difference of labor
and money expended, approach those reached through the
more scientitic and intricate management of the higher
classes of fish. All these processes will be considered, ex-
plained and fully detailed in order that the utmost benefit
may be received by the reader from the knowedge acquir-
ed by more than twenty years of study and experiment in
the production and growth of fish. We believe that we can
safely say that the authors of this bouk have had a hun-
dred fold more experience in pisciculture than any other
persons in this country, and that by them, or under their
control, the most important inventions and discover-
ies have been made, either in the best methods of im-
pregnating and hatching the eggs, or in protecting,
transporting. and growing the fish. They have been
practically engaged in fish culture since its introduction

into America; have studied, labored, and experimented
in all its departments: have tested all theories propound-
ed abroad and at home, and have had under their charge
in the New York state hatching house the largest and
most efficient establishment in the world for producing
actual results, and for separating fact frum error. Asa
consequence they feel they can promise that nothing will
be given as an established fact that has not been fully
proved by the personal experience of the writers, for
they are resolved to make this book trustworthy if it is
nothing else.

Before entering upon the details of practical manage-
ment, it may not be unadvisable to take a general review
of fish culture, and give some suggestions of universal
application. It has been said that an acre ot water would
produce as much. as five acres of land, if it were tilled
with equal intelligence. In making such a comparison,
it must be borne in mind that the crop of one needs no
manure, requires no care during its period of growth and
atter it has once been planted, and that it is harvested by
simply taking it from the water in which it dwells. It
is almost wholly profit. The other must not merely be
planted but must be fertilized at great expense, and
worked and cultivated with assiduous labor of man and
beast, and finally when at last successfully harvested and
saved from destruction through disease, insects and the
elements, it yields but a meagre advance upon the cost
of time and trouble. It-has been the habit to cultivate
the land and neglect the water, the one has been reduced
to private ownership and constitutes a large part of in-
dividual wealth, while the other is a sort of common
property too little appreciated to be reduced to possession
where this is possible, and abandoned as a sort of waste to
yield what it may without care to the few chance persons

who make a living out ofit. Ifour wheat crop is damaged
or the corn crop diminished or the cottoa crop short, the
public press rings with lamentation, and the country
mourns over a national calamity. But the supply of our
fish crop yielding millions of pounds of food per annum
may be in process of utter annihilation, and yet no voice
is raised, and we sit by with folded hands in idleness. The
land we value dearly, because to till it costs us dear in
sweat and thought, and the water we despise because it
yields its free will offering without an effort on our part.
We have tilled the ground four thousand years, we have
just begun to till the water.

Kinps or Water anp Fiss—Frcunpiry—-Coip-BLoopEp
Cruatorses.—Fish can be raised with less trouble and
cost than other articles of food. The Jakes and rivers
are full of animal and vegetable organizations upon
which fish can live, now wasted, but which should
be utilized by stocking these waters by suitable varieties.
There is not only an abundance of food, but it is
also true that fish need less food to produce a given
amount of flesh than is required by birds or quad-
rupeds. The amount which will make a pound of poultry
or beef, will make many pounds of fish; this is owing to
the fact that they are cold blooded and usually inactive
animals. When we see them in water, they are in motion
because they see us; at times they go long distances in
search of breeding places, but they are, as a rule, quite
torpid in their: habits. Animal action consumes the
system. For this reason, those who wish to fatten cattle
or poultry keep them confined. Animal heat is also a
great consumer of food, and a large share of all that is
eaten by warm blooded animals is needed to maintain
this vital heat. As fish are cold-blooded, they need
but little food for this purpose, and most that they take

goes to make bulk and weight. The fact that this class
of animals will live a long time without eating anything
is familiar to all. There is but little waste of their sys-
tem in any way. We frequently see birds and fishes
kept in the same rooms, while the first are restless and
need constant care and feeding, and frequent cleansing of
their cages, the latter are almost motionless, unless dis-
turbed ; and as the water in which they are kept is usually
clear and fresh, it has in it but little food.

It may be true that a pound of fish does not contain as
much nourishment as a pound of beef, but the difference
is by no means as great as the difference in the cost of
production. For some purposes of health it is much
more valuable than a like weight of ether food. Less
care and labor are needed to raise fish than to raise other
animals, or even to raise vegetables. We must give close
attention to our flocks and herds throughout the year, and.
we must toil through a long season in our fields to make
vegetables grow. Lakes and rivers are well said to be
like fields prepared for seed. Fish only need our help in
one way. At breeding times their eggs are mostly des-
troyed by numerous enemies, and but few are hatched.
By artificial means at a trifling cost nearly all the eggs
can be saved, and vast numbers of young produced.

While on this analogy, it may be suggested that rota-
tion of crops may be as advantageously introduced in
piscicultute as in agriculture. In a portion of France,
where the land is low and can be overflowed at pleasure,
by a system of dyking, crops of grain and eels are alter-
pated, the latter being the most profitable, but this is
only the germ of the true principle. When one sort
of root or grain or vegetable is repeated on the same
land, it is found that the soil is exhausted of its food,
while its enemies are augmented in number. Identically

the same thing occurs with fish when they are kept in
one locality. They use up their food and increase the
list of their foes. So soon as this happens they suffer,
and should be supplanted by a different species, living
on different food, and having a totally different class of
enemies. Wherever this has been done, the effect has
been surprising, the new species increasing enormously
for the first few years, and then meeting the fate of its
predecessors. It is a curious fact that the stomachs of
fish are so often found to be entirely empty of food,
and the migratory varieties seem hardly to feed at all
while preparing to spawn. This would imply either
that they digest very rapidly, or can ‘go a long time
- without nutriment, and, probably, both of these deduc-
tions are true. Heat and motion are the main consum.
ers of food, for animal bodies are physically machines,
which must be supplied with fuel if motion is to be gen-
erated, and will wear out with friction unless the waste
-is restored. A man or a horse can only perform his
quota of work if his body is thoroughly nourished, and,
on the other hand, neither needs nor can digest his full
amount of food unless he works. The terrestrial ani-
mals are warm blooded and active, many of them, in
their natural state, getting their food by the chase,
whereas fish are cold blooded, and, although occasionally
making long journeys, are ordinarily quiet.

The following points upon fish culture seem to be
established : First—Fish culture, extending to every de-
sirable variety of fish is entirely practicable. Second—
It may, under proper management, be made profitable to

-the producer ; as much so or more than the cultivation
of land, or of land animals, and on similar conditions.
Third—It may furnish to all classes an abundance of
cheap, and the most nutritious and healthful food.

Fourth—lIt is absolutely necessary in order to the pres-
ervation of the fish of the country from total destruction.
Fifth—Every section of our country, and all its creeks,
rivers, lakes and seacoasts are available for this, care
being taken that the right kinds of fish be selected for
the waters into which they are placed, observing latitude,
climate, temperature and quality of the water. Sixth—
It may be carried on by stocking waters with young fish
brought from hatching establishments, or by obtaining
eggs fur hatching, and both eggs and young fish may be
transported safely to almost any distance. Seventh—The
money capital required for these operations is small,
skill, care, patience, perseverence and common sense,
the same as in any other business, being the chief requi-
sites, Kighth—Individual enterprise is alone sufficient
for success, though State action is desirable; indeed,
legislation is essential, if not to foster at least to protect
those engaged in the business of fish culture.

CHAPTER I.
FISH CULTURE.

We do not propose to trace back the science of fish
culture to its origin, nor settle the disputed claims of
individuals or nations, tu its discovery. That the old stag-
nant, almond-eyed nation of the East may. have known
something of it, as that curious, half developed race had
misty intimations of many other important natural phe-
nomena is not to be doubted; but the knowledge was of
small extent and little utility, and has remained like the
people among whom it existed, without development. Its
practice consisted mainly in transporting from place to
place, certain varieties of fish-eggs,-which had the pecul-

larity of sticking to whatever they touched after emission
from the parent. These were caught on twigs, sticks, and
branches of trees, and so carried wherever they were
needed. They were protected as they developed, and
used to stock waters which had been depopulated. This
was but a rude attempt at fish culture, and beyond it
there was little more real foundation than for the pre-
tence uf hatching spawn in the eggs of fowls beneath -
setting hens.

The children of Confucius, thousands of years ago, in
this as in many other investigations, commenced groping
from the darkness of ignorance toward the light of truth ;
jbut before they had passed into the twilight of the morn-
ing, they seemed to be stricken with paralysis, and like
the fabled seven sleepers, have stood on the semblance of
death ever since.

The French have the honor of originating fish culture
as now practiced among civilized nations. Two French-
men, called Rémy and Géhin, having observed that the
mature eggs of certain fish flow from their bodies on the
slightest pressure, and comprehended what important
results might be obtained by taking advantage of this
peculiarity.

It was some years after these discoveries in France that
America commenced to take an interest in this subject,
and from its geographical conformation and political
government, labored under the greatest disadvantages.
Many different States have conflicting rights in the same
waters. Rivers rising under one jurisdiction, frequently
pass under several others before they reach the sea ; lakes
touch or are included within four or five States; streams
divide or bound two or more sovereignties. This diver-
sity of control, and often of interest, naturally threatened

to be fatal to any altempt at fish culture which required
a uniform system in all waters to which it isapplied. Take
as an example of this difficulty, the most sontherly of all
known American salmon rivers of the Atlantic coast -
the Connecticut. This magnificent water-course, once
abounding in countless myriads of the noblest of fish,
rises amid the wild, rugged hills on the confines of Maine
and Canada near the lakes in whose crystal waters still
sport the largest brook trout of America, Concentrating
its numerous tributaries into one grand river, it flows be-
tween the green mountains of Vermont and the still
more imposing ranges of New Hampshire; next it cuts
Massachusetts nearly in two, and finally sweeping through
Connecticut, now deep enough to float vessels of war and
carry important commerce, it empties into Long Island
Sound. Here we have in the first place the rights and
interests of the estuary fishing at its mouth, once een
net fisheries for salmon, and still productive of shad ;
these the State of Connecticut is deeply peorie
Above these are the dams at Holyoke, fatal to all migra-
tory fish, among which are to be counted both the salmon
and shad, but which have contributed much to the wealth
of Massachusetts, and are busy all year long in driving
millions of looms and spindles. Farther north, the resi-
dents along the fluvial portion of the stream, in Vermont
and New Hampshire, complained that for more than half
a century no salmon or shad has been permitted to reach
them and to bring their welcome dowry of wholesome
food to their very doors. While still further to-the north-
ward the lumbermen must be consulted as to what effect
the introduction of salmon and shad culture will have
on their rafts and rafting dams.

Our country has a compensation in the character of
its fish which more than makes up for these disadvanta-

ges, and has led to a more vigorous prosecution ot fish
culture, and more valuable discoveries in implements
and methods than in any other land. The fish of North
America are the finest in the world for food and sport,
while some species have peculiar recommendations to
the fish culturist. Probably the most valuable variety
to be found anywhere is the shad; it is scarcely sur-
passed for the table, it is among the most. prolific, it is
the most easily manipulated, its eggs hatch in the short-
est time, its fry require no care atter birth, and being
migratory it draws its sustenance from the sea while it
travels far inland, in its periodic visits to the land. We
have abundant varieties for the vast extent of valuable.
waters in our states, from the sluggish turbid streams
and ponds of the South to the lively sparkling spring .
brooks of the North; from the. smallest ponds to the
immense inland seas of fresh water. For the lakes, the
Whitefish, Salmon Trout, Herring, Black Bass and
Wall-eyed Pike; for the rivers, the Yellow Perch, Black
Bass, Shad and Salmon; for still and deep streams, the
Bullhead or Catfish, the Perch and many other kinds of
coarse fish; for the swift mountain stream, the Trout,
Gold Fish, a good coarse pan fish, can be grown in
all our rivers and bays. Beyond doubt, with very
little care and expense these fish can be made to
abound in our waters. But for some kinds this requires
government aid, since individuals owning parts of
streams will not hatch out fish there at their own ex-
pense for the benefit of all other owners of the stream,
and special legislatiun seems to be required to get fish-
passes constructed over the numerous dams in our rivers
and to prevent substances destructive to the fish being
thrown into our streams, such as saw-dust and the refuse
of paper mills, tanneries and dyeing establishinents.

But if with comparatively little care and expense our
great rivers can be stocked, in the meanwhile there 1s
room enough for private enterprise. There are few farm-
ers in our country who do not have upon their land a lake,
or spring, or clear running stream. If these men knew
how easily they could turn this water to profit, not
only by raising food for themselves, but a supply for
the city and village market, there would soon be very
few waters without their finny inhabitants. How much
this would add to the wealth of the country any one
can see at a glance.

Fish culture is not a matter either wholly of public or

_ private interest, in part it is one, in part the other. The
great lakes, the immense rivers, the long line of ocean
coast can only be restocked by governmental aid and
for the general good, but the private ponds, the small
streams and the individual fisheries are to be replenished
by private effort, and for the special benefit of their own-
ers. As the shad are probably the best and most val-
uable fish for the public, so is the trout wherever it
belongs or can be acclimatized the most desirable for indi-_
vidual purposes. The shad yields the largest amount of
food while the trout holds the highest price in market,
and possesses as a subject of sport a still higher value.
Where neither shad nor trout can live some variety of
the fresh water bass will answer for private or public
waters, and the pike perch, (wall-eyed pike) is admir-
ably adapted to larger rivers and lakes. There is hardly
any pond, stream, river or lake, be it large or small that
cannot be utilized, and the land owner that has not
the facilities for raising salmon may supply his family
with an excellent article of food in the shape of bull-

heads or gold figh.

The number and kinds of fish that are treated are
increasing daily. The chinese probably confined their
efforts to carp. We began on salmon. Then the effort
was extended to trout, then to shad, to salmon trout, to
whitetish, to striped bass, to sturgeon, to smelt, to grayling
and indirectly to black bass, strawberry bass, oswego bass,
pike perch, yellow perch, cattish, oysters, lobsters, gold
fish, and other fresh water fishes, and we may confidently
expect in time, to assist nature in multiplying all or
nearly ail the fishes that live ou our coast or in our lakes
and rivers. Nota year passes but some new and valuable
discovery is made, and the importance and interest of
fish culture increases with every development. Already
twenty four states and territories have appointed com-
missioners to protect and develop their fisheries while
the United States have established a Fishery Commis-
sion for the entire Union. The systems followed in the
United States and abroad, even in modern Europe are
wholly different. The famous establishment at Huenin-
guen, which having been founded by France, came through
the fortune of war under the dominion of Germany is
conducted on a plan that seems to us less effective and
more wasteful that is adopted here. ‘There awards are
oftered for ripe fish, which are secured and kept alive by
individuals in any part of the country, and information of
the fact is sent to the authorities at Hueninguen, who
dispatch an expert to take the roe and melt which are then
hatched at that establishment under government care;
the living fry being distributed again at government
expense. In this operation there is more labor and less
profit than there should be. There is danger ot depleting

‘the waters from which the egge are taken, and while cer-
tain streams are replenished others may be impoverished.
With us mature troat are kept for the express purpose

of breeding, no shad, whitefish or salmon trout are used,
except those that would be caught and killed by the fisher-
man, and salmon eggs are only obtained from rivers
teeming with a supply. As for the New York commis-
sion we can say no fish are killed purposely to obtain
their eggs, and no streams can possibly have been de-
pleted by the action of the commission.

There are certain well marked eras in fish culture in
which the main discoveries have been made. Most of
the appliances adopted abroad have been abandoned with
us, and great strides have been made in developing the
art. Our first great discovery was what is known ae dry
impregnation, that is the use of little or no water in im-
pregnating the eggs with the male fluid. This was kept
a secret however, from the public until it was re-discover-
ed in Russia. Here it was first practiced in 1864, and up
to that time twenty-five per cent. of the eggs was the
greatest number impregnated; immediately afterwards
the proportion rose to seventy-five per cent. and is now
ninety eight. ‘At present “dry impregnation ” is univer-
sally adopted. The next great discovery in appliances
was the shad hatching box, which has never been super-
ceded for certain classes of fishes and situations, nor has it
been improved on since it was invented. Another seem-
ingly trivial but extremely important discovery was the
application of coal tar as a coating to wood work and all
articles that come in contact with the eggs, and on which
fungus could do harm by growing. The last was
the invention of the Holton hatching box for hatching
whitefish, but which is a valuable convenience in manag-
ing the eggs of allthe salmon and trout. These discover-
ies have reduced the labor and expense of fishculture im-
mensely, and have added in an equal degree to eflicieacy
and certainty of success.

Commissioners or Fisnerres—As the reader may de-
sire to communicate with the commissioners of one or
more of thestates, we append a list of their names and
addresses as they were in the year 1878:

UNITED STATES,

. Smithsonian Institute,
Prof. Spencer F, Baird,...........ceeeeee { Washington, D. C.
DOMINION OF CANADA,
Wee Bs WHItCh er iis's dais scaioarscaeceemw.ston-2 sos £- ae curearenenees Ottawa
W. FVenning ins: ais casen feeasee canedw ear veaieee <5 St. John
Inspector of Fisheries for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia
MAINE
EM, Stilwelllijisiscaaiaia vec eciee ok: stealer oeawawenie eee ceae’s Bangor,
Henry O. Stanley; i.cee ia: soeugeei nes see's ses tins sa etianete Dixfield.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Samuel. Webbetissicsscsse.c casi sec ia neiia Sead ok vee ow Manchester.
Albina, Hi. POWers, oc cccc cee 0 d5)eis to eiroseetalnmseat wy oes Grantham.
Luther Hayes,.......---- cece cece eee e erence et ee cece eecees Milton,
VERMONT.

M,, Goldsmith yes sic:<:orevecaiwn wie sigs teal eee tas eeae Rutland.
'W:.. Hi ord: D: Diese scans sve cassdncin ooegeeenews ves Montpelier.
MASSACHUSETTS,

Theodore Lyman,............ ese e eee e cee eee e noes saci Seo Brookline.
BscAy. Brackett: «jie: soi sie dine bot ahnapeea ca ebaes 68 see Winchester.
Alsat Frenchie o/c .civqwiorecalarsiieasesee esd a. ee ase ay esa/a wane South Braintree.
CONNECTICUT.

William M. Hudson,.......... cece ecse core cence or eeetane Hartford.
Robert: G. Pike}: sccsesseew 853508 osu earner eee apes Middletown. .
James A. Bill... . cc cscs ccc e sree sere csnvenecveccenesceees Lyme.
RHODE ISLAND.

Newton: DEXterig ¢ sc2-s-teadecvecers asic seed v5. 0e4 ate wiermpereunioeseeie Providence.
Alfred A. Reed, Jr.,..cccscscscscscercccccencccssvnaces Providence.
John H. Barden,.........seceececee ee creeeereeeretevees Scituate.
NEW YORK.

R. U. Sherman, ois cscs ees ias ceeeseacunwe Oneida Co., New Hartford.
Robert B. Roosevelt,...... Se eee eee eo New York City.
Edward M. Simith,. «... :ces.ed.e8eev err ts ece tes eee ae Rochester.
MICHIGAN,

Bi Be. ‘Millers oc osieaccisisisceseretonce cad eves, 6 Stee sarees were eiorend b Richland.
George H. Jerome,.......cceceeeeereceseeceeee ceneeeeees Niles.

Andrew J. Kellog,......++ seccesreceeseeenereceeeeeeses Allegan.

NEW JERSEY.
Ji Re Shotwell coed svckwer ww nies sie ciation gs enema Rahway.
Gy As Anderson} cs oss05 cssavsairseannwanewdewe ctiei ey ',. Trenton.
Dy Howley ves oss oes 5 c254 aa oun seo eeerieeamee hue 14's Woodbury.

VIRGINIA, ‘ ‘ ‘
A. Mosely,.... Bee OSes bs Sek eE aR S GR OS Richmond.
Dr. W. B. Robertson,.... 0 ........... rah Mawseauanerareseuehs Lynchburg.
Wi Gs BN 26 fase ve Hendin baad rome, Sano hails Blacksburg.
ALABAMA,

Charles S. G. Doster, ............200.202000 + ee Montgomery..
Robert Tyletoes ae caw, _sadiewsanmag er eyegiteeanses Montgomery.
D.R. Hundly,....... sear daisie siwwotentars vacatare sar Jets s oo Seana kal Cortland, .

CALIFORNIA, ;
Be Be Redding ye: sicavadeivtenen moleinamaeie sais ya easls oe eas's Sacramento.
S, Ri Throckmortony...3 56 eveues cae. sxasenvens ced San Francisco.
J.D) Barwellyeccs yess socea'ss cea ssise eerste aeataae San Francisco.

PENNSYLVANIA
Hed. Reeder junc wsksnasiniaci gus aoeetqutaenenen seems Easton.
Rede RGR, seseauz ac ace Shensastcnare et rppctaasetanee whips a hoe ok due Hollidaysburg.
Jie SANE sa. isis: suncethaueiateraatenewumed? a bisa RAGAN ao Baad ple Marietta.
OHIO. :

John (Gh, Fishery ecsantewairaadan ess Ab aewialw awe wastes Coshocton,
Jobin (Hy Klippattes. sos ieee ean Vine atenyeaiaame acies Columbus.
Robert iCumiming siz sucav vues aks yale cede Fa oes yy doteneios Toledo.

MARYLAND.

TT. By Pergusonyg's x aasvaes asad Sy so 2 aed seeker eee Baltimore.
PW. Downes}. 2445 4504 4 5 xa Sanwa ee ewr Cred RNG e Ck oda ee Denton.
IOWA
* Sam Bi Evans, saavcaonrswoses oa aha avee hones Poeaeoe ae ae Ottumwa
By ReShaws ss4ueeicsituedtaaadsa seer ee wlamieieae deans Anamosa
Gharlés: Aj; Hayes ie ccacusioaisasiasemueseelet hea tans ee thd rea sang Waterloo

MINNESOTA.
R, O, Sweeny,.... ..... Biden aaa sais oS eb Guat at ah Mig oI St. Paul.
Wm. Golcher,..............00005 Gipichendnine wath ye oa e yea St Paul.
Robert Ormsby,....... cee cece eee eee neue sewed wie aed

WISCONSIN, * ;
Hon. Harrison Ludington,........... gaeuene tan ax GAGA lace Milwaukee.
Ax Pal@tiiecacnedeseaneds Soap Nalalee aioy as ee aoe Boscobel.
William Weleby a sccicaceeaneet agaewes aoe ene sais eas Madison.
PE Ri Oy sires ai tins Sails e aiatals vuln Riese g Her: Gaon ek lvoe Racine,
H. F. Dousman,........ bi FAG Oe OSReS ROS phdecoswine Waterville,

ILLINOIS.
We Aw Pratt cnchoolsaunas vis die woes wera iaeeenie eta avs Seeds Elgin
ARKANSAS
NG HL Bishisicsac04 ov aeha ee cisered ¥4e ve sae 4 nen, Pine Bluffs,
Je Ri weilimany sesscnwieacd cae o-cauad ene eundardae secede Little Rock.
N. B. Pearce,..........+.6- Sennen eee e ene etenenenes Fayetteville.
KENTUCKY
Pach, THOMAS seo c.c 2 iekraavesm ans wpe eee ob ewe eaienaalance Louisville.
Phy Fe, (Daeseyissiasece a8 0 soa istene haewa din ofa:5 4 04's are tacos Caldwall County,
Police Laffomy.s ae saeadan ce iyi ck on woeeareee. See Hopkins County.
S.-W; COom DSijni sacsactaawa 6 o0t5.48.4- sei meee . Warren County.
Sie Jie WW ALCO My secs oes cosuayaaathcaen dB onScaay sidore acavasengitundd. chad 99-018 Hart County.
James B. Casey,....:.secccncccscsesercetnessece Kenton County.
John: Az Steele): 0: sassceeelivoedes! Geer adaeees Woodford County.
Js Sols Bune siceuen ssaceccassmenteniiaedseeeayd Garrard County.
TeTs Garratdessaxcecay caeesGberdesasissdeeseecews Clay County.
WCAG Myla csssiesecet 2's 4 crave iausias oven beihiasae as Sk Si as Bath County.
. UTAH TERRITOY., ;
Aw PL ROCK WOO): sisson, adcade sae doa dorms Salt Lake City.
WEST VIRGINIA.
John W. Ha rrisy.ecess cess seins ose cee ‘Ricwae age nay Pe ee ee Louisberg.
Henry Be Milletis cess sss snosnesaeed asd es csaie soca anaes Romney.
Cis White aiedosc oxscsciskesiente amweaseies sa tssus ee Romney.

CHAPTER II.
TROUT CULTURE.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS,

There are but few salmon rivers in this country. This
may be changed by the introduction of the California
salmon, which will endure a higher temperature than the
trout; but at present the only rivers which can be said
to be inhabited by salmon, are those in Maine, Oregon,
and California. ‘he former are pretty effectually closed
with dams and nets, and in the latter, fish culture is just
beginning to be needed. Properly, salmon culture
should be the heading of this article, or should take pre-

cedence of trout culture, but for these reasons the inferior
fish is placed as the title, although we shall take up the
management of the salmon first, as its treatment was
first discovered, and its manipulation is the most compli-
cated. Under the head of Salmon, may be included the

‘salmon, the trout, the salmon-trout, otherwise called lake
trout, the whitefish, the grayling, the fresh-water herring
or cisco, and California brook trout, and the California
salmon. The scientific names of these are, salmo salar,
salmo fontinalis, salmo conjinis, salmo amethystus, core-
gonus albus, thymallus signifer, and salmo quinnat.
These are all essentially alike in their mode of culture,
the differences being so inconsiderable that they may be
disregarded for the present. We shall speak-of one for
the whole, only occasionally pointing out such individ-.
ualities as may be necessary.

They spawn in the autumn and winter, with the excep-
tion of the California salmon, which is earlier, and spawns
in summer and first of autumn, the grayling, a fish of
the same race, which has lately been found to exist in
our country, and which spawns in March, and the Cali-
fornia Brook trout which spawns in March and April.

The salmon comes in from the sea where he has passed
the cold weather, as soon as the ice breaks up,.and keeps
on all summer long running up into the fresh water; which
alone, is adapted to the fructification of his eggs. Trout
in like manner, pass from the ponds and deep lakes into
the cooler streams, where a constant supply of fresh and
lively water can be obtained; whitefish appear from the
depths of the great lakes anil seeking the shallows along
shore, select*gravelly and rocky reefs and springy spots to
lay their eggs.

Salmon and trout make nests, the females digging out
the bottom and fanning away with their fins and tails

the mud and finer sand from the gravel which they after-
wards use to cover their eggs, and preparing a regular
inchoate city of fish fry. When these operations are
sufficiently advanced, the male who has been chosen by
what Darwin curiously styles “‘ natural selection,” that is,
a most bitter battle against all comers for the lady in
“orange silk or silver lawn,” who falls a prize to the
strongest, joins his bride, They simultaneously and with
one mutual impulse of amatory passion deposit the eggs
of the female and milt of the male. Only a certain num-
ber of these are extruded at a single impulse, and are
then carefully covered over with gravel by the female,
while the male divides his time between driving away
intruders of his own sex, who would usurp his prerog-
atives and devouring such stray eggs as may have escaped
the notice of his devoted wife, and been carried down
stream by the current. One noticeable peculiarity of the
spawn of this class of fish is, that the moment it falls from
the parent it adheres to whatever it touches. This isa
provision of nature to enable the parent to cover it over
with gravel before it is washed away, which she does
with remarkable skill and care, moving the stones with
her ventral fins and tail for that purpose. It remains
fast for the space of thirty minutes or so, and then becomes
loose and is swept away by the current, a dainty morsel
for whatever bird or fish or insect that comes across it.,
It is also to be observed that the eggs are heavy and sink
to the bottom like shot; a marked peculiarity of the
spawn of the salmonidae, and distinguishing them from
those of other varieties.

Several different deposits of spawn are made and cover-
ed up in this way till often quite a mound of fish eggs
and gravel is erected. Such mounds built by the famous
trout of Rangeley and her sister lakes are large enough

to fill a two bushel basket. ‘The operation of emitting
the eggs is not all done at one time or on one day, it
occupies several days, as will be more fully explained
hereafter. As soon as the nest is completed, and the
father and mother ate exhausted of spawn and milt, they -
drop back worn out and weakly to the deeper water or
the ocean to recuperate. The eggs are left to themselves
unprotected, except tor their gravelly covering, and a
prey to every passing spoiler. They were intended to
be mainly destroyed, and that intention is eftectually
carried out.

A similar over supply or wastefulness of nature is
visible in all its departments. Seeds of plants and trees
are produced by millions to perish by millions, leaving
only a few to fructify. Of these few even, but a small
per centage lives and reaches maturity. Who has not
noticed the innumerable seeds falling from the trees in .
early autumn, has not seen them driven about by the
wind, swept into rows one on the other, carried into the
water, crowded into holes and covered up by leaves.
Next year out of the countless multitudes, some hundreds
start into life, but they are by the way side or on stony
ground, or amid weeds, or under the shade of stronger
plants. The sun burns some, the shade kills others, the
ground starves still more, the ranker growth destroys its

Share, and so they perish miserably, the exception being
if a single one survives. We can partly guess why this
superfluity exists, we can connect it in a measure with
man’s exactions and neccessities.

Enemies of fish life are numerous. First, and most to
be dreaded in waters where they exist, are the eels.
These are most difficult to exclude from the troughs and
ponds. They devour eggs or young with equal voracity.
Seven young trout have been taken from an eel six inch-

es long and no thicker than a fine knitting needle; they
grow as they eat, hiding most cunningly in the sand or
gravel from human eye, and making their way through
narrow passages and small holes that a person woald not
suspect them of being able to enter. One half grown
eel will destroy an unlimited number of trout try or eggs.
Ducks are equally destructive, thrusting their long bills
down into the nests ofspawn, or seizing and swallowing
the young; frogs, mice, rats, fish, many birds, and
avimals, and the larvae of beetles and devil’s darning-
needles, and other water flies before they have developed
into the perfect insects do their share of damage. Most
water creatures loye fish spawn as most human creatures
admire omelettes.

Unpromising as all this is, however, for a good crop of
trout in the natural way, it is only the begiuning of the
trouble. The danger of disease or physical injury is al-
ways present. Heavy rains come and foul the water ; when
this settles the silt or sediment covers the whole batch of
eggs, and smothers the life outof them. Conferva makes
its appearance and soon spreads from one to another kill-
ing ull it touches, and seems to be contagious, as a single.
dead egg will affect all those which are near it
till the intection spreads throngh the entire heap.
Accident or a great flood may even disturb the
whole and leave the displaced eggs to perish mis-
erably wherever they may be carried by the water.
Amid such vicissitudes the wonder is not that so many
perish but that any survive, and the need of na-
ture’s superfluity is thus made manifest.. Exposed to all
these dangers the eggs of the salmonid@ must remain in
their natural defencelessness for from two to five months,
according to the temperature of the water. A very large
percentage fuil to become impregnated, the current of

water probably washing away the milt ofthe male before
the sperms could enter the eggs.- Mr. Livingston Stone
says that in digging up some spawn of the California
salmon, deposited by the parents in the natural manner,
in the McCloud river, he found only eight per cent.
vitalized.

When the little embryo ot piscatory life has manfully
braved these perils and has escaped from his shell, he is
still by no means through his troubles. In the first place,
his physical conformation is much against him; he is
encumbered by a belly which would do’ credit to any
alderman. In fact, the belly is the larger part of him,
and, unlike that of his political protétype this impedi-
ment does not represent so many fat capons and good
dinners which have been.duly eaten and enjoyed, but
represents a certain number ef dinners for the future.
For almost thirty days after birth the salmon or trout
eats nothing but is sustained by the absorption of this
stomach or what is more accurately termed the umbili-
cal sac. All this while as may be readily understood,
he is awkward and hampered in his movements, an easy
prey to any hungry enemy. Appreciating his position
he strives to hide himself during this period; he crawls
into holes and under stones, and often hides so effect-

ually that when he has been artificially hatched his .

anxious foster father the breeder, never discovers what
has became of him unless his breeding troughs are well
made and free from worm holes. But in this, his hour
of weakness his enemies never desert him, they stand
by him from first to last. At that stage of his develop-
ment every miserable shiner, dace and minnow is his
master, a very great despair by comparison with his
feebleness. Cruelly is the superiority exercised, for

mercy does not exist in the watery kingdom. The pre-

-daceous insects are also on the alert doubly gratified at
his increased size, and epidemics attack him more
severely than ever, and sweep away thousands.

These are the perils which surround our coming fish
on his way to development. In the natural method
they all have full-scope and free exercise. Is it aston-
ishing then that not more than one in a thousand ever
reach a marketable size or attain the dignity of ‘itself
being a tather or mother? Moreover, at this point man
steps in to help along the ruinous process. He has no
use for the minnows. nor the merciless insects, nor the
many worthless varieties of creatures which play such
‘havoc, but he takes the best the water affords. The
magnificent salmon in all the silvery glories of the sea,
amid whose caves of coral and pearl he has been gather-
ing size and splendor; or the soft skinned trout, as
delicate of color as the finest tints of the artist’s brush,
and as soft to the touch as the finest velvet; or the
monster salmo’ amethystus, the Mackinaw salmon of
Lake Superior; or the white fish, whose silvery scales
shine like burnished silver. Man takes the best and so
upsets the equipoise of nature, which up to that time
had by its checks and balances kept all varieties of liv-
ing creatures at an established relative proportion. For
every salmon he eats there are ten thousand fewer
eggs for the water bugs and the minnows who will make
up the loss out of those which are left. These embodi-
ments of evil must be fed and grow more diligent in
the search for food, the scarcer it becomes, still man
keeps on with net, and spear, and hook, making yearly
larger drafts as the human race increases and extending
his machinery as the prey diminishes; so the whole sysa-
tem of nature is disarranged. The edible fishes at first
diminish, then, as the process goes on in geometrical

;

ratio they decrease more rapidly, and the operation be-
comes accelerated at every step, till the stream or lake
which once abounded with excellent fish is utterly and
absolutely denuded and left sterile, bare and unpro-
ductive. The insects have devoured the last edible fish
which man’s greediness had failed tq reach. This has
happened with so many of the ponds and water courses

ot our country that it is safe to say, fully one-half of the .-

lakes, rivers and streams throughout the older, states, at
least, yield nothing of food for man.

Such a result is no trivial injury to the community.:
The vast exteut of these sketches of water are but little
understood by the people at large. There are in the
State of New York alone 647 lakes, with an area of
466.457 acres, besides countless smaller ponds, and miles
of river and stream. Fully a quarter of a million of
acres of the public patrimony are thus allowed to go to
ruin and decay for the want of proper knowledge and a
little care. It would have been easy to have protected

them; it is a far more serious matter to restore their

ancient productiveness,

The sea fisheries are scarcely better off. Professor
Spencer F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, was
appointed, under a law of Congress, Commissioner to
examine into the condition of the National fisheries and
the cause of the diminution of their yield. The fact of
“diminution ” is the present point on which Professor
Baird says, his observations having been made on the
Coast of New England:. “The evidence of the most
deplorable decrease in the supply of fish is only too
clear; and so greatly and rapidly has this occurred, that
fishing stations which in 1860 produced thuusands of
fish, now furnish only hundreds, or at that ratio, giving
a diminution of quite nine-tenths and often more.”

Before leaving this branch of our subject, it is well to
consider the geographical distribution of trout dependent
as this is upon the character of the water in different
sections of the country.

Trout are found in all rivers in which salmon can hatch
their young, but as they are not necessarily migratory,
they often dwell where salmon cannot. Trout require a
temperature of water never exceeding 70°. At 68° they
begin to suffer; at 70°, unless there is a strong and broken
current tu give life to the water, they die rapidly, and’
not one will survive a temperature of 75°. It is simply
manifest then that the Southern and Western rivers are
not generally inhabitable for trout or salmon. ‘Trout
may be found in the head waters of such as rise in the
Alleghany range of mountains, but salinon can exist in
none of them. So also with sluggish, muddy rivers of
Ohio, Indiana, [llinois, Missouri, and the vast central
region of our continent. Throughout the entire section
between the Alleghanies and Lake Superior and ‘the
Northern Mississippi, except in Northern Michigan, no
trout are found, and then again not till you come to the
Rocky Mountains. Trout and salmon, except in the matter
of migration, are similar in their habits. The eggs of
either may be hatched in the same boxes, with the same
water, in about the same time, and under the same treat-
ment. This is being done to-day by the New York
Commissioners of Fisheries at the State Hatching House
at Caledonia. There are trout, salmo fontinalis, salmon
salmo salar, and lake trout salmo-conjinis, all being
hatched side by side in the same building, in identical
troughs and with the same water.

When we speak ot the temperature of a pond or river,
allowance must-be made for springs to which fish will
have recourse, precisely as men perishing in a room for

air, would put their mouths to a knot-hole to breathe.
If there are springs enough, trout will live in waters the
body of which reaches a higher temperature than seventy-
five. So also, a strong rush of water as with a cataract
or rapids, will enable them to endure greater heat than they
could otherwise stand. Still it is not safe to subject any
of the eastern salmon or trout family to a permanent
temperature higher than 65°. Salmon trout suffer most
and die the first, at least when they are confined in a
limited space with a small flow of water.

The first point in fish culture is to obtain the spawning
fish in proper’condition, for if the eggs are not mature or
ripe, as it is usually called, not only are they useless, but
the effort to extract them will kill the parent. Fish
breeders. who make the cultivation of trout a lusiness,
and there are many in this country, keep on hand in suit-
able ponds a supply of large fish. These are taken from
the rivers which they are ascending to spawn, and are
kept over from year to year. Connected with the ponds
in which they are confined, is a race way, or long narrow
trough which has a gravelled bottom, is covered with
boards to exclude intrusive eyes, and in every way is
made as attractive a nesting spot to the fish as possible.
Into this they will proceed of themselves when they are
ready to perform their allotted act of reproduction, and
the breeder awaiting his opportunity, places a net at the
mouth of the race and frightening them in, selects such
as are ready for manipulation.

When in a perfectly ripe condition, the eggs lie free in
the ovaries in the abdomen, and may be extruded by a
gentle pressure downward along the sides of the fish,
They are caught in a basin and are vitalized by coming
in contact with the milt from the malesgfor the fish male
and female are stripped indiscriminately into one common

receptacle. Formerly, the practice obtained of having
this basin full of water, under the idca that such arrange-
ment more nearly reproduced the natural conditions, but
subsequent discoveries led to a change of this method.
The ova are fertilized by the? spermatozoa of the milt
entering through the micropyle and taking up board and
lodging within.

It was ascertained however, in practice, that these
spermatozoa, little tadpoles as they appear to be under
the microscope, were not fond of water, and although
very active when first emitted, soon perished in the water.
They retained their vitality much longer when dropped
among the ova in a comparatively dry state, and this is
the method universally pursued at present. The result
of the chauge was very great; on the earlier plan not
more than one egg in three or four was vitalized, where-
as now, fully ninety eight per cent. are made capable of
producing young as we have already mentioned, and as
will be more fally explained hereafter when we come to
special and particular directions for each part of the
process.

The eggs mature in comparative safety. Some die, of
course, others were never properly impregnated, but the
percentage is small, not more than five or ten per cent.
of the whole. Inthe natural method probably not one
in five hundred, certainly not one in a hundred survives
to mature and produce a perfect fish. By the artificial
plan, and at the lowest calculation, fully ninety in every
hundred are saved and developed. Here is the great
gain in fish culture. It is in the primary stages that the
advantage is secured. Say that afterwards the perils are
alike and still see the enormous difference in its favor.
Allow that young fish after their birth are in continued
peril ot their lives ; that enemies still pursue and waylay,

no matter how they are bred; suppose that one-half of
all that are born perish before attaining a marketable
condition. In one case tha: half has to be taken from a
supply already decimated, in the other nearly the full
number is to be drawn upon. Often thousand eggs de-
posited in the natural method, only twenty or thirty
hatch, one-half of these would give us but ten or fifteen
fall grown salmon, whereas with the care of man nine
thousand can be hatched, and it one-half perish we
should have remaining four thousand five hundred, a
difference so great as to be almost incredible, yet these
results are obtained with reasonable certainty by trained
fish culturists who understand their business.

———++4—___
CHAPTER III.

TROUT PONDS.

Location.—It is very easy with good spring water to
raise a few trout anywhere in temperate latitudes. But
to raise a large number requires care in the selection of
a location. Plenty of pure spring water is the first and
most essential requisite. The spring, or one of the
springs, if there are several, should have a fall of two or
three feet, and a fall of five to ten feet of the whole vol-
ume of water is decidedly, advantageous. If the supply
of water is very large, it diminishes the necessity of a
fall. The water from a spring remains (near its source) ~
at nearly the same temperature during the whole year,
and is the best for Trout raising. The water from a
brook which does not rise higher than sixty five degrees
in summer, may be used to supply ponds for adult Trout ;
but. spring water is not absolutely necessary for hatching.
purposes. Itis not a good plan to dam up a stream which

varies in volume, and so make ponds. There should be
enough level land by the side of such a stream to make
ponds supplied by the stream; and it is best to
have a stream much greater in volume than is necessary
for the ponds, so that there will always be a good supply
of water, and there will be no trouble with the surplus
water after a freshet. A good knowledge of the whole
system of Trout Culture is essential in choosing the very
best location. It is desirable to have your ponds near
your house, or have a man in charge living at the ponds.
Of course your Trout may never be molested, but ‘an
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Layine Our Ponps.—The diagram represents a series
of ponds, in all of which the same water is used. This
plan is generally considered the best, for several reasons.
It economizes the water and space, and is most conven-
ient for changing the fish from one pond to another. It
is not necessary that the ponds should be in a straight
line. Where the location demands it they may be turn-
ed so as to lie in a direction nearly or quite parallel with
one another. This is easily done by bending the race-
ways, and lengthening them if necessary, only a curved
raceway is sometimes not so convenient as if it were
straight. The sides of the ponds may be walled up with
stones, laid without mortar, unless the soil is very sandy.
Wood may be better for the sides and bottoms, but we
are inclined to think is not worth its expense. If the
sides of the ponds are laid up with mortar, let it dry
thoroughly before letting the water in; then let the wa-
ter run through it two or three weeks, or long evough
to purify the pond before putting any fish in it. It is
as well tu test it by putting in only a few fish at first; if
the pond is not thoroughly: purified the fish in it will
turn blind. Ponds should not be built where much sur-

face drainage will run into them; if they are so exposed
the surface water should be carried off by a ditch around
them. The Second and Third Ponds ‘should receive
an additional supply of water. The reason for this will
be given further on. A-general idea of the form and
size of ponds can be gathered from the diagram without
further explanation. If the supply of water is smail, it
is best to have as much fall between the ponds as the
nature of the ground will allow. This fall erates the
water and makes it as good as new.

Saape or. Ponps.—Where the supply of water is
large it matters very little about the shape of the ponds.
The best shape we believe to be the pear-shape, figured
in the plate; such a shape combining an equable flow of
water in all directions and the greatest amount of sur-
face, with the least difference in the temperature of the
water. If the nature of the ground demands other
shapes, the ponds should be made long, narrow and
deep, rather than broad and shallow. The depth of the
pond is indicated in the plate, and will answer for any
size uf ponds. It is better for any one wishing to raise
a large number of fish, to have several series of ponds,
than to attempt raising a larger number by increasing
the size of the ponds. Fish do not feed so well in large
ponds, are not so easily taken care of, and eat each other
more. .

Racxeways.—The Second and Third ponds should have
a long, narrow raceway where the water enters—about
thirty or forty feet long, four teet wide and six inches-
deep. The sides of the raceway should be made of one
and a half inch plank, one foot in width. This will
answer for both natural and artificial impregnation. The
raceway is required not only for the purpose of spawn-
ing, but as a resort for the fish at all seasons of the year,

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Fish will go into this shallow graveled race, into the
quick running water, to free themselves from the para-
sites which often trouble them ; or they will go there if
they are out of health and condition from any cause.
This raceway must be filled with coarse gravel, and the
bottom of the pond made to slope gently up to the race-
way.

The head of the raceway is to be caretully looked
after. If a series of ponds are made, then the screens
between will keep the fish from running trom one to the
other; but if single ponds are used, each supplied with
separate water from a stream, then much attention must
be paid to the screens where the water enters. It would
be well if the water was brought into the pond through
a long box, as the water will: very soon work around or
under a short box, and allow the fish tv escape. If the
water enters with a fall, it may be allowed to pour over
upon an apron, constructed of thin slats, one-half or one-
quarter of an inch apart, and set, edgeways. This will
let the water through and keep the fish from running up.
Trout will run up stream very freely, working their way
through a small passage, but will not try much to run
down stream.

Witp Raceway.—If the ponds are connected with a
stream in which there are trout, it is desirable if possi-
ble to make a raceway below the lowest dam and con-
nect it with the stream, so that wild fish may use it. In
this way a great many trout will be taken: in a ripe
condition that would otherwise spawn in some other
part of the stream and be lost. The wild raceway has
the advantage not merely ot utilizing fish that have not
cost any expense to keep, but of adding to the number
of spawners for the following year by the addition of
those that are thus captured.

Borrom or Ponps.—It matters very little of what ma-
terial the bottom is composed. Anything—mud, clay or
moss is good, except gravel, and this is bad, not fro.
the nature of the substance, but because the fish
will spawn on it and the eggs be lost. Sometimes
a person will wish to construct a pond in a place where
there are springs, or to dam up the water and make a
pond in a springy place. Under such circumstances it is
a good plan to fill the bottom entirely with gravel, as the
fish would spawn there in any case. For such a pond
make the borders very shallow, so that the little fish
may run up into the shallow water and escape from the
large fish; or have the pond so arranged that after the
fish have spawned they may be removed. Thus the
eggs will hatch out and the little ones grow without’dan-
ger. Wheu the next season of spawning comes tlie lit-
tle fish may be removed into another pond and the old
ones let in again to spawn. Such a pond is good for
any one wishing his establishment to run itself, as with
a little care he can raise many fish in it without much
trouble. But the grave) must not be smaller than a
hickorynut, and from that to the size of a butternut.

Very often the bottom of a pond is porous and absorbs
the water as fast as it ruus in, so that there is hardly any
running from the proper outlet., If you are short of
water and wish to use all you can get for another pond,
it is best to cement the bottom. If you have no further
use for the water, it makes no difference how it goes off,
that is if there are no holes in the bottom large enough
to let the fish escape, and the water keeps up to its pro-
per level. Weeds or mosses ofany sort are not necessary
at the bottom, and if the supply of water is not large
they will speedily become a nuisance. The quantity of
Trout food which they produce is of no account in an

artificial pond where large numbers of Trout are kept,
and they tend to foul the water by hiding dead fish and
bits of meat. It is best, it possible, to have ponds so ar-
ranged that they can be entirely drained. This is neces-
sary, sometimes, tor cleaning or repairing them, and
changing the fish from one-pond toanother. Iftheslope
of the ground is sufficient to permit of such an arrange-
ment, it will often save much labor in pumping or bail-
‘ing. The drain pipe may be of pump logs, tile or pipe
of any kind, and should be fixed in the lowest part of the
bottom, or as near it as the level of the ground will al-
low. Still better would be a regular flume reaching
from the bottom of the pond to the top. A bulkhead
may be putin to raise the water as high as may be re-
quired, and a wire screen the whole size of the flume set
a short distance in front of the bulkhead. This large
screen has an additional advantage, as the larger the screen
the less liable it is to clog up with leaves and moss, and
the greater will be the volume of water passing through
it.

‘Screzns.—Screens may be made of common wire
painted with tar—as will be described hereatter—of cop-
per wire, or of galvanized iron wire. The last is: the
dest, as it will last longest in proportion to its cost.
The screens for keeping the small fry should be ot four-
teen threads to the inch, and for one year old fish five or
six threads to the inch. Incline the screens at an angle
of forty-five degrees, the top being farthest down stream.
By inclining the screens in this manner a greater surface
is exposed to the water than if they were placed perpen-
dicularly. The sockets should be so made that the
screens will fit tightly and yet be easily taken ont to
clean.

A very good screen for two and three year olds can be
made from strips of lath planed and nailed to a strong
frame, with quarter-inch openings between them. Or,
what is better, the slatsshould be at least four inches
wide so that if a leaf strikes against them it will catch
without obstructing the flow of water and lie flat. against
a single slat, orif itreaches over the edge it will be car-
ried through by the current striking upon one end. It
cannot lap around the slat as it would if it were smaller.
As for the width of the slats from one another the point
to be guarded against is the fish running their heads
through far enough to strike their eyes which will pro-
duce blindness. The distance they are to. be apart will
depend consequently, mainly on the size of the heads of
the fish, and as fish grow at different rates of speed it
will not do to go-merely by their age, but for fair sized
fish an opening of about five-eights of an inch will
answer, This refers to the upper screen, the lower
screen, that at the foot of the pond, may be larger as the
fish are more cautious about descending where they can-
not see their way, just as a man will climb a hill in the
dark at his best speed, but will go down very cautiously.

Water Suppiy.—It is immaterial what kind of water
is used, whether hard or soft. Neither will so-called
“mineral water ” hurt the trout unless the water is very
stongly impregnated. Trout have been known to live
and thrive in a stream one-sixth of whose volume was
supplied by a strong sulphur spring. The essentials are
that the stream shall be reasonably pure, the volume of
water nearly uniform or so arranged that the supply
taken from itis aniform and the temperature between
thirty-six and sixty-five degrees.

Oue peculiar fact has been noticed in reference to the
eggs which is important to those persons who collect

egge to impregnate and sell. The shells of those taken
from trout living in limestone waters are found to be

thicker and harder than those obtained from soft waters, |

This may come from the lime in the water, and is an
advantage in rendering the eggs more easy to transport
with eafety, than where the shells are very delicate.

The supply of water necessary for a given number of
trout is yet unsettled. For a series of ponds turning
out one thousand large fish yearly, the water supply

should fill a four inch pipe. This question will be treated -

more at length hereafter, but it is always safe to have as
much water as possible, for within reasonable limits one

can hardly have too much—that is to say, if the dams’
and sluices are solid, and the screens donot clog. It.
must not be forgotten that abundance of pure water is-

as essential to fish as abundance ot pure air to man.

In saying that ponds must not have a gravelly bot.
tom, we do not mean there should be no gravel. The
trout must have access either to the raceway or some
other spot of gravel to rub off parasites. This they
cannot do ifthe bottom is wholly of mud and they are
excluded from the raceway.

——__++4___—.

CHAPTER IV.
HATCHING HOUSE,

Asa convenient illustration of a hatching house, we
will present a view of the State establishment at Caledo-
nia, as it was in the year 1875, the subsequent changes
not being material to its efficiency, It is located on the
stream where Mr. Seth Green had his original trout
hatehery, and which is probably the finest site for the pur-
pose in the United States. The-source of Caledonia brook

«
NEW VORK STATE HATCHING HOUSE, AT CALEDONIA, N. Y.

is only about one mile above, and consists of immense
springs which in some instances sprout from the ground, _
and in others form large ponds, and by their current
drive mills. ‘The stream is almost a river from ite very
start and is filled with subsidiary springs its entire
course. An estimated flow of six barrels per second
comes from some of the initial springs, and the temper-
ature at the hatching house varies only 25°, from 35° to
60°, winter or summer. A record of the thermometer °
has been kept for years during the hatching season and
is found to be restricted to a variation from November
to March from 35° to 45°, and stands ordinarily about
36°; the springs themselves remaining invariably at 50°.
There is as little variation in the volume as in the
temperature of the water, as the proximity to the
source prevents the effcet of freshets or drouths. The
stream is simply one huge spring, and was for years
famous for the vast number and excellent flavor of the
trout it contained. It abounds with the natural food of
trout, with insects, shrimp and larvae of water flies, and
in the spring and even in winter the surface is covered.
with the phryganidae and ephemeridae as they issue forth
in perfect form. The ground around the house is well -
adapted for constructing ponds, as there is at this spot a
fall of four feet or thereabouts. The house itself is
cheaply constructed of hemlock boards, and is fifty feet
long by twenty feet wide, and is one and a half stories
high. There is no attempt at ornament or elegance, and it
is probably the plainest while the most efficient hatching
house in the world. In it have been hatched in one
season two million and a half of whitefish, two million
salmon-trout, and one million and a half of brook trout
together with several hundred thousand salmon, these
figures not being taken by estimate but by actual count.

NEW YORK STATE HATCHING HOUSE—INTERIOR VIEW,

The accompanying plate and ground plan will readily
show its arrangement, AA are troughs, forty feet long by
fourteen inches wide and six inches deep inside measure-
ment. These troughs are raised about one foot and a
half above the floor for the sake of convenience in attend-
ing to the eggs. ‘The supply pipe, D, sixty feet long and
six inches deep, carries the water from the stream into
the building, where it is received into the feed pives,
CC, in which filters are inserted before the faucets which
admit the water into the troughs, AA. These troughs
are used now especially for salmon and salmon trout
eggs. OO are waste-pipes, by means of which any sec
tion of a trough can be cleaned without disturbing the
rest. BB are the Holton hatching boxes.

The eggs are placed on trays made of wire cloth
stretched on wooden frames. Each tray is twenty-seven
inches long by fourteen. inches wide, and will hold ina
layer, one deep, 6,272 salmon trout eggs. Instead of
using only one layer of these trays, it has been the prac-
tice for the last four years to use four layers in the upper
sections and five in the lower sections; makiog for all
the troughs a capacity of 534 trays, or, in round numbers,
of three and one-half millions of salmon trout eggs.

|. With this illustration, we will proceed to give general
direction for the construction and management of a
hatching house.

Sizz anp Maxy.—If only a few eggs are to be hatched
(say eight or ten thousand) no hatching house is necessary.
The troughs may be placed in the open air, in any con-
venient place, and covered with a wire screen to keep out
rats, mice and ducks. A light board cover must then be
laid over them to shed the rain and snow and keep the
eggs from exposure to the sunlight. A hatching house

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is much more comfortable to work in. A stove may be
put in it and a fire started occasionally for warming one’s
fingers, but it is not needed for hatching purposes, as
spring water in these latitudes is warm enough. The
house may be constructed of rough boards,or as expensive-
ly as you choose, butcare should be taken to have a water-
tight roof, as drops of water leaking through and falling
into the troughs will kill the eggs underneath. Its size
must be regulated by the number and extent of the
troughs,

The windows in a hatching -house should be few in
number and provided with curtains or shutters, as the
sun shining upon the spawn will kill it. Not that a few
minutes exposure to the rays of the sun will hurt the
eggs, but a few hours exposure certainly will. Perhaps it
would be well to have the windows, if possible, made on
the north side of the hatching house, into which the sun
will not shine in the winter season. Keep the hatching
house clean. In fact cleanliness 1s one of the cardinal vir-
tues to the trout raiser. He should have a clean house,
should work with clean hands, and have all his pans,
spoons and utensils of every sort free from grease and dirt.

TroveHs.—These should be made of seasoned timber,
one and a half inches thick. They should be six inches
deep. and about fitteen inches wide, inside measurement.
It would be better, perhaps, if the troughs were eight or
nine inches deep, because then the water could be raised
higher over the the young trout after they are hatched out.
‘The difficulty in making them so deep is that when the
sides of the trough are made so wide they are apt to warp
or stretch apart at the top, and must be stayed in some
way; for instance, by strips nailed across. But thecleaner
the trough is of all strips, elbows or grooves the better.
The troughs are divided into squares or nests by cross

strips set on the bottom at intervals of eighteea inches.
The reason for this divisiou into nests and for these cross
strips will be seen further on. These strips may be made
of half-inch stuff and cut two inches in width. There is
no necessity for nailing them to the bottom; fit them in
accurately and set them edgeways at intervals of eighteen
inches. As they do not need to be removed often, it is
better to make them fit tightly. Other strips of the same
stuff must be provided, to fit upon these and made wide
enough to raise the water within an inch of the top of the
trough, as these need to be often moved they must be made
loose enough to take out, and yet fit accurately enough to
raise the water over them when they are putin. A groove
is sometimes made in which to run the strips, or shoulders
nailed to the sides against which to set them, but it
interferes with the equable flow ot the water. New wood
under the action of water develops a slimy sap, therefore:
itis necessary to paint the troughs with hot coal tar mixed
with enough turpentine to thin it to about the consistency
of paint. Glass has been used to cover them, and the
wood has been charred to prevent the growth of fungus,
but nothing answers so well as gas tar, which should be
used to cover every thing in the troughs or ponds, and
where fungus can do harm. The troughs should have an
inclination of about one inch in eight feet—just enough
to let the wa‘er ripple gently over the cross strips. They
should not be longer than twenty feet, or the air in the
water will be exhausted before the water reaches the end
of the trough. There is more danger of this after the-
eggs are hatched out and the troughs are full of young
fish. If possible the hatching house should be so far
below the level of the spring from which its supply of
water is derived, as to allow the troughs to be raised two
or three feet from the floor. Where a large number of

eggs are to be hatched, the inconvenience of stooping to
care for them is very great.

Warer Suprty.—From the filter the water runs into
the distributing trough or pipe, which runs along the
head of all the hatching troughs. The water may be
let into the hatching troughs by faucets, or through
holes cut into the trough. These holes should be cov-
ered with netting, or the young fish will run up out of the
troughs into the filter, or coarse gravel may be heaped
up at the head of the trough through which the water
will run, but through which the young fish cannot work
their way. The supply of water for one trough should be
equal to that coming through a three-fourth-inch hole with .
three inches head ; just enough to make a gentle ripple
over the cross-pieces. Be careful to get the troughs
level crossways, and the strips true, so that when the
water is running it will form an equal current over
every part of each strip along the whole length of the
trough. If the water runs unevenly the eggs will be
washed into a heap if they are being hatched on gravel,
and many of them spoiled for lack of proper circulation
of water around them. This supply of water will be
sufficient until the eggs are hatched out, when a some-
what larger supply can be allowed. The water should
be brought directly from the spring in a pipe of some
kind, in order to preserve the proper temperature and
keep the water as free from sediment as possible; and
for the same reason the spring should be walled up to its
smallest possible dimensions. If any surface water natu-
rally runs into the spring, a ditch should be dug around the
spring to lead it off. If the*muddy surface water is
suffered to run into the spring which supplies, the
troughs, the screen will very soon be choked up, and the
sediment will find its way into the troughs in spite of
all precautions and destroy the eggs.

Fitrer.—tThe filter is a box six feet long by one and
a halt feet wide and one and one-half feet deep; in
which four or five flannel screens can be placed through
which to filter the water before it passes into the troughs.
The coarsest and cheapest red flannel is the best. It will
rot and must be renewed once or twice in a season.
Red flannel will last twice as long as any other. The
flannel should be tacked on frames running in grooves
set at an angle of forty-five degrees, (the top down stream)
80 as to expose as much surface as possible to the water.
If the hatching house is small, the filter may be placed
outside, but is better under cover. If the spring is well
protected the screens will not need cleaning very fre-
quently. They should be cleaned as soon as they look
dirty, however often that may be, and can be cleaned
best by being taken out and washed with a soft brush.

A filter can be made with sponges placed in a box
with the water introduced at the top and brought out at
the bottom, provided there is fall enough. The box
should be about thirty inches long and twelve wide, and
a board perforated with holes should be placed below the
sponges, and leaving a space between them and the. out-
let pipe. This will answer on a moderate scale where
only a small amount of water is used, and only a few
hundred thousand fish hatched, and the sponges will
remain clean for months. There should be an overflow
pipe from the top to make sure that there is a sufficient
supply of water and to carry off the surplus.

Sediment falling on the egg keeps the water off and
destroys its life as effectually as being buried in the
ground would destroy a man’s life. If sediment: falls
upon the eggs it may be removed by gently agitating
the eggs with a feather, or better still, by creating a cur-
rent in the water with a teather, which current the eggs

will follow, and as they roll over, the sediment will drop
off. But the trout breeder has no business to be troubled
in this way. If his apparatus is rightly constructed,
and his filter properly attended to, there will not be
sediment enough in the troughs to hurt the eggs, from
the time they are put in until the fish are hatched out.
The pipe which is let into the spring should have wire
netting around it where the water comes in, to keep out
‘impurities. This netting should be spread out so as to
give a greater surface than the mouth of the pipe. If
the netting covers only the mouth of the pipe, every
speck of dirt which lodges on the netting diminishes by
so much the supply of water; but if the surface of the
netting is increased, much of it may be stopped up
without lessening the supply of water. The best
way is to make a box, say one foot square fur each inch
of diameter of the pipe, and run the pipe through a
hole in the middle of the board, fitting it well; then fit
a screen of netting on the front side in grooves so that
it can be taken out and cleaned. This should be looked
atter occasionally, but if the spring is closely walled up,
and the netting placed beneath the surface of the water,
it will not probably need cleaning through the season.

GraveL For Troueus.—The gravel for the troughs
should be quite fine—about the size of peas. It is bet-
ter to use wire screens as will be explained hereafter,
but where only a few eggs are to be hatched and it. is
important to avoid expensive preparations, gravel will
answer. It was formerly used altogether but is now
almost wholly discarded. It is better to have it of a
unitorm size. Any kind of gravel is good which is free
from iron rust, as that kills the fish. If the gravel-is of
some dark tint, the dead eggs, which turn milk white,
-will show very plainly upon it, and may easily be picked

out. The gravel should be well washed before use, and
we would even recommend boiling it, to destroy any
eggs of insects which may be adhering to it. After the
nests are prepared the gravel may be put in, one and
one-half inches deep, which will bring it within one-half
inch of the top of the cross-piece.

ImpLEMENTs.—The implements of the fish-culturist are
few and simple. A few feathers may be kept on hand to
use in spreading the eggs when placing them in the
troughs, in collecting them for packing, and moving them
in the search after dead eggs. Several plans are in use
for removing dead eggs from the trough. Some use a
siphon to draw them up; others bend wire into the shape
of a small spoon, or bend an eye upon the wire just large
enough to hold the egg. We recommend the use of
nippers. These may he made of wire or some elastic
wood like red cedar, bent or cut into the shape of the
letter U, elongated to about six inches, and with loops of
' wire at the ends about the eighth of an Aasit wide. These
will hold the egg without trouble. A small homepathic
phial is used to examine the eggs. The manner of its
use is to fill it with water, put in the eggs to be examined,
cork it, hold it up. before the window in a horizontal
position, and with your microscope look up through the
side of the phial. This brings the egg which lies at the
bottom of the glass within the focus of the microscope,
and the water does not distort its shape. This seems to
be a very simple thing, and hardly worth telling but of
the hundreds who have tried to examine eggs in our
hatching house, not a half dozen got it right until told
how to do it. The microscope need not be very strong;
. one magnifying eight or ten diameters is amply sufficient.

A small net will be of use in removing the young fish
8

and any refuse in the water from the troughs; it should
be about 6 inches in diameter, in the shape of the letter
D, with the handle on the middle of the bend. It is very
easily made by bending a wire in the desired shape, and
twisting the two ends together fora handle. Thin gauze
of some kind, like bobinet should be spread over the wire
so tightly that the middle of the net shall hang only a
half inch below the level. An iron spoon, well tinned or
silvered, is used to remove the eggs. Some six-quart tin
milk-pans will be necessary, for a variety of purposes.’
Eggs may be counted most easily by measuring them.
For this purpose take any small glass, such as a very
small tumbler, for instance, count out 500 or 4 1 ,000 eggs,
and with a file make a inark upon the glass as high as
they reach, and the measure is always ready to your hand.

A watering pot with a fine rose spout is used to wash
sediment from the eggs on the seives, and a broom of
wig s is used to brush the screens of wire.

—40o—__—_
CHAPTER V.

TREATMENT OF EGGS.

Pracine Eaos 1x true Trovexs.— The eggs of a trout
are about one-sixth of an inch in diameter, and nearly
round, They are generally of a light straw or salmon
eolor. The color varies with the meat of the fish. The
redder the meat, the more orange colored are the eggs.
They are generally of a light yellow or amber color at first,
and grow darker as the egg grows older. Their specific
gravity is a little greater than that of water, so that they
will sink in water, but may be easily moved in it. Sup-
pose the eggs to be obtained and that you have them ina
shallow pan. The water in the troughs should be raised

‘by placing a narrow strip across the trongh upon one of
the two inch strips dividing the nests. Then sink the
pan gently to the edge in the water of the trough, at the
same time tipping the pan, so that the water in the trough
and in the pan shall come together with ag little current
as possible. Then the edge of the pan may be sunk into
the water, and by tipping the pau a little more, the eggs
will flow out without injury. By moving the pan while
the eggs are running out, they may be spread uniformly
over the bottom. If they fall in a heap, take the bearded
end of a feather, and move the water with it in the direc-
tion you wish the eggs to go, and they will follow the
current thus created. This may be done without touch-
ing the eggs with the feather. Distribute the eggs as
evenly as possible over the surface of the nest. Where they
are placed upon wire sieves, these may be moved and
shaken under water so as to distribute the eggs evenly.

The strip which was placed across the trough to raise
the water should then be removed. Care must be taken
that it be not removed so suddenly as to cause a rush of
water, which would carry most of the eggs away with it.
Raise the strip a little way from the bottom s0 as to let
the water run out gradually, and when it is very nearly or
altogether at the proper level, the strip may be removed
entirely. Those who have a nursery attached to the
troughs place the earliest eggs in the lower end of the
trough, and keep placing them toward the top, so that
the fish which are first hatched can run first into the
nursery without disturbing the others. We practice pla-
cing the eggs in the highest end of the trough first, be-
cause the eggs earliest placed, hatch out first, and the
water should be raised over them, as they require more
oxygen than the egg.. If these first should be placed at
the lower end of the trough, in order to do this the water

must be raised over all the eggs ; if at the upper end, strips
can be placed upon the nests in succession as the eggs
hatch out and the water left running upon the the un-
hatched eggs as usual. About ten thousand may be
placed in each nest eighteen inches by fifteen inches.

If the eggs have been received trom a trout breeder,
they should be left in the packages in which they have
been eent until the troughs are ready for them. Persons
will sometimes take the tin boxes containing the eggs
out of the saw-dust in which they were packed, and set
them in the water of their troughs, with the idea perhaps
of getting the eggs jn the box to the same temperature
as the water before unpacking them. This will surely
kill the eggs in a few hours. Leave them in the original
package until a few hours before you are ready to place
them in the troughs. Then take out the tins and set
them over or nea the troughs, which will reduce or raise
the temperature enough. Then empty the box into a
tin pan fnll of water taken from the trough, pick out as
much moss as you can readily with your fingers or nip-
pers, and wash off the nest in the manner shown in direc-
tions for washing eggs hereafter.

If the eggs have had decent treatment on the way, that
is not thrown about roughly or set near a red hot stove,
you should find very few dead eggs in the boxes, not more
than ten or twelve in one thousand. Should the eggs be
tound, on opening the box, run together in lumps instead
of being evenly distributed, and turned to a dead white
or milky color, it shows rough usage on the way.

TEMPERATURE oF WarTER AND Time oF IncuBaTion.—
The length of time required to hatch out the eggs de-
pends upon the temperature of the water. A general
rule sufficiently accurate tor all-practical purposes is this:
At fifty degrees trout eggs will hatch out in fifty days,

each degree colder takes five days longer, and each de-
gree warmer five days less. The difference however in-
creasing as the temperature falls, and deminishing as
it rises. The best temperature for hatching is between
thirty-five and forty-five degrees. We are inclined to be-
lieve that the tish hatched at a temperature of about forty-
tive degrees and taking from seventy to seventy-five days
to hatch, are stronger and longer lived, than those hateh-
ed in fifty days at fifty degrees. It may be well, alvo,
to note that the eggs earliest. taken produce the best
fish. The water of a spring can be reduced in tem-
perature in winter by letting it run for a short distance
exposed to the open air, or it may be collected in a pond
and the supply either drawn from the pond or the
stream whichever is regarded as the most desirable. An-
other _reason for delaying the hatching of trout is to
bring them well into spring before they are turned
louse, as at that time they can get more abundant food
thau they could earlier.

GrowrTs in tHE Eac.—A great mistake is often made
where eggs are to be distributed in retaining them tno
long after impregnation. This is sometimes done for
convenience in shipping, and sometimes with a view of
shortening the operation of hatching in the hands of
the person receiving them, but it is all wrong.

About the twentieth day, the young fish can be plain.
ly observed in the egg. Put a few eggs in a small
phial and with a magnifying glass the formation of the
fish can be easily seen. Fish farmers should send the
eggs away at this time. Some of the eggs are not im-
pregnated and at this stage of growth may easily be
distinguished from the others, Tke dead eggs will turn
to a milk or a pearl white color, and should be removed
with the nippers as fast as they are discovered. If left

in the trough a fungus growth forms upon them which
extends to the other eggs in the immediate vicinity and
kills them. Care should be taken in using nippers, not
to hurt the other eggs, and to do this the bad egg should
be feathered entirely separate from the rest ; a very slight
blow orjam from the nippers will be sufficient to destroy
their vitality. Rats and mice in the hatching house
often destroy many eggs; they are very fond of them,
and going into the troughs-to get them will destroy with
their feet many more than they eat. A wire screen, or
boards laid over the troughs will keep them out, but it
is a much cheaper way and just as effectual, to keep
them down by traps or poison. The eggs should be
feathered over occasionally so that their whole surface
may be exposed to the action of the water.

Transportation or Eaas.—Eggs should be packed in
round tin boxes, about three inches wide and two and
one-half inches deep; a few small hvles are punched in
the bottom to let the water run off, as water left in the
box will kill the eggs. Specimens of eggs from different -
parts of the square are first examined with the microscope
to see if a good percentage is impregnated. If they are,
a six-quart pan is filled with water to the heighth of the
box in which the eggs are to be packed. The bottom of the
box is then covered with moss, and the box placed in the
pan and filled with water. The moss used is that which
grows in swamps, or on stones and timbers, in wet
plaves, such as the stones in a brook, or the timbers of
an old dam. It may be collected and kept all winter in
a damp place in the hatching-house. The bottom of the
tin is filled with apiece of this moss, somewhat: depressed
in the middle, so that the eggs shall not touch the sides
of the box, the moss having previously been well washed
to free it from dirt and insects. The moss tobe used in

packing must undergo a little more preparation. The
green fibres must be cut with a pair of scissors from the
roots. Only the green, soft and living fibres are used,
and the roots, stems and dead leaves thrown away as use-
less. This fine moss must then be washed thoroughly.
A very convenient way is to nail wire netting over the
bottom of an old soap box. Cut the moss into this, and
dipping it into water wash thoroughly so as to remove
all dirt and insects, the latter being often injurous to the
eggs. By simply ee the box out of the water, you
drain the moss,

The eggs are then taken out of the trough, by being
brushed with a feather into a spoon. If you wish to count
them, fill your glass measure with water, and turn the
contents of the spoon into it. When the five hundred
or thousand eggs are measured, pour them into a ladle
(small enough to go inside of the packing box), having
previously filled the ladle with water; then sink the
ladle beneath the water in the packing box, and by
gently tipping and shaking it the eggs will fall to the
bottom of the box; where they may be spread evenly
over the moss with a feather. A layer of prepared moss
must then be lightly laid over the eggs without taking
the box entirely out of the water, and another five hundred
or thousand eggs put in. Then fill the box with the same
kind of moss, take it out of the water and let it stand a -
little while so that the water may drain off through the
holes in the bottom, and the damp, spongy moss be left,
an elastic and life-giving cushion to keep the eggs from
feeling sudden jolts on the journey, and to supply them
with oxygen. It will drain more quickly if a chip is
placed under the bottom at one side. When the water
is all drained off the covers are to be placed on the boxes,

and tied on with pack thread. Ifin any of these opera-
tions the box of eggs should fall out of your hands to the
floor, it would probably kill nearly every egg.

The tin boxes are to be packed in saw dust in a box or
pail, the saw dust being first very slightly dampened,
The pail or box should have a handle so that the ex-
pressmen may litt it and set it down lightly, and not be
tempted by the light weight of a square box to pitch it
about and destroy every eyg in it. The saw dust should
cover the boxes to the depth of an inch, at least; then, if
they are not exposed to a freezing temperature, nor to a
hot fire, and receive moderately fair treatment, they will
go safely thousands of miles. We have sent them
beyond the Rocky Mountains, to California, to England,
and to France, We have packed eggs in such a box
when they were first taken from the fish, and keeping it .
at the same temperature as the water in the troughs,
have left it until eggs taken at the same time and placed
in the troughs, were hatching out; and then, opening
the box, have found that some of the fish had already ap-
peared, others were just breaking the shells, and all the
impregnated eggs were alive, and in good condition, Of
course the young fish did not live in the moss, but would
die as soon as they appeared. We do not mention this
as a new method of hatching eggs, but to show how per-
fect the means is of sending them.

The eggs in the box should be spread as thinly and
evenly through the box as possible, taking care that none
of them touch the sides, and the moss packed in well
(not tightly) to keep them in place. If this is not done
the recipient of the eggs will sometimes find them, after
a long journey, jolted together into a solid mass, and
spoiled. Use clean, bright tin boxes, which are free

from iron rust, as rust on the tin or on the trays or
screens which the eggs touch will kill them toa cetainty.

We have given this as the best method of shipping
eggs, but larger boxes may be used for salmon eggs if
large numbers are to be shipped and it is important to re-
duce labor to the minimum. In such case a partition of
thin board should separate the box into two or more
divisions and be supported by strips of wood so as to
support the moss and eggs above. If these boxes are
then packed in open crates in hay, straw or saw dust, ice
may be placed above them and allowed to drip on the
crates and among the straw, if they are to be exposed for
a long time to hot weather.

They may be advantageously sent in refrigerator cars
which are kept at a uniform temperature, or in the com-
partment of vessels appropriated to the shipment of
fresh meat. The eggs of the California salmon have
been safely sent to New Zealand. In 1876 shipments of
eggs were made from San Francisco to New Zealand and
arrived in such good order that over seventy-five per
cent. of them hatched. The eggs after being packed,
had to be carried two miles over a rough road, with the
thermometer 104 degrees in the shade, then taken by
railroad three hundred miles, and finally transported by
steamer over seven thousand miles to the antipodes,
crossing the equator on the way. So it is apparent there
is little difficulty in transporting salmon eggs.

Another plan is‘to make a box of about a foot square
with trays like drawers to slide into it and fit on one-
another, which are kept in place by a door to the front
of the box. The trays are nearly an inch deep, and are
merely strips of wood nailed in the shape of a square
with a bottom of canton flannel. The upper drawer
has a lid of canton flannel also. The traysare placed in

water, the eygs are spread carefully in them till they are
full, and then they are put in the box. As the bottom
of one rests.on the top of the other the eggs are kept in
place. Such a box will hold an immense number of eggs,
but is only suited to being sent by a messenger who will
take charge of it, and cannot be trusted to express.

CHAPTER VI.
YOUNG TROUT AND SALMON.

Apprarance.—After the eggs have lain in the water
from fifty to seventy-five days, according to the temper-.
ature, the Trout will begin to make their appearance, the
egg appears to be endowed with life, and the motions of.
the Trout inside “kicking” against the shell to torce
their way out can be planily perceived without the use
of a microscope. At length the Trout forces his way
through, head first or tail first, those that hatch head first
always dying however, and the useless shell floats away
down stream. The Trout is then about one-half inch
long, and the body proper as thin as a needle; the most
prominent features being a pair of eyes, huge in compar-
ison with the rest of the body, and a sac nearly as large as
the egg. This sac is attached to the belly of the fish,
and contains food, which the fish gradually absorbs. If
the fish are hatched in fifty days the sac lasts about
thirty, if in seventy days, about forty-five. At this
period of their lives they will work down into the
crevices of the gravel and along the sides of the troughs
and stay there, nature seeming to give them the instinct
at this weak and defenceless period of their lives, when
they are burdened with a load which they can hardly
carry, to get out of sight and out of the way of harm as

much as possible. At this stage of their growth many
curious deformities appear. more interesting perhaps to
the physiologist than to Trout culturist. Some of the
fry will have two heads, and some will be united after
the manner of the Siamese Twins. A very common de-
formity is a crook or bend in the Trout, giving it a semi-
circular form, so that when it attemps to swim it can
only progress in small circles. All the deformed soon
die, and may as well be removed from the trough at
once. They live as long as the sac supplies them with
food ; when the sac is exhausted they cannot swim about
to get food, and die of starvation.

This instinct of hiding will make the young fry very
uneasy if they are placed in a trough without gravel.
They wil! keep continually in motion, or will crowd upon
one another in masses each trying to work his way out of
sight under the others. They must now be watched,
and carefully moved from time to time if there is danger
of their smothering.

Norsrry.—The most critical period in the life of a
Trout commences when the umbilical sac is absorbed.
More, perhaps die from the time they begin to feed until
they are six months old, than at any other time. In
consequence many different plans for nurseries have
been suggested and used. The fry require a largely
inereased supply of water, but where only a mod-
erate number is to be raised, in place of erect-
ing other and wider troughs or boxes for nurseries,
the better plan is to put only a few eggs, suy five
hundred, into each square or nest of the hatching
trough. ‘The square is then large enough with the
water raised to keep the Trout well for a month or
two after they commence feeding, when they may be
transferred into the first or upper pond. This plan

- economizes space, saves one removal, and the fish do bet-
ter after a month or two in the ponds than they would
in troughs or rearing boxes. It is better to remove the
gravel from the troughs as soon as the fish commence
feeding, because then the troughs can be kept clean more
easily, else particles of food will lodge in the gravel,
whence they cannot be removed. The water must be
raised by the cross-strip before mentioned as soon as the
eggs hatch out. It would be well to fix a small screen
in each alternate cross-strip, which can be done by cut-
ting out a space of eight inches by two, and nailing a
fine screen over the opening. This will prevent the Trout
from running up and down in the tronghs, and incon-
veniently crowding together.

The fry are removed from the troughs into the pond
by the use of a smal] net, such as described among the
implements of the fish raiser. Take them upon this, a
few at atime, and put them in a pan of water; they will
swim off the net and you may draw it from under them.
In the pan they may be carried, a thousand at a time, to
the pond in which you wish to place them. Put them
into still water; they will settle down on the bottom and
remain there for some hours, then they will begin to
explore their new quarters, and in a few days will
become thoroughly habituated to the place.

Boards are sometimes placed over the outer edges of
the preserves to give the fish a hiding place and shelter
trom the sun when they wish it, and more important
than all, to actas a trap tor minks in case there is danger
of these destructive creatures getting into the ponds; as
the boards project nine or ten inches from the sides, it a
mink gets in he cannot make his way ont.

Where a large number of try are hatched they have
to be left in the troughs until they can be distributed,

which is done as soon after the absortion of the sac as
possible. In this case the troughs must have all the
gravel removed and must be kept scrupulously clean. A
very little decayed meat wil) render the water- offen.ive
and produce disease. This offensiveness does not show
itself in the least in the appearance of the water, which
to the eye may be as bright, clean and sparkling as ever.
It can, however, be often detected by the smell. When
gravel has been for some time in the tanks or troughs
where fish are fed—even with the utmost care, if a hand-
fullis taken up it will be found to be very offensive to the
olfactories. As well might we expect the human race to be
healthy in foul atmosphere, as fish to be healthy in foul
water. In the ponds it will sometimes answer to cover
up or deoderise the feculent matter by throwing earth
mixed with a very little salt into the water and allowing
it to settle ; this uot only covers the decaying substan-
ces but disinfects them in a measure, on the principle
that dry earth is used in the earth closet. The water
is to be made quite thick and muddy with the earth,
and the operation is to be renewed every few days, as
often as necessary. The roiliness of the water does not
seem to injure the fish: This, nowever, at best is but a
makeshift, and the true plan, especially with young fry
is to keep the troughs clean.

Cleaning the troughs must be peformed daily, in the
morning and evening. A thin board nearly as wide as
the trough and shaped like a hand shovel, is made with
2 short stick for a handle nailed across it. When this is
held in the water across the trough it creates a strong
current -under it. It is held in the left hand while in the
right hand is a small brush broom such as is used in
cleaning sinks, and with which the sides and bottom of
the trough are well scrubbed. All the dirt is sucked

under the board and carried along to the lower end of
the trough. The fish are also crowded together ahead
of the cleaning operation and out of the way of the
broom. When the lower part is reached the fry are
driven above and the operation completed by netting out
the larger pieces of meat or dirt, and by rubbing the
finer particles throngh the screen at the lower end of the
trough; or, a high cross bar may be put in, the screen
raised for a moment and the waste plug opened.

When there is not accommodation in the troughs for
all the fry and they can not be distributed, a temporary
place of retention may be made by using the shad boxes
which are described under the chapter on shad hatching.
These need not generally be set at an angle to the cur-
rent, as the mere ordinary disturbance of the water near
the outlet of the ponds will give them motion enough to
change the water. These will only answer temporarily
and must be cleaned as carefully as the troughs. They
are to be scrubbed all over the inside and on the bottom.
To do this without injuring the fish, the box is tipped up
so as to bring one part after the other out of the water
where it can be brushed, while the fry are safely swim-
ming at the other end.

If the fry must be kept in confinement, absolute clean-
liness is a necessary prerequisite to their health; but we
can not tuo strongly impress upon our readers the desir-
ability of turning them out into the small rivulets
connected with the waters where they are to live, as
soon as possible after the sac is absorbed. Although
they encounter some perils to which they are not
exposed if kept in preserves, they escape still more dan-
gers and acquire the habit of taking care of themselves
which is necessary when they come finally to be thrown
upon their own resources.

Foop.~-The best food for trout fry is raw liver, chop-
ped as fine as possible, and then rubbed through a screen
or sieve with a flat stick. It must be reduced to the con-
sistency of pulp, and contain no strings or gristle. A
chopping machine is made for chopping hash and sausage,
and either that, or a couple of sharp knives are used to
chop the liver. What is used is mixed with water so as
to reduce it to about the thickness of cream. A tea-
cup full of this mixture will feed a hundred thousand fish
when they first begin tofeed. The best way to feed them
is to take a case-knife, dip it in the food and sliré off
what adheres into the troughs; a very simple way, but
one answering all practical purposes. Care should be
taken not to feed too much, else the surplus food will re-
main on the bottom, and decaying there foul the trough.
The reason of the difficulty in raising young fish appears
to be that they are literally starved to death. The food
which we can give them is not natural to them, it is
often given in such coarse pieces that they cannot take it,
and sometimes, throngh the carelessness of a hired hand,
they are neglected two or three days at a time.

It is impossible to get the natural food for the fry, in
tact no one knows what it is, further than that it must be
microscopic insects of some sort, as the adult trout are
never known to feed on anything but animal food. It is
found in the spring runs, even actually in them, as they
apparently issue bare of life from the bosom of the earth.
Liver is but a poor and unnatural substitute for this food
with fish so delicate as the trout, and if they once get the
habit of feeding naturally on what the water offers they
will not take the artificial food afterward. Fish, of any
age, learn to eat that food which is most abundant around
them. Anglers know this by experience, and use the
flies which they see on the stream on which they are fish

ing. It is supposed that a trout is very fond of grass-
hoppers, but the trout in one of our ponds which we have
fed for a long time with beef lights, will not look at grass-
hoppers, and will turn up their noses at the fattest and
juiciest worms, while the trout fresh caught out of the
stream, which we have put in a pond by themselves to
educate, will for weeks refuse the daintiest bits of lights
and liver. Hunger will after a time drive them to change
their food; but with the young ones we cannot wait for
this, as they will die off before they learn. As the fish
grow older and stronger more food must be given to them ;
when six months old, a bow! full of liver will answer for
a thousand. While the fish are young, feed often; six
or eight times a day for the first two or three months;
three times a day will do after three months until they
are a year old.

Young salmon, young salmon trout, California moun-
tain trout, and above all young California salmon are
larger, have stronger appetite, and will accept coarser
food. For them, although ‘at first the liver should be
made as fine as for trout when they are a few weeks old,
it will be hardly necessary to dilute it at all, and in the
course of a few months they will not only take the larger
pieces, often tearing them apart, but will scorn the finer
portion. At one time sour milk was almost exclusively
used for feeding young fish, but it has been given up.
Other foods have been tried, but with no better success.
The fish will not thrive on any of them as well as they
do on liver, and do not thrive on that as well as if it were
a natural food.

As they grow older, other things may be substituted
or may be added to it as achange. They are fond of the
roe ot other fish, of the spawn of the horse-foot or king-
crab; of fish itself, and when they are large enough to

eat minnows, no better food can be given them. Liver is
too expensive when it has to be used alone for grown fish,
and beef lights are usually added to it or used in place of
it in a measure. It is miserable food however, much of
it passing through the stomachs of the trout and salmon
wholly undigested and collecting in the bottom of the
ponds. It injures the digestive organs and must be
deleterious to the health of the fish. Its only recom-
mendation is that it is cheap. Maggots are bred on
spoilt meat; hung over the ponds, and as they fall off and
drop into the water are readily devoured, and make ex-
cellent tood. Or a piece of spoilt meat may be placed in
a deep bottle like a preserving bottle, and the flies that
will collect in immense numbers during summer may be
caught and emptied into the water. This trap will take
mauy times its bulk of flies by being kept set all the time
and emptied when any one is passing it. Flies are prob-
ably the best food that can be given to trout.

One difficulty with all this family of fish which is
accustomed to seize its prey while in motion, is that they
will very rarely pick up food from the bottom. To
obviate this,a plan of keeping the food in motion has
been carried out on a small scale by utilizing an inven-
tion made at the New York state works for hatching the
eygs, called the Holton hatching box, which will be des-
eribed more fully hereafter. The idea of this was to
introduce the waterfrom below and carry it over the top.
A funnel shaped tin or wooden vessel is made with the
apex below, the water entering this creates a current that
prevents the particles of food from descending, and keeps
them in motion. Credit for this application of the inven-
tion is due to Mr. Winans of Baltimore, but it is at best
but partially successful, as the food soon becomes so
washed by the water that the fish will reject it, even if
they have taken it into their mouths,

Growrs.—There will be a great difference in the
growth of the fish noticeable after the first few weeks of
their existence. Some, of course, will be larger and
more vigorous than others from their birth; but of those
apparently of the same size and health when one month
old, some at six months will be four times the size of
others ; this, too, when grown in the same pond and un-
der the same circumstances. They will begin to eat
each other when very young. A Trout only a few weeks
old begins to show symptoms of fight, and will kill his
weaker brethren when they get in his way by biting a
piece out of their tails. In two or three months, when
some of them get to-he double the size of others, they
will swallow the smaller ones. We have taken a Trout
one inch long out of another only two inches long. It
would seem to be advantageous, therefore, tu sort them
out every little while, and put the same size by them-
selves; but in practice this is very difficult, and the less a
trout of any size is handled, the better; besides, if they
are fed well they lose their disposition to eat each other.
Therefore, the trout of each year may be left by them-
selves with very little probability of losing more by can-
nibalism than would be killed in sorting out and re-
moving.

Salmon and salmon-trout do not.require so much care
as trout. Salmon, both the eastern and western, prefer
to remain in the strong current of the stream, and not in
the quiet eddies or dead water like trout. In this way
they receive the element in a purer and better aerated
condition. They grow more rapidly, and are sooner out
of danger of infantile diseases. A curious fact has
been observed in reference to California salmon, and
probably the same rule applies to all fish. ‘They will

grow much more rapidly in warmer water than in the gold

spring water in which they were hatched. Nor does the
change produce any dimunition of health. Fry taken
from the hatching troughs and placed in tanks with the
water at sixty degrees, became, in the course of five’
months, five times as large as those that remained in the
water of a temperature of about thirty-five degrees.
They were exceedingly active, very few of them died;
they ate voraciously, and their colors were very remark-
ably brilliant.

California mountain trout are also more vigorous in
every way than the eastern trout; they are not so hand-
some, having no carmine specks, and much duller colors
on their sides and bellies, but they are hardy, lived well
in confinement, and grow rapidly. They take a fly readi-
ly and furnish excellent sport to the fisherman, while their
flesh which like that of our trout is sometimes white and
sometimes red is not to be surpassed as food. So strong
are they that they are difficult to manipulate in extracting
the spawn from them. They are hard to hold and will
only give down their milt or spawn when they are ready.

- The person handling them must wait for his opportunity.
The only California trout which were ever acclimatized
in the eartern states up to this time (1878,) were hatched
and grown in the New York establishment. They com-
menced spawning March 14, 1878, three years after they
were imported in the egg. They yielded more eggs than
the eastern trout in proportion to their size, and the egga
were slightly larger. They continued spawning until

’ May 25th, and began to hatch in forty-five days. By
the report of the Utah Commissioner of 1878, it is said
that the western trout spawn in May, but as no spawners
were taken by the Commissioner and no eggs obtained
by him, he may have been too late, and the fish which
he obtained instead of being all males, as he supposed,
may have been spent fish.

‘

Preoavtion Against Escape.—There will always be
adifficulty in so arranging ponds, screene, outlets and
inlets as to keep the young try in their proper pond.
The water is very apt to work holes around the screens,
or rather around the boxes containing the screens. The
young fry will make their way through. a wonderfully
small hole, no matter how long the distance may be.
They will also get through between the screen and the
socket, unless these are very well fitted together, and
wherever there is a crack into which they can get their
large heads, they will put them in so tightly that they
cannot extricate themselves, but will die. In short,
wherever you can run the big blade of a jack-knife, there
the young trout will go. In making a pond for them, it
is best to beat the edges with a spade until they are per-
fectly smooth, or, better yet, to put a board around the
edges to the depth of a foot.

Creanine Screens.—lf the screens are not kept well
cleaned, two consequences follow. First, the water runs
over the top of the screens instead of through them, and
the young trout escape; and second, when the screens
are taken out to be cleaned a rush of. water follows their
removal, carrying away with it numbers of trout into the
next pond. Whenever you are going to clean the screens
drive all the trout frem their vicinity, then take the
screens out and wash them with a stiff brush. They
may be first raked off with a rake if they are made of
slats, and then taken out and cleaned. They will re-
quire attention always once and sometimes twice a day.

Diszases.—This part of fish-raising is least understood as
yet. After the egg sac is absorbed and the fry begin to
swim about, a sick one is very easily distinguished. The
healthy trout swim in the current with their heads up

stream, darting about here and there after minute par-
ticles of food. The diseased ones wander about listlessly,
swiming round and round continually. They may also
be known by the size of their heads, which appear much
larger than their bodies. The head of a young trout is
the largest portion of the fish, even when well, but when
sick the fish appears to be all head.

Before the food sac is gone the trout is often afflicted
with a swelling over the sac; a membrane forms there,
swells out large and is filled with a watery substance.
We call the disease the “dropsy,” or “blue swelling.”
Sometimes the trout may be saved by making an incision
in the swelling and letting out the water; but as with
care only a few of them are affected in this way, it is
better for the fish culturist to hatch more eggs than
he expects to raise than to bother with a surgery he
doe’ not understand, In other words, hatch more than
you want, and keep the strongest and best.

There is a small worm which is one of the greatest
enemies which the young fry have. It spins a web in
the water to catch the young, fish, just as a spider does
on land to catch flies. The web is as perfect as that of the
spider and as much mechanical ingenuity is displayed in
its construction. It is made as quickly and in the same
way as a spider’s, by fastening the thread at different
points and going back and forth until the web is finished.
The threads are not strong enough*to hold the young
trout after the unbilical sac is absorbed, bnt the web
will stick to the fins and get wound around the head and
gills and soon kills the fish. It is even more destructive

‘to white fish, which are much smaller than trout when
first hatched. The threads spun by this worm seem to
be much finer than the common spider’s web, and they

are not visible in the water until the sediment collects
upon them. They can then be seen very plainly. The
webs can not be spun where there is much current and
can be easily seen in still water by a close observer.

But after all the principal causes of the death of trout
are, first and foremost, starvation, nine-tenths of all the
young that die are litefally starved. Secondly, rough
handling; the least twisting or wringing of a fish with
the hands will kill it. Thirdly, lack of sufficient water,
and fourthly, the temperature of the water. These four
difficulties, all of which ere preventable wil! account for
the death of most of the fish that die.

Satmon Ponps.—In order to hatch salmon it is neces-
sary to have ponds where they can be retained till they
are ripe after they appear in the spring, although as they
are migratory, it is impossible to keep them throughout
the year. The pond must be larger than for trout with a
larger brook or race connected with it. Salmon will
even seek the outlet tospawn. They may be captured in
nets from the brook if there is no race, or a net may be
attached across a salmon river and the fish ponded below
it. They are manipulated’ precisely like trout, and the
eggs hatched in the same way. The young, after they are
turned loose, which must be done in the upper waters of
the salmon rivers—as they live in the strong current,
they will themselves seek the smaller tributaries—
remain in fresh water for one or two years. The Cal-
ifornia salmon that were allowed to escape in Caledonia
brook because there was no demand for them in the
State of New York, remained there for one year, and
until the second summer after the winter in which they
were hatched, when they all disappeared never to return.
They evidently started to go to the sea, but as they had
to pass over the fallsof the Genesee which are some

ninety six feet in height, they may not have got there
and they certainly never got back., They had attained
a length of about six inches and were a beautiful fish,
bright, lively, quick, and of fine game qualities, for
their size. If they were retained in fresh water by
proper screens, and if the supply from California were
to be relied upon as permanent, they would be suitable
for stocking private preserves and would furnish excel-
lent sport. They will probably not attain their full size
in confinement, nut over a few pounds, and those that
have been turned loose in the waters of our State and
left to their own free wills have disappeared never to be
seen again. They may come back and we hope they
will, but as salmon were never indigenous to the Hud-
son river or any river South of it on the Atlantic coast,
there is no certainty of their adapting themselves to
their new quarters and furnishing us with breeding fish
on our coast.

It is alleged that the salmon of California all die after
breeding. This, if true, is most unusual and unnatural,
and does not accord with their great abundance in the
Columbia, the McCloud and the other rivers of the
Pacific coast. A portion of them undoubtedly do s0,
as their journey trom the seais a long and exhausting
one, but many others no doubt escape observation and
lingering along, gradually recovering from the labors of
parturition, straggle back at all seasons of the year to the
ocean their home of health, food and recovery. It is hard-
ly to be supposed that the operations of the United States
Commission in collecting the eggs of the California sal-
mon can be long continued. Hither the McCloud river
will be exhausted by the excessive drain upon it or the
Commission will be satisfied with the results of the
experiment. It was probably not intended to establish

the operation as a permanent undertaking. Enough
salmon have been sent to the Eastern States to fairly
test the question, whether their streams are adapted to
the residence of these fish, and if success eusues, the
efforts of the Commission will be more than rewarded,
while if failure shall occur there will be no reason for
further drafts upon waters in which salmo guinnat has
his natural home. It is, therefore, questionable whether
private fish preserves can be supplied from this source
either through national or individual enterprise.

There is diversity of opinion as to the time when sal-
mon go to the sea, and the length of time they remain
there before they return. Of European and Eastern
salmon it has been supposed that about one-half go to
the sea in the Fall one year and a half after they were
hatched and the others a year later, but some fish cul-
turists contend that they ali remain for two years, and
others say they all go the very year of their birth. We
know that California salmon which were hatched in
November remained through the Spring and Summer
and until the Summer following, and then disappeared
substantially together. We can not tell where they
went nor what they did, for we did not go with them.

It is said the European salmon returns six months
later, and in the spring following his descent when he
weighed a few ounces, in the shape of a grilse or young
male salmon just arriving at the age of puberty of as
many pounds as he formerly weighed ounces. That he
again goes to the sea in the fall and the following spring
reappears as a full grown salmon of eight or ten pounds.
The better opinion would seem however, to allow them
rather more time to attain such ample dimensions, as an
increase from ounces to pounds is almost too much for six

months efforts, even.of the most ravenous appetite. As
with the shad, it is probable that the females develop ova
a year later than the males possess milt.

Mr. Wilmot the able and experienced fish culturist of
Canada, who has devoted much attention to the breeding
of salmon and has made many valuable and instructive
experiments, asserts that salmon need not visit the fresh
water, but will mature their eggs if they are confined
entirely to salt water. This discovery if sustained by
fuller investigation, would save expense and facilitate
operations, and in order not todo him injustice, we quote
his language as used before the meeting of the Fish Cul-
tural Association in 1878, without however, endorsing
his views from our own knowledge.

“T should feel inclined to give you some experiments
I was engaged in last year with regard to the new mode
of retaining fish in salt water. The eggs matured equally
well in salt water as in fresh. Of course it is well under-
stood that for many years back, in fact for centuries,
naturalists have held that there was a necessity for salmon
to go to fresh water to mature their eggs. Last season I
was under the impression that the eggs of the salmon
would mature if kept in salt water as well as in fresh,
and in order to illustrate that, I instructed one of my
assistants to retain in the salt-water pond a few parent
salmon, while I put the rest in fresh-water ponds; and
he did so, and took the eggs from them at the same time.
There was no perceptible difference noticed in the hatch-
ing ot the eggs from those fish last year. That being
sufficient for me to go upon, this season I retained fifty
or sixty salmon in the salt-water pond. The eggs matured
just as well as those of the fish in the fresh water. They
were manipulated, and showed as much vitality and lite
as those in the fresh water. They were hatched in fresh
water, but the fish were kept in the salt-water cove.”

CHAPTER VII.
ADULT TROUT. ~°

Suppty or Water ror Given Noumser or Trout.—
This has never been accurately determined, and we do
not know that any general rule can be given applicable
to all times and places. The quantity required for any
given number depends very much upon the temperature
of the water,—a certain supply in cold weather sustaining
many more in good condition than the same supply in
hot weather. It is the same with trout as with mankind.
If many people are packed together in a close room, they
will soon begin to suffer; but will not feel the bad effects
so soon in cold weather as in warm. Now the water
contains the air upon which the trout lives, and the
amount requisite depends npon the amount of air which
is in the water. A still and smoothly flowing stream,
with little vegetation in it, contains the least amount of
air. Hence the value of a fall of water between the ponds
if the stream is small. The volume of water required
depends also upon the shape of the ponds and upon the
size of the fish. We can only say about what quantity is
necessary and leave-each owner of ponds to observe for
himself whether more or less fish do well with it.

It must always be borne in mind that the larger the
supply of water the better for the trout; and the trout-
breeder on a large scale will find better success with
small ponds and large supply than in any other way.
For ten thousand fish the stream should not be less than
seven inches square (that is, forty-nine square inches)
and would be still better if it was seventy-five square
inches. A less supply will perhaps do; but with it there
is danger of disease and death to the fish. We will say

75.

then a supply of water filling a pipe five inches square
(making twenty-five square inches) for the size of ponds
shown in plate on a previous page calculated to sustain
five thonsand fish in the second, and two thousand fish in
the third ponds. The first pond to receive six or eight
thousand young fish, need not have more than two or
three square inches of the water. This estimate of num-
ber of fish is purposely made low. More fish may be
able to live with the supply mentioned; but the number
given certainly can.

Growrs or Trout.—It is impossible to tell the age of
a trout by its size, as its size depends very m ach upon the
quantity of food which it obtains. It is a general rule
that with good feeding a trout three years old will weigh
one pound. They have been known to live for years at
the bottom of a well, where the supply of food must have
been extremely limited, and reinain through all those
years, apparently at thesamesize. Then again, with good
feeding, they will more than double their weight in a sin-
gle season. ‘Trout will not grow so fast in swift running
water asinapond The largest trout are never caught in
narrow parts of the stream where the water runs fast.
But where the stream swells out into a dark and still pool,
there the patriarchs are found. We presume that the
largest trout now taken in this country are found in the
lakes of Maine. Some will grow much faster than others
under any circumstances. A few will always look lean
and hungry no matter how much they are fed, and others
seem to have a peculiar knack of getting fat. Still the
rule of good feeding applies equally to all. They will not
grow so fast when three or four years old as before; that
is, the rate of increase diminishes with age. The average
age of trout is perhaps twelve or fourteen years. On
this point we cannot speak with -certainty. We have

seen trout grown from the egg and kept in confinement
and well fed on beef lights and hearts that weighed in
the spring after the year they were born, or say when not
over fifteen months old, as much as three quarters of a
pound in some instances, and all averaging a half pound
apiece. Judging from those in our possession, we sippose
a trout to be in its prime when it is from three to ten
years old. The size is largely a question of food.
On Long {sland where they have access to the salt water
and feed on the numberless small fish and crustacea
abounding in the sea, the trout are notoriously large,
while in the mountain streams, where the food is scarce
and precarious, it is just as well known that the trout
are small,

The size to which a trout may grow is not very well
settled ; so many “fish stories” have been told that dis-
credit is thrown even upon well authenticated assertions.
Trout may in exceptional cases and in large waters attain
the weight of eight or ten pounds, but a four pound trout,
is generally considered to be of pretty good size. This
question of size is interesting rather to the sportsman
that to the trout farmer. It is considered that small

~ trout are the best to eat, those from one-quarter to one-

half a pound. A better market may always be found for
fish of this size than for any other. There is only one
market in the United States where there is a demand for
very large trout, and that is New York, where the largest
trout sell the most readily. Besides, fish of small size
are the handiest to manage on the spawning bed, and
more of them can be raised. If the spawn is extracted
by hand, the difficulty in handling a two pound trout is
very great and increases very fast as the fish grows larger.

Not only is it troublesome to handle the large ones, but
the danger of killing them is much greater ; so that, in

our opinion, from one-quarter to one pound weight is as
large as the fish farmer should attempt to grow his trout,
unless from motives of curiosity to see how large they
will get to be.

As to the growth of salmon, we can say that in con-
finement in small stew ponds the California salmon will
attain about the weight of three-quarters of a pound, and
the Kennebec or Eastern salmon a little more. None of —
the California salmon had, when this was written, pro-
duced eggs while retained iu the fresh water, but the
milt is developed and has been used for fecundating
trout and salmon trout eggs. When at liberty and
allowed to visit the ocean, salmon grow much faster,
and we take the following extract from the report of
Maine Commissioners: of Fisheries :

“ Satmon. In our issue of May 3d, we made mention
of a very large salmon caught at Cape Jellison, Stock-
ton, by Josiah Parsons, aud purchased by Frank Col
lins, of this city. The fish measured fifty inches in
length and weighed thirty-three and a half pounds.
Attached to the fish was a metallic tag numbered “1019,”
indicating that it was one liberated from the Bucksport
Breeding Works. The tag was forwarded to Mr. Atkins,
the superintendent of the works, who keeps a record of
all fish used for spawing purposes and liberated. We now
chronicle the record of the fish, as learned from a letter
from Mr. Atkins to Mr. Collins. He writes that the
~ salmon was liberated at Bucksport, Nov. 10, 1875. It
was a female fish, thirty-nine and a half inches in length
and yielded five pounds and six ounces of spawn, or
about 16,000 eggs. After spawning, it weighed sixteen
pounds. He judges that in the preceding May, ( 1875)
the fish weighed twenty-five pounds. Thus thé fish in
two years had grown nearly au additional foot in length

and eight and a half pounds in weight. One important
fact in the habits of the salmon has been demonstrated
by the use of these tags, and that is, that the fish, after
it becomes large, does not visit the river every year, as
was formerly supposed, but only every second year.
Those liberated in the Penobscot in 1873, were recap-
tured in 1875, and those let loose in 1875 are now being

" caught. One dollar premium is paid for every tag thus

found. The Penobscot river about Bangor is reported
to be full of young salmon.”

But it is very probable that both California and Pen-
obscot salmon will spawn in fresh water if they have
fair range, that is to say, a pond of good size. In Iowa,
see Report of ’75-7, p. 12, the Eastern salmon when in
a pond, were said to have grown i two years and a half
to weigh from two and a half to seven pounds; if this
is so, and these were not salmon trout, there is no reason
the California salmon should not grow as large, or nearly
80, ;

Coror.—A trout is always the color of the bottom
over which it lies; and in passing from one color of bot-
tom 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 aimost

et by comparison with the others. The cause of this

is not clearly understood, and it would suggest that the

fish have control over thei 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 pre-
dacious birds which can not see them so readily if they
are the color of the bottom on which they are lying,

Foop.—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 impor-
tant because the profit depends upon it. All other
circumstances being equal, he who can obtain the cheap-
est 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 du 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
eut 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

4 80

and it sticks in their throats and kills them. Often it
it is caught in their teeth and thus prevented from guing
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 mu-
chine 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 carni-
vorous and will not eat vegetables of any kind that we
have ever tried. We teed 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 ot 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 ot 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 care-
fully, he will find every stick, stone and bunch ot 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 larve 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.

Fish of any kind are a very good food for trout. If
they are small they may be put into the water whole, the
trout will take them all the better if they are alive.
Any coarse fish which can be obtained cheaply and in
sufficient quantities may be chopped up fine and used as
food. As we said before, they will not eat carrion unless
pressed by hunger. They will eat a live trout, but we
have never known an instance of their eating, or ever
touching a dead one. If any way could be devised of
raising flies, or shrimp, or various kinds of insects (their .

natural food) in sufficient quantities and at little expense,
this would be the best of all. A change of food would
also do them good, but we find that they will not readily
change their food.

As to the quantity of food necessary for a given number
of trout. This is difficult to give exactly as it will vary
with the size of the fish and the season of the year, more
being required in moderate weather than when it is very
hot or very cold. For one thousand three yéar olds, about
five pounds of light or liver per day; for two year olds three
pounds; but a very little trial will show just how much to
feed them. Feeding once each day will keep the trout,
over one year old in good condition. Feed slowly, and as _
soon as they begin to refuse the food stop feeding them,
then you have the measure and feed a little less than this
quantity every day. We saya little less because we have
known cases in which owners of ponds being over anxious
to fatten their trout, have killed them by over-feeding.
Still this does not often happen, especially if they are fed
regularly. A trout after long abstinence will gorge him-
self to repletion ; but will not kill himself to-day if he is
reasonably sure of to-morrow’s dinner. All animals ap-
pear to be wiser than men in this matter, and it is very
seldom that they will eat enough to do them injury no
matter how much may be given them.

Salmon and salmon trout as we have heretofore re-
marked will, when they are young accept food that is
rather less finely prepared. Their food is of the same
general kind, but as they are larger fish they need more
of it. Salmon trout can be kept in confinement until
they weigh ten or more pounds, whereas the largest tame
trout we have had did not exceed four, but few reached
three, it being doubtful whether fish ever attain as full
development in the domesticated as in the wild state.

As salmon trout will grow to weigh a hundred pounds in
Lake Superior, it is probable they may reach twenty in
suitable preserves, although the largest we have is not
over nine, but he is healthy and is still growing. Salmon
trout have been taught to eat trout that died of a natural
death, although they at first utterly refused such food
. they came in the end to accept it willingly. Trout seven
inches long have been disposed of in that way.

Trout and salmon, the latter especially, will get so
tame after a time that they will take the food out ot your
fingers, in fact they will take the fingerstoo. Their teeth
are sharp and make scratches like needles. They may
be.taught to jump for their food by holding it a short dis-
tance above the water, or may be made to come up and
take it out of the pan you are holding. Feed in the
middle of the day when the sun is well up, any time
from ten to three is good. Make it a general rule to feed
slowly and give them as much as they will eat without
wasting.

Although trout and salmon become so tame that they
may be made pets, some hybrids in the state hatching
works are so shy that they keep as much as possible out
of sight, and can hardly be fed. They were a cross of
the milt of the salmon with the brook trout eggs, and per-
haps knew that they were monstrosities. There is a
board covering to the edges of the preserve in which they
are kept, and they hide under it and run hither and
thither in fright and confusion if any one attempts to
get a close view of them. \

Salted food has been tried for the feeding of trout, but
not with satisfactory results. They donot seem to like
it although it is possible they might be accustomed to
it if any important advantage was connected with its
use. It, however, ordinarily costs as much or more than

4 “84 '

the fresh meats, and cannot be superior to them. There
is much of the offal of large cities which may yet be
utilized as fish food. Where it is allowed to go to waste
and run into the rivers adjacent to markets, it invariably
attracts wild fish to such places, and if it is satistactory
food for them, it would be equally agreeable to their
tame and less particular brethren. The fish breeder
must not rely upon getting his food of any kind for noth-
ing, as although most country butchers throw away their
beef lights, they will put a price on them the moment
they find they are in demand. Three cents a pound is
the price usually asked for such food, and at that it is
doubtful whether trout can be bred and raised for the
market even when they can be sold for a dollar a pound.

TremprraturE or Water.—The colder the water is,
down to forty degrees, the better the trout will do.
They will die in the ponds if the water rises to seventy
degrees, unless there is a spring in the pond, or colder
water into which they can get. We have often heard or
seen the statement that fish could be kept in a frozen
state a long while, and then thawed out and be as lively
asever. Our experience is against this. Fish may be
frozen, so that a thin coat of ice forms over them, and s0
long as they can be bent they will thaw out and will re-
cover; but if they are once frozen solid or stiff through-
out, they are dead, and cannot be brought back to life.
If the ponds freeze over in winter, it is no sign that the
water under the ice is below thirty-two degrees. If it
was, the water in the ponds would freeze solid. Unless
the water is taken close to a spring and much water runs
through the ponds, the surface well freeze over; but this
will not injure the fish, as the water below will be much
warmer than the temperature of the atmosphere; and

the ice which forms over the pond serves to keep the
water below from being made colder by contact with the
air.

If the water is so sluggish as to be likely to rise above
seventy degrees in summer, the ponds may be shaded in
some way. Trees and bushes look very nicely about
the borders of the pends, and are very valuable so far as
ornament is concerned. But there are certain objections
to their use which will banish them pretty thoroughly
from the grounds of the practical trout-raiser. One ob-
jection is that the leaves, in autumn especially, clog up
the screens, and demand constant attention to prevent
an overflow of the water and trout. Or the leaves fall
to the bottom and decaying there, foul the pond.
The roots of the trees also will force their way towards
the water, and break the walls or banks of the pond.
If it is necessary to shade the ponds, floats may be used,
made of boards nailed together and moored in some con-
venient place; but the best plan of shading is by light
covers placed on beams running across the pond. If the
ponds are very large the floats will have to be used.
But the ponds must not be made large. We have said
that trout would not live in water which was raised
above the temperature of seventy degrees, and would do
better in water at forty degrees, This settles the ques-
tion as to how far south trout will live in the ordinary
rivers.

California salmon will stand a much higher tempera-
ture than trout. The McCloud river from which the
eggs were obtained that have been distributed by the
United States Fish Commissioner through the eastern
states, often rises to 80 degrees, and occasionally as high
as 83 degrees. Its temperature through 4a large part of
the year is over 70 degrees, both at the surface and at

the bottom, and yet the salmon did not seem to be in-
jured by it. We have kept young California salmon in
a presetve when the water rose above 80 degrees in tem-
perature, and although the inlet was open and they could
have gone out, as many of them did, others remained
until we thought it better to drive them out by drawing
otf the water. However this temperature is not safe
for them unless there is a large body otf water or consid-
erable motion to it which gives it life and enables the
fish to live in it longer. In an aquarium in which there
were pairs of Kennebec and California salmon, brovk-
trout, salmon-trout and grayling, when the water rose to
74 degrees they were greatly distressed, coming to the
surface and gasping. When it reached 75 degrees they
all died.

It must not be forgotten that in ponds there is often a
spring to which the fish can have recourse and which
will save their lives. It is not always possible to judge
by the temperature of the surface, for that below may be
lower, but it is better'to be on the safe side as far as pos-
sible. The larger the fish the more they will suffer and
the sooner they will die. They exhaust the oxygen
much more rapidly than the fry.

Brook trout are only suitable for clear, cold water, of
which the temperature never goes above 70°. Salmon
trout will live only in clear, cold, deep lakes. ‘They need
the purest water of any fish in this country. In the
aquarium above referred to were put brook trout, salmon
trout, greyling, California and Kennebec salmon and Cali-
fornia brook trout, and as the water became warm the
salmon trout began to suffer first, and died before the
mercury went up to 74°. The brook trout went next,
the greyling next, the California brook trout fourth, the
Kennebec salmon fifth, and the California salmon last.

The salmon trout died twelve hours before any of the
rest, and all of the others died‘ within four hours of each
other. All of the full spawning fish want clear, cold
water. Whitefish will not live in water above-72° We
have seen these taken in a seine, and when they got into
shallow water where the temperature was 74° ten rods
from the shore, the fish began to “turn up,” and were all
dead when they were hauled up on the shore.

Diseases anp Enemtrs.--The diseases to which adult
trout are subject are numerous and often fatal. Some
times a trout will be observed to have a white fungus
growing upon it in spots. This will spread over the fish
until it dies. Sometimes fish will turn to a black color.
This always seems to be an indication of blindness, as we
have never observed this peculiar color unless the fish
was partially or totally blind. The fungus which grows
upon the fish is probably not a disease, but is caused by,
or is the indication of a disease. Nothing is known
about remedies. If only a few trout are affected, take
them out as they will besure to die. Ifthe trout begin
to die in numbers, change them to another pond, if possi-
ble, or give them more water. ‘This is all we can do for
them. The dead trout should be taken out of the pond as
fast as they are discovered. They will rise to the surface
only in very rare cases, but generally sink to the bottom,
and if there is much moss in the pond tkey are lest'to
sight, and decaying on the bottom will foul the pond.
If there is much sickness among the trout, we generally
consider it a sign of insufticient water.

There are but few enemies of trout in artificial ponds.
If the ponds are near the house, and people constantly
about them, there will be no trouble with the birds
which usnally prey upon fish—such as the kingfisher,
fish-hawk and crane. Even if the ponds are some dis-

tance from the house, the water will probably be too
deep for the fish-hawk and kingfisher to do much mischief,
as it is only in shallow water that they can be certain of
their prey. Cranes will wade into the water and take
all that comes within reach of their long billsa—whether
frogs, snakes or fish. But they are very few in number,
and the trout are wary. If any of these birds appear,
shoot them. Muskrats sometimes get into the ponds.
They can not often catch the trout, but will destroy the
young and the spawn if they can get at the troughs, and
they eat many of the insects on which thé trout feed,
besides they makes holes in the banks of the ponds and
let the water off. A few traps will soon dispose of them.
It may be worth while to mention here the manner of
catching them. Find out the places where the muskrats
go into the ponds. They will make a little bare path,
or run on the edge of the bank, by always going in and
out at the same place. Then set a trap (a common game
trap, such as issold in all country stores) in the water, so
that the plate of the trap will come in the middle of
the run and about a half an inch under water, taking
care to place the jaws of the trap in such a direction
that when shut they will be ina line with the run.
Then: stake the chain into deep water. No bait is
necessary. If any bait is used a sweet apple or parsnip
may be stuck on a stick and the stick stuck into the.
bank so as to bring the apple just over the jaws of the
trap when closed. The muskrat comes through his run,
steps on the pan of the trap and springs it. He tries
to take it with him to the shore. If he succeeds in
doing this, he will likely get out in some way; for
instance, if he is caught by the leg, he will sit down and
knaw it off, in order to get free. But as the trap is
staked ont into the water, he can not get to shore, and

will be drowned by his struggles and by the weight of
the trap, for he can not survive under water very long
without rising to the furface for a supply of air.

Water snakes can not do any damage to the large
trout, but will certainly eat all the little fish they can
get hold of. Even if they do no injury, they are not of
any advantage, and may as well be disposed of.

Cray fish very seldom eat the young fish. They will
lie on the bottom, hidden in the mud, with the joint of
the claw wide open and ready ; then if any unfortunate
troutling passes within reach, his doom is sealed. Cray-
fish do much more mischiet by their burrowing propen-
sities. They will make holes out of the pond, or from
one pond to another, through which the water escapes,
and very often the young fish also. The cray-fish is the
scavenger of the water, and it may be a question whether
a few of them will not do as much good, by disposing
of decaying animal matter, as they do harm, by destroy-
ing a few fish; but they will eat spawn and the fry still
encumbered with the sac. The greatest fear of all fish-
raisers is that their fish will be stolen at night. A few
old logs, stones and branches of trees strewn on the bottom
of the pond, will make it impossible to drag the pond with
aseine. Catching them by hook and line is the only
means; and if the fish are well fed daily, it will take
more time to catch a mess than thieves can usually spare.

Trout also find enemies in theirown kind. The only
way to stop them from feeding on each other is to give
them plenty of other food. It may be as well, perhaps,
not to feed them on small fish, unless these are chopped
up fine, for the reason that trout soon accustom them-
selves to certain kinds of food, and will refuse anything
strange. If they get into the habit of feeding on small
fish, they will not be likely to make a distinction,

between trout and any other fish. Certain old trout
also become unusually destructive to their brethren.
Like the “rogue-elephants,” and the ‘“man-eaters,”
among the lions, they become morose and sullen, live
apart from the rest, and make war upon everything
around. When you find one of this kind, spear him at
once, as there is no cure, and he will invariably destroy
more than he is worth. It may be worth while to men-
tion here how one trout eats another. An old trout will
catch a smaller one, in some cases one-half of its own
size, by the middle, and with its strong jaws hold it fast
and swim around with it, while the prisoner worries and
struggles to get free. This performance lasts until the
victim gets loose or is exhausted, being continued some-
times for half a day. If the little fellow gets free, it is
usually only to die a lingering death; for the breaking
of the skin is fatal. When it is exhausted, the old rogue,
dropping his victim, which until this time he has held
by the middle, siezes it again by the head, and slowly
swallows it whole; the operation sometimes taking
several hours, and while in progress making the fish look
as it had no head, but only a tail at each end.

In some localities minks are very destructive. These
animals are particularly to be dreaded because they do
not only kill what fish they want to eat, but will take
out fifty or one hundred before they stop, and having
found a well stocked pond, they will resort to it again
and again. The best way to trap them is as follows:
Make a box eighteen inches long by six inches broad and
deep, leaving one end open, set acommon game trap (such
as used for catching muskrats) in the open end of the box
in such a position that when the jaws are closed they will
be in a line with the length of the trap. If it is set cross-
ways it will be apt to throw the mink out instead of catch-

ing it. Putthe bait in the further end of the box—a piece
of meat or a dead fish will answer for bait—set the trap
and cover it over with a large leaf. Now, there is only
one way for the mink to get at the bait, which is by walk-
ing over the trap. Some trout-breeders also try to raise
mink for profit as their skins are valuable; but their
habits of eating fish and their custom of getting out ot
almost any box or yard in which they are confined do
not make them agreeable neighbors for the trout.

The fish farmer can always tell by looking at his trout
in the morning whether they have been disturbed during
the night. If they have been molested, whether by birds,
mink or men, they will appear excited and frightened.
The water will be discolored by the mud which they stir
up as they dart back and forth near the bottom, and the
trout wil) be nearly all hidden under stones or in the
moss.

Some writers on the subject of the diseases of trout
have recommended the use of a salt water bath. The
fish, when they are affected, whether old or young, are
trausferred to a tank into which salt is gradually intro-
duced, and it is said that this treatment will cure fungus.
It is a dangerous remedy, a sort of kill or cure, that in
desperate straits may be resorted to, but such straits
should never be permitted to arise. It will unquestion-
ably kill parasites, but beyond that we have little faith in
it. The large fish may occasionally be cured by rubbing
with sand, but both of these are heroic measures. Al-
though the fungus may be removed by the operation, it
is almost certain to grow again, and usually more ex-
tensively than at first.

There is one kind of trout which we do not possess,
of which we would very much like a specimen, We

mean the trout which comes to dinner at the sound of a
bell, or at the call or whistle of his feeder. Mauy writers
about fish tell us to avoid all noises around the ponds lest.
they frighten the fish, and to be particularly careful never
to fire a gun on the grounds lest the delicate ear of the
trout should be too much affected. Trout cannot hear
the sound of a bell, nor the voice of their feeder, nor even
his whistle, neither will they stir one traction of an inch
at the sound of a gun fired one foot above their heads;
but the sight of a trout is very keen. His enemies are
to be avoided by the aid of his eyes, and the trout starts
and runs at every sudden motion, whether it is the
shadow of the angler, or the falling of a leaf upon_the
water. He will be started by conenssion, by a blow on
the water, or a heavy step on the ground, but will mind
no noise that is not accompanied with some demonstration
that he can either see or feel. The angler may talk as
loudly as he please, but he must approach the bank of
the trout brook on tiptoe and hide behind any bush or
tree. Fish are undoubtedly brought tc the shore at
dinner time by the ringing of a bell, but it is the motion,
not the sound which attracts them. If the attendant will
stand out of sight, he may ring till he is tired before his
guests will put in an appearance.

Ornzr Fis wirn Trovr.—It is not well to have other
fish in the same pond with trout, they will probably des-
troy one another. Fish of any sort will eat the young ot
all kinds. Even the harmless and innocent looking gold-
fish will take young trout with a relish. A few stickle-
backs will probably get into the ponds, but they will do nu
hurt unless they get among the babies two months old;
the large trout will soon clear them out of their vicinity.
Let the pollywogs wiggle their way in peace, and whea
they get to be frogs sell them or eat them,

Eels are exceedingly destructive in all waters to which
they have access, and it is impossible to keep them ont,
as they can go up the perpendicular sides of water gutes
and possibly over the sides of the dam when wet with a
heavy rain. The only plan is to use eel-pots and keep
dewn their numbers as much as possible. They will
follow the fry into the smallest rivulets, and on one
occasion we saw an eel slash around in a little brook so
as to stir up the mud and foul the water, that he might
make sure of his prey which had become frightened and
was trying to escape from him. He finds his food by
sense of smell when the water is roily.

As for goldfish, in the year 1865 we had one hundred
goldfish in a pond thirty feet long, twelve feet wide, and
from four feet deep to shallow places three inches deep.
We put 4,000 young brook trout in the pond, and in three
days the goldfish had eaten every one of them. The
little trout would hide themselves in the holes in the
stone wall, where they were chased by the goldfish, which
would lie at the hole for hours, watching for a trout;
and when the trout made his appearance they wonld go
for him as a cat does for a mouse.

++ ——____

CHAPTER VIII.

THE HOLTON AND OTHER HATCHING
BOXES.

One ot the most valuable, practical inventions in refer-
ence to the hatching of the eggs of the salmonidae was
made by Marcellus Holton, while in the employ of the
New York fishery commission. It consisted of a device
for utilizing the upward flow of water among and through
the eggs. It had been often noticed that trout sought as

a favorite locality for depositing their eggs the parts of
the bottom of the ponds or streams through which a
spring made its way. Nature taught them thus, to
secure a regular flow of clear, unpolluted water of even
temperature, working its way between the gravel and
eggs of which their nests were composed, and much larger
percentage of the spawn deposited in such places hatched
than when it was under any other natural conditions, for
it was certain to receive precisely what it needed, a
steady current of fresh and well aerated water, not in-
creased or diminished in volume, not fouled by rains, not
warmed by the sun or cooled by frost, and not bearing
with it the germs of fungus or disease. Changes of tem-
perature or condition are injurious to spawn, and by this
plan, changes are avoided.

Holton in the arrangement of the hatching box which
he invented, created an artificial spring of great volume,
conveniently located and thoroughly under control. It
was impossible to deposit the eggs over the natural
springs, so the springs were brought into the hatching
house., This was done by leading the water properly
screened through a pipe into the bottom of a box, and
allowing it to pass out over the top. A deflector was
placed over the aperture in the bottom so as to break the
current and distribute the flow equally in all directions,
and trays were laid, one upon another in the box so that
the water would have to rise through them all before it
could escape, and the eggs being on these, must neces-
sarily be kept directly under the influeuce of a steady
but gentle and natural current.

These boxes were constructed especially for the incuba-
tion of white fish and shad eggs, although salmon, salmon
trout, etc., can just as well be hatched with them. They are
about twenty inches square and two feet deep, and will

hold eighteen wire trays placed one upon another. The
water enters from the bottom, passes up through the box,
falls evenly into little troughs which ran arvund the four
sides, aad is thence carried into a reservoir. The trays
‘are lifted for cleaning by arms at two sides ot the box
fastened into a lower frame. The trays are made of wire
cloth of so small a mesh that the eggs will not pass
through, but large enough to permit the passage of the
whitefish fry, which, as soon as they break the shell, are
carried up by the current and into the reservoir, from
which they may be taken out as required. Whitefish
eggs placed in one layer will number sixty-four to the
-square inch. Each tray will hold about 18,000 eggs, and
each box about 325,000. They can be made larger or
smaller and will work equally well.

These boxes are the only device which will hatch white-
fish thoroughly well, for whitefish are the most delicate
and difficult to manipulate of all the salmon family. The
eggs are much smaller than those of the trout and the
fry are more tender than even the tender tront fry, which
test the fish culiurists best skill to raise satisfactorily.
One especial advantage is, the difficulty that sedi-
ment of any kind finds in lodging upon the eggs.
As it is carried upward, if at all by the current, it is
swept along over the upper rim into the reservoir, and
rarely catches upon the eggs. It has little opportunity to
settle, and the number of eggs killed by this fruitful source
of trouble is reduced to the minimum. Where the water
passes from above down, it naturally deposits whatever
it holds in suspension on its way, but by this reverse
process, the sediment cannot fall, and cannot cling to
what it touches, because it comes in contact with the
underside. The aeration of the eggs is perfect, none
are covered up by others so as to be shut out from

the passing current and suffocated. In troughs the water
strikes the body of eggs on the edge and then simply
passes over and along them, not penetrating, but merely
coming in contact with their surface; in the Holton box,
the water enters every part, works up between every egg,
and even if these are piled two or three deep, will vital-
ize all of them.

It must be remembered that impregnated eggs re-
quire the oxygen in the water as much as the living fry
and will swother if shut out from it. Anything that
does this, whether it be dirt, sediment, insufficient cur-
rent or other eggs will destroy them and no plan has

yet been invented which so absolutely prevents this .

danger. The economy of room is another important
consideration where fish culture is to be prosecuted on
a large scale. As we have said, eight boxes will contain
and hatch two millions of white fish eggs, and an equal
number of boxes of trout eggs will supply the place of
a large establishment Jaid out in the old fashioned and
ordinary method.

The openings through the wires are not round or
square but a long narrow parallelogram, differing in
width for the different sizes of eggs which are to be
hatched. To understand this it is only necessary to sup-
pose the wires stretched on the trays at proper distances
from one another, and then bound together by cross
wires at three-quarters of an inch from one another, or
sufficiently near to hold all securely together. The
wires for white fish eggs are nine to the inch; those for
brook trout are eight to the inch; seven for salmon
trout, and six and a half for salmon. In like way they
can be adapted to any other species of fish that it is pro-
‘posed to hatch. They could be used for shad where it
is not desirable or convenient to use the regular shad

box which is described in the chapter on shad hatching.
For shad, the mesh of the trays is a little different being
of heavier wire, square and twenty-two to the inch.
These trays, it is unnecessary to say are painted with
gas tar like the wood work of the troughs, and inside of
the boxes and all other things with which the eggs come
in contact. If the wires should not be, they would rust
and the rust would penetrate and destroy every egg that
touched it. The current may be caused by the natural
flow of the water and by artificial means such as the use
of a pump, and for shad and whitelish hatching, no trays
are absolutely necessary. The boxes may be round or
square and made of tin or wood.

We have said that whitefish work up through the
trays and pass over the rim into the reservoirs. This is
the habit with whitefish and with shad, but the salmon,
salmon trout and brook trout, work down into the bot-
tom of the boxes, and if the eggs are left in them until
they are completely hatched the fry must be taken out
when the trays are removed. There is some danger
connected with this peculiarity, as the little fellows until
the umbilical sac is absorbed, crowd together one upon
another at the bottem, instinctively hiding from imagin-
ary enemies, and will often get smothered. They can
be drawn out by a syphon consisting of simply a piece
of ordinary rubber pipe leading into a pail of water and
will not be injured by the operation ; or, if the fish are
to be left in, a tin tube pierced with fine holes is put in
the box and the upper end of the syphon led into that.
However, the tin pipe where it enters the bottom of the
box is usually constructed with a hole and a cork fitted
to it, by means of which the fry cau be drawn off and
the box emptied.

The method of inspecting the eggs in this hatching
box is as follows: Two wooden wedgés are- inserted,
one on each side of the uprights attached to the bottom
frame to hold them in place. One box is always left
empty. The trays in the adjoining box are raised so as
to bring the upper one just below the surface of the
water and are wedged; this is examined, and after the
dead eggs are removed it is placed in the empty box,
lowered under water and wedged. When this is finished
another is raised in the box which is being examined,
and transferred after inspection to the other box. By
wedging them each set of trays is kept in its place, and
can be examined systematically. When they are all
finished, that box is empty and may be cleaned if nec-
essary. Then the trays in the next adjoining box are
examined and transferred to it in the same way, and so
on with one after the other till they are all completed
and an empty box left at the further end of the row for
use on the next occasion. If the water is pure this
operation will not have to be performed more than once
in two days, as the tendency of these boxes is to clean
themselves and to prevent the retention of sediment.

By the use of the Holton boxes an immense conden-
sation of room can he effected ; each tray will hold more
than ten thousand brook trout eggs, and the total num-
ber in each box will be about two hundred thousand.
Our usual practice with trout eggs is to remove them
from the boxes when they are about hatching and place
them on the trays or gravel in the troughs where they
will have more room, and can get out of their shells
more readily.. The empty shells will otherwise, some-
times clog the wires and stick to the embryus, unless
the boxes are examined very frequently during the last
stages of development.

Guass Jars.—A pretty and ornamental modification
of the Holton box, not essentially differing from it on
principle, can be made by the use of glass, and will
answer on a moderate scale. It consists of round glass
jars filled with trays with the water entering at the
bottom, which should be cast in the shape of a funnel to
which is attached an India rubber pipe. The water
passes out above through another pipe to the bottom of
the next, and so on. The advantages claimed for this
arrangement are the neatness, beauty and cleanliness,
and the ease with which the eggs can be watched and
studied at all times. It is well to have the supply pipe
smaller than the connecting pipes between the jars, for
fear of overflow in case of accidental obstruction, and
from the first there should bea gradual descent, each jar
standing a little lower than the one preceding it. When
it is desirable to empty any jar it can bedone with a
tube of rubber used as a syphon, the supply of water
being shut off. By drawing off the water into a basin,
any young fish carried with it may be saved.

Srtr-Picker.—Another modification of the Holton
box was made at the state establishment. It has been
called a “self picker.” It consists simply in removing
all the trays and placing the piece of tin over the hole
through which the water enters, which should be in the
center of the bottom in such a way as to force the water
to rise gently on all sides close to the edges. - The box is
shaped so that the sides converge towards this center
and the water makes a moderate current along them up-
wards. The eggs which are placed loosely in the box
are kept in a gentle bubbling or boiling motion by this
arrangement. They are caught by the current, carried
upward, and then dropping into an eddy, descend to be
again whirled upward. When the fish hatch the gener-

100

al motion of the water is strong enough to carry the
shells over the outlet, and it ig manifest that by such an
arrangement, no sediment can at any time collect on the
egos. It was feared at first that the continual motion
might wear through the shells. It has been used with
trout, and is the proper arrangement if-shad eggs are to
be hatched in the Holton box, as for them trays are not
necessary. If salmon or trout eggs are to be treated, a
much smaller number must be put in each box, than
it they were distributed on the trays. The original
arrangement of the boxes is the best for general purposes,
and these modifications, are only meutioned in case they
should fit peculiar circumstances.

Guass Trays.—lt seems hardly necessary to refer to
trays which have small glass tubes instead of wire net-
ting on the bottom. These were among the first plans
tried and will answer very well. But they are expen-
sive to make and easy to break, while they are no better
than our cheaper and stronger trays.

Our _Practicz.—A number of other arrangements
could be detailed, but these are the best, and cover all
conceivable circumstances. We have given so many
that perhaps we had better state exactly what course we
follow as the best, simplest, cheapest, easiest and most
certain. We hatch whitefish in the Holton box, com-
pleting the operation there and allowing the fish to break
their eggs, to work their way up through the wires, and ~
pass over the upper rim into a reservoir, the egg shells
going over at the same time. We have given up trying
to feed whitefish and distribute them at once to the
lakes they are to inhabit by depositing them in the
water suitable for them.

Brook-trout, salmon-trout and salmon eggs we develop
in the Holton boxes till they are about to burst their

101

shells, then we place them on trays in the troughs. As
they. remain much longer in the boxes than in the troughs
less room is needed in the latter than would be required
if they were entirely hatched there. We give them a
good current, and as soon as they are hatched and the
egg shells removed, we spread gravel over the bottom of
the troughs, or remove them to troughs with gravel on
the bottom, as we believe they are more contented, so
long as the umbilical sac remains, if they can hide their
heads, or imagine that they are hid between the
stones. We observe that if they are kept at this
stage in bare tronghs they are uneasy and keep strug-
gling about from place to place. Just before the sac is
absorbed we watch them carefully, especially the brook-
trout, to prevent their crowding on one another, and
when they do so they are removed in a broad flat net
from the head of the trough where they congregate to
the lower end, or are otherwise spread out. This is
done at night as well as during the day when there is a
large number together. As soon as the sac is absorbed
we remove the gravel and keep them in clean troughs
with nothing in them to catch or conceal dirt. We
again increase the current and feed the young six
times a. day on liver commiuuted to the utmost possi-
ble degree, and diluted with water. We distribute the
fry as soon as possible thereafter, and put them in the
smallest spring runs connected with the streams or ponds
they are to stock, and not directly into the ponds or
streams themselves.

102

CHAPTER IX.

MANIPULATING SALMON AND T-ROUT.

Srawnine Season.—The salmon family of the At-
lantic States, including the eastern salmon, the salmon
trout, the brook trout, the whitefish, and the lake
herring, spawns in the autumn and fore part’ of
winter, The grayling spawns in March and April,
the California salmon in summer, commencingin the
Jatter part of August, and the California mountain
trout in Spring, beginning in the middle of March.
Trout commence to spawn about October. The colder
the climate is, the earlier they willspawn. In Caledonia
Creek the trout lay their firsteggs about the 12th of
October; the water standing then at about forty-eight
degrees. In the preserves where the temperature, at
that time, is a few degrees higher, they begin to spawn
about the 1st ot November, and cease about the lst of
March. The length of the spawning season depends up-
on the equality of the temperature of the water. In
streams where the temperature does not vary much,
winter or summer, the length of the season is three or
four months, sometimes more, and in cold mountain
streams it only lasts two months, closing by the middle
of January.

Stans or Spawnine.—As the season of spawning ap
proaches, the difference of sexes shows more clearly. It
is very hard in the summer to tell the difference between a
male and female trout. By handling them much and
watching them closely the trout-breeder comes to know
the male and female apart almost instinctively ; but he
would be puzzled to tell just how he knows it, The male

1038

is generally sharper jawed than the female at any season

of the year, and lines drawn from his shoulders to his tail

would be straight without any buige in the middle, while

the female has a rounder jaw, and even in summer is
more protuberant in the middle. These are general

signs, and by no means universal. Itis onlyin the spawn-
ing season that difference of the sexes can be told with any
certainty. As this season approaches the distinctions be-
come more marked. The difference in size is one peculi-

arity, as the eggs grow large and fill the belly ot the
female. It will not do to mistake food for eggs. A
trout recently gorged with food looks just like a female
full of eggs; but the food soon disappears, as a trout is an
animal of quick digestion, while the swelling caused by
the maturing eggs gets larger as the spawning season
approaches. The colors of the fish, also, are at that time
a guide. The female turns to a dark and sombre hue,
while the colors of the males grow very brilliant, a line

of brilliant scarlet red often developing itself alone his

sides on the edge of the belly.

Natura, Spawnina.—As the spawning season ap-
preaches, the trout seek places in the ercek adapted to
the purpose. These places have a pebbly bottom in
shallow water close to the spring or head waters of the
creek. ‘Frout will work their way up over the shallows
of a stream clear to the source; but if there are springs in
the bottom which is the case with almost all creeks they
will invariably spawn there, without going up farther, or
if they find a shallow place with gentle current and gravel
bottom anywhere in the creek, they will use it. Very
few-of the eggs laid in such a place will come to maturity
unless there happens to be a spring. The males some-
times go up the stream first. At this season the males
engage in fierce contests for the possession of the females.

104

These battles often end in death to one or both of the
combatants. That these battles are fierce, the deep
wounds left on the dead bodies of the slain will bear
witness.. They have been known to fight for two days,
and then both be killed. However, when they are once
mated the battles cease and the pair are hardly ever
seriously interfered with. Intrudersin any quantity come
around, seemingly out ot curiosity; but, no matter what
their size, they leave as soon as the husband, for the time
being, darts at them. These intruders are, perhaps,
waiting for a chanee to devour some of the stray eggs
which the female drops. The male and female being
paired, go to the chosen place. They lie side by side to-
. gether when not disturbed ; but the male is occupied most
of the time in driving off interlopers. It is very curious
to see a little male with a big female in charge. Usually
the little trout clears the way for the large one without
a show of resistance. In the ponds when the trout are
fed the largest get the meat while the little ones gev out
of the way, and swim to the further side of the pond, and
even if the meat is thrown where they are they will not
take it until they have waited to see whether it is not
the pleasure of the big fellows to claimit. At thespawn-
ing season all this is changed, they will attack a trout
three times their size if he comes within less than a res-
pectful distance of the female. Often while the male is
driving off one, another on the opposite side will make
tender advances; quick as a dart the proper husband
returns to chase the gay deceiver. In fact his time is
fully occupied with chasing off intruders. If they are too
numerous the female will dart from the nest over which
she hovers, to help her chusen mate. A nest is made in
the gravel by the female. It is simply a shallow hole
about six or eight inches in diameter and about two or

105

three inches deep. This is made by diving down at
intervals against the gravel and as she comes up giving
it a slirt to one side with her tail. Nearly the same
motion as may be often observed when trout dart down
to the bottom and rub their sides against it to free them-
selves from parasites. The dipping motion is continued
for some days until the nest is large enough to suit her.
After lying over this some time the female is ready to
emit a portion of her eggs. The male ties by her side
while she does so. However busy he may have been in
driving off interlopers, he seems to know by instinct
when the female is ready to emit her eggs and is always
by he side. At the time she emits her eggs he emits his
milt over them. They do this with a curious curl up-
ward, which every trout-breeder should see for himself.
Very often the male and female lock jaws together and
their heads slowly rise, apparently trembling with excite-
ment. They emit eggs and milt until a nearly vertical
position ‘is gained, still lying over the hole, then, they
fall away trom one another and the male retires to some
secluded. spot where he remains five or ten minutes rest-
ing. This interval the female employs in covering her
eggs. She will #i7t¢ in with her tail all the stones of pro-
per size to be found near her nest, and if there are not
enough to cover it to her liking she will go above, and,
picking out a particular stone, work it down backward
between the two ventral fins. This labor she continues
until the eggs are completely covered.

After five or ten minutes the male pays her a visit to
see how she is getting along. He looks around a little,
eats a few of the eggs if he can find any uncovered, and
then retires to his lurking place again, where he remains
twenty minutes with only occasional visits to the female
before he recovers from the exhaustion which he has

106

undergone. The female does not seem to rest, she con-
tinues covering the eggs and does not then leave the place.
The reason tor this is that she has not yet emitted all her
eges, for trout occupy some time in their spawning, lay-
ing their eggs at intervals, as they become ripe. Observers
differ as to the length of time occupied in spawning.
The time is not usually more than three days, although
sometimes extending to six days, the female covering the
eggs as she emits them.

When it is understood that some of the eggs do not
sink into the nest, but are carried oft by the current, and
that only a part of every batch escape the jaws of their
parents, and of the many trout swimming around the
spawning place, one may begin to preceive the advantage
of artificial methods. Tomake the danger of loss greater ;
after the nest is finished, the parents gone, and the eggs
nicely hatching, another pair come alony intent on similar
business. The female sees the place where the first has
laid her eggs, and, fancying it a good spot for her own
nest, begins to make one there. As soon as the eggs are
uncovered, by the preparatory operations, the pair eat
up all they can find, and then proceed to lay their own
eggs, only perhaps, to be served in the same way by others.
When it is considered, also, that all kinds of water-fowl
are tond of these eggs and diligently search after them,
and that in the spring time the young fry furnish a large
proportion of food for the older ones, the wonder seems
to be, not that there are so few trout in our streams, but
that there are any left. Another cause of the rapid
diminution of trout in settled countries, is the tame
ducks which are allowed on the stream. They wander
at will peacefully up and down the stream, explore every
foot of the bottom, turning over the gravel with their
long bills, aud leaving very few of the eggs to hatch.

107

Numer or Eees.—The number of spawn which a
trout will give has been variously estimated. They
commence spawning at two years old if well fed and
large. It has been asserted that eggs have been taken
from a trout one year old, or rather taken in the winter
of the same year in which it was hatched. This may be
so, but it is more interesting in a physiological point ot
view than for any practical purpose, as there are so few
that it is not worth while to take them. A trout two
years old will give from two hundred to five hundred eggs,
a three year old from five hundred to one thousand eggs,
a four or five year old trom one thousand to two
thousand eggs. This is only an approximation, as the

-number of spawn depends upon the weight and health of
the fish, and not on its age. In some cases the number
of eggs is much greater, but four thousand is the most
we have ever seen taken from one trout. In estimating
the number of spawn from a given number of fish in a
pond, it must be remembered that some are barren, and
some diseased, and some, perhaps, will not go up into
the race. So that the average yield of two and three
year olds, females only counted, will not be over five
hundred, of four and five year olds, not over one thous-
and each.

The proportion of males to females in a pond should
be about one half. Not so many are necessary to fecun-
date the eggs, and it would be an advantagein one way
to have tewer, since then there would not be so much
fighting in choosing partners, and as all the females do
not spawn at once, one male would be enough to serve
several females ; but, ou the other hand, the males seem
to run out of milt before the females get through laying
their eggs, and towards the close of the season it is often
difficult to obtain males with milt enough to fecundate

108

the eggs; so that it seems better to have in the pond an
equal number of males and females, thereby giving more
chance of saving some of the. milt till the last of the
season. The males are very amorous and will pair again
and again. It very often happens that some of them
die from the exhausting effects ot the season. The best
way is to have an equal number of males and females,
everything considered.

Taxine Spawn sy Hanv.—The trout will not spawn
in the ponds where the bottom consists of large stones
or weeds; but if there is sand or gravel anywhere on
the bottom of the ponds they will spawn on it. There-
fore be careful to have only the raceway, where the
water enters, covered with gravel. In October this may~
be washed and cleaned trom the weeds which will have
grown init during the year. Assoon as the fish are ready
to spawn they will ascend from the ponds into the race-
way seeking a place to nest. Then they are ready to be
taken out and the spawn expressed. At the entrance of
the raceway there should be grooves to receive a frame
on which is tacked a net of coarse bagging about eight
or ten feet long. One corner of this bag should be nar-
rowed, left unsewn, and tied with astring, like the
mouth of a meal sack. The race should be covered over
in spawning time, as the fish will come under the cover
better and are not so likely tobe frightened by any one
passing. If there are fifteen hundred or two thousand.
fish in the pond the net may be used every day in the
height of the season, and when the fish become scarce,
once in two or three days.

Indications of spawning having been observed, the
covers are put on the races, and as soon as there are fish
in the raceway, the net is gathered up in one hand and
the frame held in the other, in such a position as to be

109

put in the grooves as quickly as possible so as to let.
* none of the fish escape from the race. Go quietly to
the spot, and do not walk down the raceway to get to if,
but approach from one side and put the net in the
groove as quickly as you can. The water running down
will swell the net out to its full length. The covers
may be then removed, and with a stick you may frighten
the fish down from the head of the raceway into the net,
As soon as they are all in, the frame may be lifted out
of the water, and the fish are then enclosed in the bag.
A tub of water should be previously brought near the
spot, and the end of the net can be lifted into the tub
and untied, when the fish will all fall into the tub with-
out trouble. Coarse cloth is better for the purpose than
netting, as it can be more easily tacked to the frame,
does not hurt the fish so much, and lasts longer ; -besides,
the water swells it ont and holds it open for the fish to
run in better than it would a net, and the fish not seeing
you through the cloth as they would through an open
mesh, are not scared, and do not try to run back up the
race.

It must be remembered in this and all subsequent
handling of the fish, that it the outer skin of a trout is

. broken or abraded by the hand or in contact with any
hard substance, it will, in nineteen cases out of twenty,
cause the fish to die. A white fungus appears on it first
where the skin is broken ; this fungus spreads over the
fish until it is sometimes half covered with it before it
dies. We speak of the covering of trout as “skin,”
because it feels like it and looks like it, although in
reulity trout are covered with minute scales. They will
get over a deep and clear cut much more quickly than
over 4 bruise where the cutiele or skin only is broken.

110

The fish being now in the tub must be taken to the
hatching house as quickly as possible. There are proba-
bly in the tub some fifteen or twenty fish, and all the
operations must be conducted as quickiy as possible so
that they will not die in the smal! quantity of water to
which they are confined. So long as the fish lie quiet
in the bottom ot the tub there is sufficient air in the
water to sustain them, but as soon:as they begin to come
to the surface and try to leap out, it is asign that the
air is nearly exhansted and the water should be renewed.
They will also open their mouths wide, just as a person
would when gasping for air. The question has some-
times been asked how long a trout would live out of
water; the answer is, about as long as a man would live
under the water. Trout will die in a tub out of which
the oxygen has been exhausted by their breathing, more
quickly than they would die in a cloudy day if out of
the water entirely. —

A fire may be made in the hatching-house to warm
your fingers, which will probably get cool while engaged:
in this operation. A six-quart milk-pan is to be pro-
vided, if you have many fish, and also another tub of
water, into which to put the fish after they are deprived
oftheir spawn. Select a fish, and holding it over the
milk pan, which has been dipped in water to wet it, rub it
gently with the fore finger and thumb, from the pectoral
fins to the vent. A little experience will show how this
is tobe done. Ifthe fish is ripe, a few drops of pearly
colored milt, or orange hued eggs, will be forcibly ex-
pressed into the pan. If the milt is not of this color, it
shows that the milt is not good, and another male must
be taken and treated in a similar manner. The female
must be pressed more slowly and oftener than the male.
If the eggs are not ripe, by passing the hand lightly over

111

the belly, you will feel them beneath, hard, like shot.
In that case put the fish back into the pond, for the eggs
to ripen. When the eggs are ripe, the belly will be soft
and flabby, and the eggs beneath the skin feel loose and
change their position at the touch. So loose are they,
that by holding the fish in a horizontal position, and
then moving it up and down, the eggs will change, and
fall downwards or upwards as if in a bottle. The opera-
tion must be continued until the fish are emptied of eggs
and milt. The eggs in the pan may, at intervals, be
gently stirred by moving the pan; this is to change the
position of the eggs, so as to be sure that all come in
contact with the milt, and when the operation is complet-
ed a half-pint of water is poured on them and the pan
set in one of the hatching troughs through which the
water is running ; this will keep the eggs up to the proper
temperature, and prevent a sudden change when they
aré transferred to the trough. The eggs will now agglut-
inate or stick to the pan, and to each other, for a little
while.

In handling the fish, gentleness is essential. A trout,
it is well known, may be tickled under the belly, and
rather seems to like it, and will lie quiet in your hand
while your are doing it. By putting the hand quietly
in the water, moving it cautiously around the fish, and
gently lifting him he may be raised high and dry, and will
lie quietly without a struggle. There is a way of grasp
ing a trout firmly, but gently, so that he cannot squirm,
and yet not hard enough to break the skin.

We give a cut of handling a large fish which shows the
proper position, except that the fish had to be held too
high from the pan in order to get a good photograph of
the operation, and that the operator is lett handed.

SETH GREEN TAKING SPAWN FROM A SALMON TROUT.
THE PROPER POSITION.

The fish must be grasped by the head, if you are right-
handed, with the right hand, and by the tail, or rather
the lower part of the body, with the other hand, and

“held over the pan with the belly near the bottom of the
pan. As soon asthe fish is quiet, the right hand may be
gently slipped down from the head, and ‘the fore finger
and thumb used to press the belly. The fish still

113

being held by the tail, and lower part in the
left hand, and partly supported, perhaps, by the
sleeve of the coat, or by the bare arm, and the
remaining fingers of the right hand. Every one will
have a way in which he can do this best, and will
find it out after afew trials. Ifthe fish is large and
struggles violently, the usual direction given in the
. books, is to let an assistant hold the head. We counsel
you, if the fish struggles violently, whether it be large or
small, to drop it back into the tub, manipulate another,
and after a few minutes try it again; it will lie quiet
after a while. If you attempt to hold a fish, which
struggles violently, you will be very apt to kill it. It,
in addition to your own two hands, you get the two
hands of an assistant on the struggling fish, there is not
much chance of saving him alivé. A better way is to file
the barb off of a No. 4 hook, then tie it with three feet
of line to a pliant switch three feet long. Hook your
fish on this, thruugh the jaw, and holding it ina tub of
water, let it struggle until it is exhausted. Then the
hook can be slipped out, no injury having been done to
the trout, which can be handled without difficulty.

The large trout are harder to handle, struggle more vio-
lently, aud are more apt to be killed than the smaller
ones and do not average so many eggs, although now
and then one will have a very large number. There-
fore, we consider that the best fish for breeders, when
the operation is conducted by hand, are those weighing
from one-quarter of a pound to one pound.

The pan should be elevated at one side, during the
operation of taking the spawn, by standing it on a block
half an inch thick, and enough water will drip from the
fish so that by tilting and shaking it the milt can be
brought in contact with the eggs. !ormerly it was the

114

custom to half fill the pan with water, but now the eggs
are mixed as dry as they can be, and it is found that a
far higher percentage are impregnated. The milt seems
to drown in water quickly. Only enough eggs should
be taken to cover the bottom of the pan with a single
Jayer. ‘If more eggs are to be had, more pans should be
used, and as soon as all the fish have been handled they
should be returned to the water.

It takes very little milt to impregnate a large number
of eggs; but, in practice, we generally take all the milt
we can get out of the haul. It is sometimes our custom
also to put the male fish, whose milt has been exhausted,
into a pond by themselves, to keep them from running
up into the race again and troubling the females. This
isa very good plan, it you have plenty of ponds and
plenty of fish. If you have but a small number of males
compared with the number of females, put them back
again into the pond, as they will probably have a
second and third renewal of milt.

After stripping a female once she should be returned
to the tub from which she was taken, and should be
stripped again after a short time during which other fish
are being handled. This is to get the last egg from her,
and if it is not done a few will remain and she wiil go
on the spawning beds to deposit them as if she had a
full supply. If she is cleaned entirely she will not bother -
herself or her owner about the matter again that season.
The California mountain trout retain their eggs and milt
with more determination than our brook trout and must
be humored likela cow that will not give down her milk
to any one but the creature for which nature intended
it. After the trout are handled they are returned to
different tubs according to their sizes, as this is the occa-

115

sion that we take for sorting them, and then they are
returned to their proper ponds.

Twenty to twenty-five minutes having now elapsed
since the pan of eggs was set in the trough, gently
tip up the pan. If the eggs are loose and roll separately
as you move it, they are ready for subsequent operations ;
if not yet loose, let them remain a while longer.

The semen of the male is tull of spermatazoa or ani-
maleules. These will live for ten or fifteen minutes in
water ; dry, they will live six hours. There is a hole
for the reception of these sperms in each egg. The egg
always sinks into the water with this hole at the top.
It receives one of the animalcules only by this opening,
which then closes. There seems to beaspecial arrange-
ment of Providence that the eggs shall agglutinate—
stick fast to each other and to everything they touch—
so that they shall not float away until they are impreg-
nated and the trout has had time to cover them. In the
eggs of other fish, such as bass and perch, the same
arrangement is seen; only they stick fast the moment
they touch anything, and stay there until hatched out,
while the substance that fastens the eggs of the trout
dissolves as soon as the mother has had time to protect
them.

The eggs will now be loose and lying on the bottom
of the pan. Pour off the dirty water until only suffi-
cient is left to cover the eggs. If this is done very
gently, the eggs, although very light, will remain at the
bottom, as they are somewhat heavier than water; then
sink the pan into the water, at the same time tipping it
as described in the chapter on “Eggs,” and take it half full
of watre. The influx of water will wash the eggs
around sumewhat, and dilute the dirty water remaining

116

in the pan. This is to be poured off, as before, and the
operation repeated, until the water looks perfectly clear.
There will be some dirt and droppings of the trout still
left, which can be carefully picked out with the nippers.
If an egg should Lappen to be broken, while being taken
from the trout, every vestige of it should be carefully
removed, as the slimy, sticky contents will get on the
other eggs and kill them: The eggs are now ready to be
placed in the trough, and having previously raised the
water in the nest to which you wish to transfer them, by
placing a strip across proceed as described in the chapter
on “Eggs.” .
From the above description, it will be seen that a few
lessons in artificial impregnation, from an experienced
hand, will probably save the beginner much time and
money. A written description of the process, however
yood, can never take the place of verbal instruction ;
partly because it never conveys exactly the same idea to
all, partly because seeing a thing is better than hearing
about it, and mostly because a written description is a
general one, and hardly ever tells of the minutize and va-
riations which constautly occur in practice. Asan examn-
ple of this, it has been urged, all through this book, that
in moving the eggs the beginner should not touch them
with the feather, but should move the water over them,
so that the eggs should follow the current thus created ;
also that he should be very careful, in removing the dead
eggs, not to touch the others with the nippers. But, we
constantly move the eggs with the feather, and push to
one side the sound eggs with the nippers, in order to get
at the dead ones. The reason simply is, that long practice
has given the knack of doing it, without injury to the
eggs, that a tyro does not possess.

117

In every process of the management and handling of
eges we have urged the greatest care and delicacy.
Others however, claim that a rougher treatment will an-
swer equally well and save much trouble. We give the
following method adopted by Mr. Wilmot of Canada, as a
specimen case. He says: “I have adopted a new plan
this year, and I have found it te answer admirably, and
infinitely better than the one I have practiced hitherto.
I formerly practiced the same system that I allude to,
namely, taking the eggs from the fish and putting the
milt upon them, and then allowing them to remain twenty
or thirty minutes. The system I have adopted this year,
I think, will be conclusive in itself as showing the benefit
that we have derived from it and the amount of labor
saved. The system that I have adopted is this: we take
the female fish out of the water and strip her as rapidly
as possible; perhaps two or three fish are taken out one
after the other, so that in some instances we will have
nearly a gallon of eggs—a half of a gallon any way, or
three-fourths of a gallon—in one vessel. We then take
the male fish and begin stripping him in a like manner
to get the milt. An attendant is standing immediately
alongside ot the other gentleman who is manipulating.
He has a measure which is calculated to hold a thousand
or two thousand, as the case may be, and he stands im-
mediately alongside and dips these eggs out as rapidly as
possible and puts them on the breeding-tray, aod the
breeding-tray is put in the hatching-trough. In that way
I have impregnated a larger number of eggs by far than
* I have in the last seven years in which I have been
engaged in this work. It is simple in itself, and so differ-
ent from what has hitherto been practiced, that I thought
it advisable to mention it here, because it is so much.
better than any other system I know of.”

118

This manipulation requires that the eggs should be
ladled directly into dry trays and handled quite roughly.
It. may answer for salmon, but is not the practice that
we recommend, either for them or tor trout. There is
more trouble in our method, but the results we are con.
fident, are correspondingly superior.

‘Deap Ova.—The following is taken from the Ohio
Report on fisheries, as it expresses our views on the pos-
sibilities and limits of impregnating the eggs of dead fish:

An opinion has long been prevalent that the roe or ova of a dead
female fish could be fertilized by milt taken from a dead male fish;
in other words, it was firmly believed that the ova taken from the
dead fish, as they were opened and the entrails removed at the fish
packing-houses in Sandusky, became fertilized by the milt from
dead males when their entrails were removed and all cast into a
common heap as offal, mingling with the ova of the females, and
that then and there the ova became as thoroughly fertilized or im-
pregnated as if both the fish were alive. Many otherwise intelli-
gent and well-informed persons very freely asserted that during the
winter months thousands of millions of young whitefish ‘‘ just out
of the egg” were to be seen around about the wharves of the pack-
ing-houses in Sandusky bay.

Believing it to be of the utmost importance in artificial repro-
duction of fishes to know with absolnte certainty whether the ova
of a dead fish can be fertilized, Mr. Charles Carpenter, of Kelley’s
Island, was instructed to institute a series of experiments to deter-
mine this matter beyond any peradventure. He was instructed to
obtain both the milt and ova of fishes dead one hour and those dead
several houra, and subject them to the process of fertilization ; then
with the milt of the dead male to fertilize the ova of a live female;
then with the milt of the live male to fertilize the ova of a dead
female; finally, to preserve the milt of a live fish and fertilize ova
directly after extrusion, with the milt, after it had been taken six,
twelve, eighteen, to twenty-four hours from the male.

The results of the fertilizing experiments is to the effect that
immediately after the death of the fish, male or female, the ova,
under favorable circumstances, can be fertilized; that the milt can be
preserved some hours without losing ali its fertilizing power; that
milt of fish within an hour after its death will fertilize almost as

119

- well as that taken from a live fish. These experiments were made
with whitefish (coregonus alba) milt and ova—those of other species
may differ widely in susceptibility of impregnation or fertilization
after the death of the parent Statements are made that milt of
the trout kind has been shipped from California to Boston without
parting with its fertilizing influence entirely.

Mr. Carpenter learned, furthermore, that when a single drop or
two of milt was all that could be obtained, and it’ appeared thickish,
that the, fish was about exhausted and such milt contained con-
paratively few spermatozoa—hence it was almost worthless for the
purpose for which it was intended. But when the milt was in con-

re siderable quantity and was very fluid, then it contained compara-
tively the maximum quantity of spermatozoa, and a single drop of
it would fertilize more ova than twenty drops of the thick. Both
milt and ova were entirely worthless if exposed to a temperature
below 31°. This degree of temperature appears to deprive the milt
of its fertilizing influences, and deadens the susceptability of the
ova of being fertilized.

Many statements are made by fishermen and others to the effect
that the eggs of fishes are often found frozen in ice on the shore or
banks of streams, as well as ponds and lakes, and afterwards
hatched successfully.

Some experiments, carefully conducted by Mr. Carpenter, dem-
onstrate that whenever the eggs are subjected to a temperature
below 32° Fahrenheit, that vitality ceases.

Statements have been found going the rounds of the press, to the
effect that fish have been found in the streams, frozen stiff, and
afterwards restored to life. All experiments made in this direction
have resulted in the absolute death of the subjects of the experi-
ments. Experiments made by us in fertilizing eggs after they were
extruded, resulted in showing that where five minutes were allow-
ed to elapse after the eggs were obtained, and before the milt was
applied, only four per cent. were impregnated, and of all those that
were left a longer time none were impregnated.

120

CHAPTER X.

GENERAL REMARKS ON TROUT
BREEDING,

There are other methods of hatching the eggs which
are partly-natural and partly artificial, and which per-
sons can use who are not in condition to oversee the

eggs during their long period of incubation. Framesof __

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 getat them. This yields a moderate per-
centage, 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 aboveit.
The upper frame is ot 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

121

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 ot 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 bot-
tom 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 cov--
ers 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 ex-
posed a single egg to the atmosphere, without any trou-
ble in handling the fish, and without any loss of the

breeders.
6

122

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 con-
venient to handle when they are filled with gravel.
Enough uf 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 nataral
impregnation, thau 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.

Srocxine Ponps.—The question is often asked by begin-
ners, 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. Itis much cheaper

123 :

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 ex-
perience will be invaluable to you for the next year, and
you will have a stock of breeders, to furnish eggs, as you
want them.

Stocxina Streams.—Persons who own trout-streams
would very often like to have them re-stocked, and some
make feeble attempts to do it, by putting in a few thou-
sand young fish. This would re stock a small stream, if
it were done every year, for some years, But it is folly
to suppose that a large stream which has been fished for
years, and thousands taken from it every year, can be re-
stocked guickly by putting in a few hundred, or even a
few thousand young. Ifyou attempt to stock your streams
at all, don’t do it half-way. Remember that the less fish
you put in, the longer you will have to wait. It is much
easier to stock a stream than to raise fish in ponds;
because the young fish will take care ot themselves better
than any one can take care of them; and if they are pro-
tected from danger, until they are forty-five days old,
they are then tolerably able to look out for themselves.
In stocking a stream, the young fish should be taken to
its head-waters, or put into the springs, or little rivulets,
which empty into it. As they grow larger, they will
gradually settle down stream, and run up again to the
head-waters in winter to spawn.

124

When putting fish into a stream, do not put them sud-
denly into water much warmer than that of the vessel in
which they are brought. They will not so likely be in-
jured by putting them into colder water; but try to avoid
all sudden changes, and gradually raise or lower the tem-
perature of the water in which you bring them, until it is
even with that of the stream in which they are to be placed.
—Remember that it will be two years before you can
hope to sell any fish for table use; so do not enter into
the business unless you have some means of support for
that time. The persons who have the most natural
advantages for this business are those farmers, who have
springs or cold streams on their farm—now almost use-
less-—but which may be turned to advantage in raising
fish. They, depending on their farm meanwhile for
support, can give time and attention to the experiment,
and engage in it altogether if it succeeds, or abandon it,
without serious loss, if they fail. It is peculiarly adapted
to them, also, because it demands most attention in the
winter, when they have least to do on the tarm. Mean-
while, it would be well tor impecunious young men,
seeking fortunes, to leave the business to capitalists and
corporations.

To those who wish to raise fish for their own table
use, or to afford sport in angling, we would say that we
can think of no way in which a little time and money
can be so well laid out as in trout-raising.

A prejudice existed in the public mind for a time
against raising brook trout for public waters. This was
regarded as interfering with private trout breeders and
tending rather to the encouragement of sporting than to
the increase of the supply of fish food. But this preju-
dice has been overcome. The advantages of some
healthful and exhilarating out door amusement are press-

125

ing themselves more and more upon a nation of hard
working men, who are confined day after day, and often
half the nights, at the desk or in the counting room, and
who suffer to so large a degree from paralysis and soften-
ing of the brain. All work and no play has been found
not only to make Jack a dull, but a sickly and miserable
boy. Our ancestors had in a thinly settled country as
much physical labor as their bodies needed, but their
descendants are suffering for the want of out door exer-
cise.

Nor is this all. Perhaps in no branch of fish culture
are the results more immediate and more apparent in
the mere return of food than in brook trout culture.
Innumerable inland streams that were once inhabited by
trout are now wholly depleted and denuded, not only of
that- kind of fish, but of all others. They are bright,
sparkling, noisy, like some men and utterly empty.
They make an instantaneous and wonderful return for
restocking. Fry placed in them are absolutely safe.
There are no enemies to threaten their existence. They
have the whole water to themselves without even a par-
asite to bother them. Food is abundant, for it has been
increasing for years, and they not only live in security,
but grow with rapidity. In the year 1875, the State of
New York directed its Commissioners to purchase a
trout breeding establishment, and to raise and distribute
brook trout. Since then some million and a half have
been hatched yearly, and many streams have been re-
plenished. In every instance the results have been most
gratifying. It would seem almost as though every fish
lived and increased in size steadily, till he was caught.
Those that were taken first were small of course, those
that were left had the more food and by next year
yielded nearly as much in weight although fewer

126

in numbers, as the first. The following year the fish
were still larger and without allowing anything for the
natural increase, furnished asplendid return for the first
investment.

This addition to the yield of any stream is so appar-
ent as to convince the most skeptical. It is not to be
disputed or gainsayed, and those who have once visited a
trout stream the year after it has been stocked and have
seen the young fish then from three to five inches long
darting out at every step from under weeds and roots
for the entire length of thestream, will need no further
proof that trout culture is eminently practical. In such
cases you may almost say that the number taken from a
stream will depend simply upon the number you put in,
while the cost of hatching and transporting them is as
nothing compared with the yield, of pleasure and pfofit.
No brook that has once contained trout need any longer
be without a good supply of them. Shad and salmon
go to the sea, and when they return only swell the nat-
ural yield which varies at best and is influenced by
other causes, so the direct effect is not clearly seen.
Whitefish and salmon trout are almost lost in our vast
lakes and rivers, but brook trout remain where they are
placed, grow and are caught among the residents of the
neighborhood, and contribute directly to the support
and amusement of the people. Streams that have been
wholly worthless in producing food are once more replen
ished and are often rendered a very valuable adjunct to
a farm or country place. Trout will always bring a
good price in market, and the farmer who has a good
trout stream or pond on his place can rent the fishing
to advantage if he does not care to keep it for himself,
and as population increases such fishing privileges will
become more and more valuable,

127

Transrortinc Live Fise.—Many expensive tanke
have been constructed for transporting fish alive, answer-
ing the purpose more or less perfectly. We give here a
simple and inexpensive method: Take a barrel or cask,
washed until it is clean and sweet. Fit a cover to it
tightly to prevent the water splashing over while on the
cars or wagon. A piece of canvass tied over the top,
answers every purpose. A hole one inch ia diameter
may be made in the middle of the cover. Fill with
water within six inches of the top, as the agitation of
the water on the journey helps to aerate it. Tie some
ice in a piece of flannel and fasten it to the side of the
cask near the top so that it shall not swing about and
bruise the fish, and the cold drip from the ice will sink
to the bottom. If the journey is to be a prolonged one,
fit the nozzle of a common bellows with a tin tube long
enough to reach to the bottom of the cask, and by blow-
ing a little now and then the fish can be carried thous-
ands of miles. We do not give this as the best plan,
but as a cheap and inexpensive method answering a
very good purpose. The best apparatus would be a
metal tank of some kind with double walls, permanent
ice chamber in the middle, and automatic air-pump.

Young whitefish are in condition to transport from
the first to the tenth of February; salmon trout from
the tenth to the thirtieth; brook trout from February
twentieth to April fifteenth and should be put in the
small spring rivulets one and two feet wide, that supply
the main stream. No man, while transporting fish,
should go to sleep and allow them to be left alone while
in the cans, as it will be sure death to them. A man
may think he knows all about carrying fish, because he
has carried a few minnows in a pail for fishing; but he
will fail sure if he does not follow the directions to the

128

letter. Six twelve-gallon cans filled with fish is all one
man can take care of.

We use, ordinarily, the common milk cans, and have
found them to answer. The water is aerated when fresh
eannot be got by being poured from one bucket to an-
other, held some distance apart. The older the fish, the
more frequent changes of water they will need. In or-
der to do this when traveling by railroad the water is
drawn off by the syphon; make atube 24 inches in
diameter as long as the can, cover the bottom and 6
inches up the tabe with wire lining and put the syphon
in it when the water is drawn off. Draw the water
as low as is safe, just before reaching the station,
when fresh water can be turned in from the pump, or
drawn from a hydrant. A milk can will hold about
7,000 whitefish fry, or 5,000 brook-trout fry, or 4,000
salmon-trout fry, according to the length of the journey
and opportunities of changing the water. They will
carry only about fifteen full grown fish of any species.

All fish should be deposited as near the head of a lake
as possible, that they may not go into the outlet
before they become familiar with the waters. The
young fish should be deposited during the night when
most large fish do not feed, and will find hiding places
before morning. They can be transported much more
easily and safely in cold weather than in warm.

In all operations with fish eggs we cannot too strongly
impress on our readers the necessity for the utmost care
in handling. Fish eggs are different from birds eggs
and often have a tough tenacious skin, but they are as
easily killed by rough usage as the shell of the smallest
bird is easily broken by a fall. They should be moved
and touched with the utmost delicacy, and never except

129

on necessary occasions. It would be better if they had
a thin shell, for then persons would more quickly see the
fatal results of any carelessness.

Mr. Patmer’s metuop. —Mr. Palmer, one of the most
successful fish culturists of the West, has kindly furnished
us the following communication describing his method
of growing trout which differs a little from that in
general use. He recommends the use of zine troughs,
but we doubt whether that metal would answer in all
waters which might when loaded with certain substances
have a chemical effect upon them that would be deleter-
ious to the eggs. However, under his management and
-in his location they answer well :

For hatching of trout and salmon, I prefer zinc lined troughs,
they are easily kept clean, and the fish are where they are wanted un-
til they exhaust the food sac. While I can not hatch as many in this
way as with the Brackett tray, or Holton box, I think I can hatch
healthier fish.

My hatching troughs are twelve feet long and eighteen inches wide,
and I hatch from fifty to eighty thousand tothe trough. I run the
water about an inch deep over them, and let on all the water I can
without washing the eggs off.

I cleanse my water by settling it in deep boxes before it goes on
the eggs. For the last ten or twelve years my trout fry have been
remarkably healthy, prior to that Ihad lost them by tens of thous-
ands, and think that the cleanliness and simplicity of the process has
much to do with their health. My experience, not alone around my
own ponds, but with others that I had occasion to visit, is that the
longer trout are confined or domesticated the healthier their progeny
becomes, and in. this connection I would say that this applies to
their pisciverousness or canibalism, I have one pond in which I
have trout from two to eighteen inches long, and never see one de-
vour another. Taming them for generations seems to take away
their wild voracious nature ; of course I would not recommend the
raising of different ages together, and think when mixed together, if
neglected, they would return to their old practice of living off one
another.

130
Every trout breeder knows that the difficult stage with themis
from the time they absorb their sac to the time they get to feeding
well, and much of the trouble is to get them to eat.

Some ten years ago in my perplexity to find something that they
would eat, I thought 1 would try a little sweet cream. Well, it float-
ed off like oil, and I said to myself that ‘‘any fool might have known
that,” and set down the cream and went to thinking again. Next
morning I went out, and whilst standing at the head of the trough

. thinking what I would prepare them for breakfast, I picked up the
cream, which had frozen over night, and dropped a little in, and to
my surprise it broke up into little fine particles, much like corn-
meal, and floated on the water, and I had the satisfaction to see the
little fellows grab it. Since then I have fed my fry with it for about
two weeks, then mixed it with liver, and finally came to all liver. I
think the secret of their taking to cream so kindly is that it is so
easily swallowed, and have often watched my young fry struggling,
straining and gasping, trying to swallow the smallest particles of
meat.

I sell trout eggs at four dollars a thousand, and the young fish at
eight dollars a thousand when they absorb the sac, and add eight
dollars a thousand each month that I keep them. After that find I
that this ratio brings them, when ready for the table, to about fifty
cents a pound, the price at which I sell trout for the table.

I have land-locked Atlantic and Pacific salmon, and crosses be-
tween the Pacific salmon and the trout, but would not recommend
them for pond culture. The trout will make much greater growth
on the same food than they will, and do much better. I sell them at
half the price of trout but never get an order duplicated.

I feed livers, melts, kidneys, and sometimes lungs of animals that
I pay the butchers two and a half cents a pound for, yet my fish do
not cost me as much pound for pound, as the beef and pork I raise.
The reason is that I keep my ponds well stocked with insect-food.
I would rather lose the use of one or two ponds at the head of the
stream, and devote them to insect breeding, than to have the insect
food fail, as by this means I not only raise my fish cheaper but get a
better fish than those who feed exclusively prepared food.

Please excuse my tediousness in this description; I think fish cul-
ture worth a good deal of talk.

Yours,
A, PALMER,

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Fisaways.—The selection of a proper form of fishway
is a difficult matter, and has never yet. been determined.
Several forms and plans have been selected, from the
plain, open, inclined shute to a system of compartments
divided from one another and stopping the water by ob-
structions. Fish will pass up these, even shad, which
are among the most timid, but the results bear little
comparison to what would take place with an open
river and free access to the waters alone. Many fish
never find the mouth of the pass, ‘and others are
afraid to ascend it. By a law passed in 1874, by
the New York Legislature, the commissioners were
required to cause to be constructed in the upper
aqueduct, in the town of Niskayuna, Schenectady
county, a “Brewer's Patent Chute and Fishway.”
This direction of the legislature was not founded on any
act, declaration or advice of the Commissioners, and there
was no discretion left them or called for by the act in
question. They were to make the contract and see to
the proper execution of the work, which they did. The
work was well and reasonably done, and while declining
yet to express a positive opinion in a matter of such doubt
and uncertainty, we have been favorably impressed with
the working of the fishway, and hope it will prove what
has been so long sought without complete success, an
easy and moderately expensive method of overcoming
obstructions in a river, either placed there by nature or
by man, and which form an insurmountable obstacle to
the aecent of fish.

This fishway is twenty (20) feet wide between piers or
side walls, its lineal distance is forty-one (41) feet, height
of dam five (5) feet, incline one (1) foot in ten. The
passage-way for fish is eighteen (18) inches wide by
fifteen (15) inches deep. There are six (6) angles, three
(3) on each side; and built of timber, stone and iron.

132

Brewer’s Improved Chute and Fishway was patented
April 30, 1872, and the contract had to be awarded to
J. D, Brewer. This work was pronounced by those
present at the opening, to be an entire success. The
inventor and contractor in presence of at least twenty
gentlemen, with a round scoop net of thirteen inches in
diameter, took out two fish at a haul, two thirds of the
way up the ascent, and numbers of the fish were taken in
the fishway when they were going up. As soon as the
coffer dam at the upper end was taken away the roily:
water rushed down the fishway.; the fish, thinking that
there was a flood, rushed up. Some were taken with a
scoop net nearly at the top of the dam.

Improving Srreams.—Where a person has a small
stream on his place which is adapted for trout, but is not
large enough to accommodate many, or grow them to a
good size, it can, at very small expense, be made a con-
siderable source of pleasure and profit. All that has to
be done is, to dig small ponds or long, narrow holes, say
three or four rods long, and five feet deep, and throw
some logs or brush in them. If possible, lay the logs
crosswise near the bottom, in order to have the water
work under them and make a clean “scour.” Then all
that has to be done is to place some trout fry in the brook
above the ponds. As the ‘fish grow they will settle
down into the ponds where they can find shelter and
safety, and whence they can be taken with a hook
and line whenever they are wanted; the danger of foul-
ing around the brushwood being an additional excite-
ment to the angler. The fish need not be fed, as food
sufficient will accumulate upon the logs and brush.

133

CHAPTER XI.

OTHER VARIETIES.

Graytine.—Before passing to the consideration of
other kinds of fish, we desire to speak of species allied to
the salmon and trout, although different in many of their
habits.

Much excitement was created in the year 1873 among
ichthyologists, by the discovery in some of the streams
of the state of Michigan, of a variety of fish not previously
supposed to exist in the United States, called the grayling.
The grayling is a much esteemed European fish, common
on the continent and in certain streams of England. It
is a good sporting fish and excellent for the table, and as
it spawns in a different season of the year from trout, it
furnishes food and sport at a time when trout cannot be
killed or eaten. The existence of such a variety might
be of great benefit to the older states if its acclimation
was possible and it should prove as well adapted to eastern
waters as to those of the state of Michigan.

Mr. Seth Green proceeded to Michigan in the spring
of 1874. So little was known of the habits of the fish that
he arrived after the spawning season was nearly closed.
On the 30th of April he reached the Au Sable river where
they are supposed to be most abundant, although they
are known to exist in all the streams of that region. The
weather was still very cold and much difficulty was ex-
perienced in effecting the purpose of the expedition. The
water of the river was found to be forty degrees Fahren-
heit, but the air at that time ranged from sixteen to
twenty degrees. Finding that the spawning season was
over, Mr. Green dug up some impregnated eggs which

134

had been deposited in the natural method, and capturing
some living fish, left on his way back with eighty large
grayling in eight twelve gallon milk cans, and one
hundred and six eggs. He arrived at Caledonia on the
6th of May, with the loss of one dead fish and two tatally
injured. From conversations had with trappers and
hunters, it is supposed that grayling are found in the Au
Sable, Manistee, Muskegon, Boardman, Au Gray, Rifle,
Marquette and Cheboygan; in the latter in company
with the brook trout. The latter fact would go to con-
firm the impression that grayling would live in our trout
streams.

The adult grayling were placed at first in a pond with
a small water supply. Here they did not seem to do very
well and were soon transfered to another pond which had
astrong current. In this they recovered, but preferred
to lie at. the head of the pond and in the quickest current.
They soon became tame and mixed with the brook trout
without being molested. They were fed the same food
and treated in all respects as the brook trout.

The eggs, one hundred and six in number, were hatched
out in the same way as the eggs of the brook trout; their
incubation taking about the same time. The young fish
looked at first like the whitefish ; but the young grayling
is larger and has a larger sac than the white fish, though
smaller than the brook trout. They took food very
readily and though it was very neat work at first to feed
them, after they had grown a little they gave no trouble.
There is no doubt that they can be raised artifically, but
the question remains whether that is worth while. They.
are more delicate to handle, require as mauch care and
must. have equally difficult conditions.

When first hatched they lie on the bottom like young
trout, but commence to swim on the third. or fourth day.

135

May 5—Eggs arrived from;Michigan.
“ 8—First egg hatched.
** 11—All eggs hatched out; one lost.
“ 12—First fish began to rise and eat.
* 15—All swimming.

The eggs are nearly as large as trout eggs, but of less
specific gravity. The fry resemble the young of the
whitefish. They were about three inches long in Decem-
ber. Ot the value of the discovery the future only can
determine, but some excellent results may still flow from
this undertaking. These are the first and only grayling
ever hatched artifically. Up to the present time, how-
ever, March 1879, the grayling have exhibited no desire
to spawn, and do not enter the raceway for that purpose.
What they would doifturned out free in our eastern streams
we cannot say, but when kept in confinement they will
not spawn with us, and hence are useless to the fish cul-
turist, whatever they may yet prove to be to the sportsman.

Buve Bacxep Trovr—Salmo Oguossa.—This fish
which is a species of char or salmo umbla of Europe, has
only been noticed heretotore in some of the lakes of Maine,
although varieties of char are found in most of the waters
of Canada and the far north. Its characteristic peculiari-
ties were pointed out some years ago by Girard, who con-
ferred on it its name after the original Indian title of the
lake in which it is found, now known as the Rangeley.
Although it is very like the trout in appearance, wanting
only the distinctive scarlet or carmine specks, in habits it
is quite dissimilar. It passes most of the year in the
deep water, only coming to shore in October, and invari-
ably at the same day to spawn. It then appears in
countless numbers and crowds all the inlets and_ ontlets
of the lake. It remains only until the act of reproduction
is complete when it returns to its ordinary resting place.

136

Its meat is said to be excellent and it is certainly very
prolific. It is supposed to be the principal food of the
brook trout of that region which attain the enormous
weight of eight or ten pounds, the largest reached by any
of the true brook trout in America.

A few of these fish have been lately sold in New York.
market. Before that they had not been an article of
commerce, nor much prized as a delicacy even by the
inhabitants of the country where they dwelt.

Its first dorsal fin is higher and narrower than that of
the trout, its caudal is more forked and its sides have no
carmine or vermillion specks, but instead large yellow
spots which become a pale blue after the fish has been
kept some time out of water. It makes its appearance in
the outlets and inlete of the lake on the tenth day of
October, when it comes up to spawn. It is punctual in
its yearly re-appearance for that purpose to the very day,
and the inhabitants expect to draw much of their wiuter
supplies of smoked and salted fish from its hordes. It
averages from seven to nine inches i in length--never more,
and in weight three to four ounces.

In 1874 the Fishery Commissioners of Maine succeeded
in obtaining 30,000 of the eggs of this variety, and as
they had more than they needed, 5,000 of them were
purchased for our state. We regret to say they did not
reach the state hatching house in very good condition,
nearly a thonsand dying on the way or the day after their
arrival. Some hundreds of them however, hatched out.

We have reason to believe that the blue backed trout
is found in Oregon, and possibly in some of the lakes of
Northern California, but its culture artificially, will not
probably prove profitable.

Smett.—These fish which are a variety of the salmon-
oids are to be treated very differently from the trout and

137

salmon, for their eggs are exceedingly adhesive. They
ascend the rivers in early spring. In the neighborhood
of New York they are caught largely in the Raritan
and Passaic rivers.

About five miles above the city of New Brunswick
there is a dam which blocks the river, and which the
smelt cannot surmount. The fishing grounds, extend
from the old wooden city bridge down the river for two
or more miles; very little, if any fishing being done
above the bridge, on account partially of the little depth
of the water, partially because the smelt appear to pass
down the river again, after being impeded in their on-
ward course by the dam. The smelt are caught entirely
with seines, which include in their sweep, nearly the en-
tire breadth of the river, averaging about thirty rods.

The seines vary from thirty to sixty fathoms in length,
one hundred and eighty to three hundred and sixty feet,
and are about fifteen feet in breadth, with meshes one-
half inch square. The time of working the seines depends
much upon the state of the weather and the water, but
as a rule, the fishermen are engaged early in the
morning and again in the afternoon.

The smelt spawn throughout the month of March, the
eggs are small and so adhesive that they must be deposit-
ed upon the trays where they are to remain. There are
about forty thousand eggs to each medium-sized fish,
and they will hatch in about a month with a temperature
of water of from thirty-five degrees to forty degrees, or
in the ordinary water in the river in about eighteen days.
The spawning fish, as fast as captured, should be placed
in tubs, or, if not ripe, they may be kept in ponds till the
eggs mature. When they are to be handled a tray
dipped in water should be placed in a tin pan without
any water in it. The eggs are stripped directly on the

138

tray, and the milt, as soon thereafter as possible, then a
little water should be added, just enough to cover the
tray, and the whole shaken about till the eggs are evealy
distributed. A few minutes expire before they adhere
finally, but when adhesion once takes place they must
remain undisturbed till they hatch. The time of devel-
opment isso short that there is no trouble in their man-
agement, and they may be hatched in unlimited numbers.
The spawners may be stripped directly into a shad hatch-
ing box and that left in the current of the river, and a
large number hatched in an ordinary fish car, in which
the parents had been confined to mature their eggs and
in which they had spawned of. themselves. The trays
are removed to the hatching boxes after the eggs have
adhered by the hardening of the mucous matter that sur-
rounds them and then treated like trout eggs except that
the dead fish cannot be removed. .

Waurreriso —We have received the following com-
munication on the ‘hatching and raising of whitefish.
No one has had greater experience or success with this
peculiarly delicate and difficult variety of fish than the
writer, and whatever he says on the subject may be
regarded as authority :

Mapison, WIs., JUNE 22d, 1878.
Dear Sirs:

My experience in hatching whitefish, coregonus albus, is
that the ‘first and most important thing to insure perfect success is
to get the eggs well impregnated.

2d—To use great care in transporting them from the figheribe to
the hatchery. ‘

3d—To give them a good circulation of water.

4th—To 1 use lake water or water of same temperature.

5th—To "puiploy sufficient help to remove all dead or unimpreg-
nated eggs every day for the first thirty days after they are placed in
the hatching boxes, after that time, once in two or three days is quite
sufficient, | , :

139

Now, in taking and impregnating the spawn, I use two men ; while
one handles the female the other handles the male, and I find by so
doing we have but a small percentage of unimpregnated eggs to re-
move, while by using both at the same time we follow natureas
nearly as it can be done artificially. Wehaveto transport the spawn
of the whitefish for our hatchery from one to two hundred miles.
We use what is termed the dry process for transporting them, having
an attendant constantly with them to handle the boxes very carefully
whenever it becomes necessary to move them at any time while ex
route to their destination.

I also take great pains to get the temperature of the spawn in the
boxes equal to the water in the hatchery before placing them in their
proper place in the hatching boxes.

I use the Holton Patent Hatching Box which I consider the only
proper appliance for hatching whitefish to insure a genuine success,
all others that I have seen or heard of have been a failure to a greater
orless extent. I use plenty of water running through the boxes to
cause enough current to nearly lift the eggs from the trays, or, in
other words, I use as much as possible without lifting them. I use
the water from Lake Michigan, the same being pumped directly
from the lake into the hatchery, therefore we have the same tempera-
ture of water that the spawn have that is deposited naturally by the
fish in the lake, which I consider necessary to produce good healthy
fish, such as will-thrive and prosper. In fact my experience in
hatching this variety of fish in spring water and also in lake water
has convinced be that those hatched in spring water come out pre-
maturely and cannot survive more than a short time,

T find it also necessary to remove all the unimpregnated eggs as
soon as possible, also to wash and cleanse them from every particle
of glutinous matter, after which I have no trouble with their matting
or sticking to the trays and then by using due diligence to business
I never fail, and success crowns all my efforts. I have also been
experimenting in feeding a few of the whitefish of the, last two
season’s hatchings and have succeeded in keeping some forty of the
hatch of 1877 until the present time which now measure from six to
seven inches in length. I also have about the same number from
this year’s hatch which are growing finely, and are in better condi-
tion and more thrifty than those of last season were at their age
which is no doubt owing to the improvement in feeding, which we
have made since last season. The great trouble in raising whitefish
artificially, is in teaching them to feed which requires both
patience and perseverence, We commence when the fry are trom

140

ten totwelve days old. We use the blood of veal or beef mixed
with sweet milk or cream, and water enough to make it as thin as
water itself which is done by taking a small quantity of the blood
into a dish with about the same quantity of cream or twice the
quantity of sweet milk, and then stirring it thoroughly; after it has
become well mixed, we then commence adding water and continue
to add the same until the whole has the appearance of roily water,
when it is ready for use. We then pour into the trough at the up-
per end so that the current will carry it down the entire length and
give the fry ample time and opportunity to partake of the food.

The first positive indications we have that they are feeding is the
unusual excitement which is shown by their continually darting hith-
er and thither through the roily substance. Ina short time you can
discern in them a marked difference in the color of the body, which
loses transparency and becomes dark. After the fry have been feed-
ing a few days we dispense with the cream or milk and use only
water for thining the blood. When two months old they will take
liver ground fine using water in the same manner as with the blood.
When a few months old they take the ground liver prepared in the
same way you prepare it for young trout. Care should be taken not
to feed any food in lumps as they seem to choke easily, in fact the
only fish we have lost of those of the hatch of 1877 in six months.
past, three in number, have choked to death with careless feeding.
They become nearly as ravenous feeders as the trout, rising and
taking their food near the surface and also picking it from the bot-
tom which is covered with fine sand kept clean and free from de-
composed food.

Ihave no doubt those I have been feeding the past fourteen months
would take the hook as readily as the trout of the same age.

Yours truly,

H. W. WELSHER.
Supt. Wisconsin Fish Com.

141

CHAPTER XII.
SHAD CULTURE.

The fish for cultivation in American waters, the fish
which nature has given us preeminently as one of its best
gifts to man is the shad. Adapted to all our seaboard
streams; once numerous in every river that emptied into
the ocean, from Florida to Maine; prolific to a remark-
able degree, easily manipulated, requiring no aid to pro-
cure its support, it fairly cries to man for his assistance
and protection. An excellent addition to the table, it is
welcome to the epicure, while so cheap has it been within
the memory of even young men, that it was not denied
to the poorest among us. Of course it has been grow-
ing scarce of late; inroads have been made on its vast
nunibers. The fishermen with their drift nets and seines
and stake nets, of which there must be thousands upon
thousands ot miles in the entire country, have done their
best in the way of extermination, and have almost suc
ceeded. Some streams have been depopulated, in others
fisheries have ceased to be remunerative; the markets are
being scantily supplied, and prices have risen enormously.
Shad are following in the wake of salmon in consequence
of American energy of destruction. A few years more
of uncontrolled pursuit and shad would have been as
rare as salmon, and selling for a dollara pound. The
want of legal restrictions, the neglect of restoration, or
even preservation would in a very short time have de-
prived the community of what is still, in a semi-exhausted
condition, a large part of its fish food.

Hasirs or SHap.—Shad make their appearance along
the Atlantic coast of the United States early in the year.
The first school usually strikes in at the Florida rivers in

142

February, and is succeeded by other schools which enter
the streams further north, as the season advances and the
temperature of the water increases. It was for a long
time supposed that immense shoals of herring, shad and
other migratory fishes traversed the ocean in certain
circuits, sending off divisions at all convenient spots, the
main body keeping on its course, and these smaller armies
filling and utilizing for spawning purposes the various
rivers adapted to their wants, no more being sent to each
than would be necessary. These voyages were even
thought to extend across the o¢ean and possibly even
around the entire globe, and it was supposed that the
shad and herring which visited Europe were a portion of
the same vast body which skirted the coast of the United
States of America. Investigation has tended to break
down this theory, and it is now generally abandoned.
It was found that over fishing in certain streams diminish-
ed the yield of such streams without affecting others that
were better preserved or more neglected. This would
not have been the case if the supply came from one cen-
tral source from which all rivers were equally furnished,
and to deplete one stream would only lead to a general
diminution. So far from this result being attained, how-
ever, the rivers of Florida were as crowded as ever while
the fisheries of the Hudson and Connecticut were almost
at anend. The converse of this experience was reached
when efforts were made to improve the supply of certain
streams. The artificial culture of shad in the Connecticut
and the Hudson, under the fishery commissions of those
States, has improved the yield in those rivers to a marked
extent, without having any effect on that of streams
further south or north. A few shad may have wandered
into the Hudson from the Connecticut, or vice versa, or
may possibly have strayed even further, but the benefits

143

of the shad-batching operations were practically confined
to the waters in which they were practiced, and in those
waters were proportioned to the extent to which such
operations were carried.

Experiments made with salmon in Europe clearly
established the proposition, as far as these fish were con-
cerned, that they always returned as mature fish, after
their sojourn in the ocean, to the rivers in which
they were hatched and from which they emigrated
when young. They were marked in various ways
usually by cuttiug off the adipose second dorsal fin
while in the smolt stage, when they were preparing to
descend to the sea; and it was found that they invariably
returned to their breeding places, except in a few instan-
ces, which might safely be attributed to accident. Their
residence iu the salt water being short, these experiments
were easily made, and as the fisheries were mainly in
private hands, and under close supervision, the results
could be obtained with accuracy. Another discovery was
made in the same connection by the deep-sea fishing, to
the effect that these same salmon did not roam over dis-
tant portions of the ocean, or even descend to great
depths, but remained near the mouths of the rivers to
which they belonged.

Shad remain much longer in the ocean, requiring three
and four years to become mature, although the males
probably reappear a year earlier than the females; but
there is every reason to believe that the same rule governs
their motions that applies to the migrations of the salmon.
It may, therefore, be concluded that shad do not roam
about the “vasty deep” in immense shoals, making jour-
neys of thousands of miles, and sending off relays to each
river whose mouth they pass, but that they remain quietly
near the streams where they are bred till the time comes

144

for them to leave the ocean, seek the fresh water and
complete their duties of procreation. No migratory tribe
of fishes can accomplish the round of its life duties in one
element; it may live and grow in the sea, but cannot
breed there; while although it must breed and may live
in the fresh water, it will not attain its full proportions
in that element alone. Instinct, which could hardly
teach them how many of their number to direct to any
given stream before they had explored it, could and does
inform them when the proper time of year has arrived
for them to deposit their eggs. The temperature of the
water and the heat of the sun are their guides, in exact
accordance with which will their appearance in the streams
take place, occurring first in the more southern and gradu-
ally succeeding in those to the north, -It cannot be doubt-
ed that a sensible diminution of the entire shad supply
of this continent has taken place within the last fifty years,
and were this drawn from one body it would be natural
to expect that while the rivers first reached by the school
would be filled as they originally were, those last in order
would be left utterly bare. In such case the school com-
ing from the south would send off their full quota to the
streams of Florida, Georgia, Southand North Carolina,
until the entire body was exhausted, and those of the
New England or middle States were left with no fish
whatever. Such, however, is not the fact, and it is only
those streams where man takes more than his proper pro-
portion that are being gradually depopulated.

When the mature shad prepare to perform the duty of
propogating their race they direct their energies to that,
and without intermission. They seem to be pressed by
an overpowering necessity, and will do their best to over-
come all ebstacles that nature or art may have placed in

145

their way, and they never rest until they have reached
their proper spawning grounds.

With all this class of fish, it is essential that the breeders
should reach the upper waters of the rivers, where alone
they can spawn and hatch their young, Were a dam or
any impassable obstruction placed across the river tor a
single season, the entire yield of that year would cease,
and a new supply would have to be obtained.

Shad being a migratory fish, spend the greater part of
their tume in the sea where they find their tood, for, like
most migratory fish, they do not feed inthe fresh water:
there they prey on shell fish or other small creatures,
which, while inexhaustible in number are wholly useless
directly toman. In February,March and April, May, June
and July, urged by the re-productive instinct they ascend
into the fresh water to deposit their eggs. Unlike sal-
mon however, they do not go far up our rivers nor require
special conditions of locality or temperature to complete
the procreative art successfully. -They seek out some
rocky ledge where there is a gentle current, and uniting
in pairs press their vents together and extrude the spawn
and milt in a spasm of amatory pleasure. They build
no nests, the act of spawning is performed while the
loving pair are in rapid motion—so rapid that they often
spring out of water and their fluttering along its surface
is clearly distinguishable. Their only precaution against
predatory animals is that they spawn at night. The
eggs are left to themselves to the mercy of their enemies
and to fate. The parents, as soon as they are through
this duty of their existence return lean and wasted to
the ocean to recuperate and enjoy themselves.

Here is incredible wastefulness; countless creeping,
crawling and swimming creatures live upon those same
eggs. These sneaking enemies search the bottom and

146

pry into every cranny and crevice for them. Their
hunger is unsatiable and their energy untiring. But,
injurious as they are other dangers are more destructive.
A little increase of current will wash nine-tenths of the
eggs off the rocky ledge into the muddy flats where they
perish for want of aeration. A heavy rain will roil the
water, and on its subsidence there will be deposited up-
oa the eggs a thin covering of sediment which will
destroy them all absolutely and without exception. Eggs
of fish in order to hatch must be continually surrounded
with fresh water; they require the oxygen of changing
water just as land animals require the oxygen of chang-
ing atmosphere. Shut a man in a small room, or a
mouse under a glass jar, and as soon as he shall have ex-
hausted the vitality of the air in the confined space he
will die. Fish and their eggs can be smothered in pre-
cisely the same way. A muddy deposit upon eggs
excludes aeration and death ensues to 4 certainty. There
is no exception to this rule, and this is the most fatal
peril to which shad spawn is exposed and which annually
decimates the yield of young fish.

So great are these risks that shad could never have
held their own were it not for the compensation of their
wonderful fecundity. They produce ten thousand eggs
to each pound of weight, which is ten times as many as
salmon or trout and it is not unusual to obtain sixty
thousand eggs from a single mature female. This is
their protection, that among the vast number laid some
will hatch, and although the per centage is small the
aggregate has been large enough to maintain the supply.
But here arises the most serious trouble when man inter-
feres with the established order of nature. Accident
sweeps away just such a proportion, the water and land
creatures which feed on the eggs will abate no jot or

hhees i

we ‘
SHAD HATCHING BOX.—({LONG FLOAT.)

148

tittle of their exactions, so when man steps in he upsets
the scale and tumbles the whole shad fishery irito con-
‘fusion and ruin. It requires a greater annual contribu-
tion to keep up the yield than with trout; it falls off
proportionately greater when this contribution is cut
down.

AxtirictaL Mernop.—Shad eggs differ essentially
from trout eggs and require wholly different manipula-
tion. They are much smaller and lighter. -If a trout
or salmon egg is dropped into water it sinks at once to
the bottom, but a shad egg will almost float, and has but
little more specific gravity that the water itself. Shad
eggs are less than half the size of trout eggs and require
as their best condition for hatching a temperature of from
sixty-five to seventy-five degrees. They will hatch at a
lower temperature but in such cases mature slowly,
while eighty degrees of heat is as much as they can endure.
When experiments were first made in their artificial
propagation they were placed in ordinary trout troughs
and much trouble was found in their management. If
a current of water was turned on to the same extent as
with trout they all- washed over the end of the troughs,
while if the supply was diminished so that they retained
their places they died of suffocation. It was only after
many different devices had been tried that the proper
invention was discovered—a simple box with the bottom
knocked out and replaced by a wire gauze netting. This
box is suspended by floats of wood nailed on the sides
so that the bottom is presented at an angle to the cur-
rent, the degree of inclination being determined by the ve-
locity of the current. The water striking against the screen
euters the minute interstices, and litting the eggs keeps
them in gentle motion like the bubbles of air in a pot of
moderately boiling water. All that is necessary is to

149

attach these boxes one behind the other in a long row,
anchor them in the river and fill them with impregnated
spawn and the work is done. The continuous motion
of the water passing around each egg and holding it
suspended aerates it perfectly and makes its hatching a
certainty. Hardly one per cent. of healthy-eggs fail to
hatch, and while the process is going on hardly any care
or attention is required. Fish and eels cannot enter the
boxes to prey, nor can the eggs be driven out by the
water, and lost.

In the artificial manipulation of shad the parents are
taken in seines from /their spawning beds. The haul is
made at night, at which time only can ripe fish be found
in any considerable number. The captured fish are
thrown indiscriminately into a boat and are stripped at
once ag they die quickly. They are afterwards sold in
the markets. The eggs, which are caught in a pan with
a little water init after being allowed to stand for a few
minutes until impregnation is complete, which is sig-
nified by their swelling in size and reducing the temper-
ature of the water some ten degrees, are poured into the
hatching boxes and left to themselves. Nothing more
is required. In twenty-four hours the black eyes of the
young fry will be visible through the shell, and in from
three to ten days they will be hatched. So rapid, simple
and inexpensive is the process of shad culture. There
are no flannel screens to be washed and cleaned every
day or two as with salmon or trout; no rows of troughs
to be examined laboriously with benumbed hands in
winter weather; no weary waiting for months with
every hour filled with danger; no contagious diseases
or spreading conferva to be guarded against; no careful
superintendence without which tailure threatens; no par-
ticular selection of water or locality. The boxes are merely

150

anchored in the stream, tied one to the other, the eggs
are turned in by the hundred thousand, and in about a
week there are myriads of minute but lively shad swim-
ming about and begging to be allowed to grow fat and
feed mankind. The eggs are as a score to one in abun-
dance; the loss is almost nothing, and the time, trouble
and expense are infinitely less.

Nor is this all. When the trout is hatched he is
encumbered with his umbilical sac for a month to such
a degree as to be unable to protect himself, while the
shad can be turned loose the day he is born. It is true
that he has the same appendage, but it isa small one and
does not seriously impede his motions. In habits also
the shad fry exhibit their superiority over their more
aristocratic cousins. Instead of seeking to hide their
diminutive heads under every leaf and pebble, and in
every out of the way corner playing at hide and seek
with death, they with greater wisdom push out into the
deeper water and broader stream. There in mid-river
they float heading up against the current, taking the
water with whatever of microcosmal food—invisible to
man—it may contain into their mouths, feebly wagging
their limp tails to keep them in position, and slowly
settling down stream toward the ocean where they are
destined to pass the next year or two waxing plump and
fat for the benefit of man, but at no expense to him of
purse, brain or muscle.

The discovery of the habits of shad fry was made in
rather a singular way and exemplifies the dangers to
which in their natural condition they are exposed. As
with their hatching, so with their treatment afterwards ;
it was natural to follow the system we understood and
practiced with trout. The box containing the first re-
sults of the fish culturist’s skill was towed near the land

151

and some of the fry ladled out into the river. Instantly
-a crowd of minnows, killey fish, dace, chubs, shiners
and all manner of small fishes swarmed from all direc-
tions and proceeded to devour their still smaller brethren.
They arrived with astounding swiftness and in incredible
numbers. Had a dinner bell been rung it could not
have summoned a larger or hungrier congregation. In
a minute not a shad remained alive to tell the tale; they
had gone to the realm of the departed; they had entered
within the veil; they had sought the bourne from which
no traveler returns. In other words, they were in the
rapacious maws of a lot of little worthless fish which
could do much harm but no good to any one. From the
stomach of a little shiner not over an inch long, which
was caught with a dip net, seventeen young shad were
taken.

By this time it had become apparent that something
was wrong, so the rest of the hatching was temporarily
deposited in a small pond built of sand and pebbles
on the shore of the river, while their case was taken un-
der serious consideration. Next morning it was at first
thought they had all escaped for they were not to be
found anywhere in the body of the pond, but were final-
ly discovered at its outer edge. A long narrow pond
projecting into the river was then built, and pieces of
white paper placed on the bottom so that the diminutive
creatures could be more easily watched. Next morning
they were again found crowded at the outer extremity.
The problem was solved. Instinct had taught them to
seek the deep water where their insigniticance was their
protection. Hardly a half inch iv length and not more
than a pin’s thickness in breadth, they would escape un-
noticed the monsters of three, four and five pounds
weight which roamed about in the main current, while

152

the terrors of the mighty deep would keep away their
far more dangerous enemies of an inch or two in size.
The big fish would not see them and the little ones
could not follow them.

Hawpuine tax Eacs.—Shad do not spawn during the
day, but commence these operations about dusk and
continue them till midnight. For the purposes ot artifi-
cial cultivation they must be taken when they are per-
fectly ripe, as it is called, in other words when the eggs
are mature and ready to be deposited in the natural way.
So it is that over these beds, and during the first half
of the night, the seines are swept to catch the spawners
and milters which are to be manipulated scientifically,
as they are thus secured in their best condition. The
moment the seine is hauled, its contents of all sorts are
ladled with a scoop net into a boat, and while it is being
set again the fish are handled. The manipulator has in
front of him on one of the thwarts a tin pan containing a
little water, and taking fish after fish he holds it over
this with one hand and gently presses its belly with the
other. The ready performance of this is a matter of
practice, and ifthe eggs and milt are ripe they will ex-
ude under a slight pressure. As tast as the fish have
been stripped, males and females being used indiscrim-
inately, they are thrown into another boat. :

When the fish have all been stripped or the pan is
full, it is kept in gentle motion for thirty minutes, after
which the water is changed, and the gentle motion and
changing of the water alternated until the eggs swell,
become hard and distended, and the impregnation is
perfected.

In the course of the first fifteen minutes the tempera-
ture of the water in the pan falls some ten degrees, and
the eggs finally become so hard that they feel to the touch

153

like shot ; although when first dropped into the pan
they. can hardly be felt at all. This is repeated as often
as the net is hauled, and when no more spawners can be
caught, the pans are carried to the hatching boxes and
emptied into them. These boxes are covered with coal
tar, to prevent the wire rusting on the bottom and the
growth of animal matter, and have along the sides sticks
of wood acting as floats, and presenting the wire screen
at such an angle to the current that the eggs are kept in
a perpetual boiling motion. The boxes are fastened one
behind the other by ropes attached to the floats, and
need little or no care except to be occasionally stirred at
slack tide. The screens on the bottom have a square
mesh and twenty-two wires totheinch. The eggs exhibit
life in twenty-four hours, and hatch in from four to ten
days, according to the heat of the water, and then the
living fish are turned out and left to care for themselves.
The only precaution taken being to turn them outat night
when their enemies are not feeding. and they can have
time to get into the deep water.

Instead of trusting to good fortune to get ripe spawn-
ers from the nets these may be obtained in a way similar
to the treatment of salmon and trout. A pond may be
built by daming up a stream running into the main
river;in this the shad may be confined till they are ripe.
It has been supposed that shad were so timid a fish that
they would hardly ascend fish-ways, and could not be
kept in confinement, but such does not turn out to be
the case. There is no difficulty in ponding them
and in examining them from time to time till they be-
come in proper condition to strip. They are not more
timid than other fish.

The cultivation of shad is necessarily a work of public
duty, it cannot be maintained by private enterprise as

154

the increase belongs to the entire community, not to
any individual. This may be a communistic possession
of property but even that is better than no property at
all. It is an easy and simple branch of fish culture and
were it assisted by proper laws and the breeding fish al-
lowed to reach their spawning grounds in sufficient num-
bers its results would be astonishing. As it is, the more
fish that are bred the more fishing is done and the closer
is drawn the barrier that shuts them out from the upper
waters of the rivers that they inhabit. At least forty-
eight hours in every week should be a close time during
which no fishing should be allowed in order that a fair
proportion at least should be permitted to fulfil the du
ties and necessities of their continued existence. No
skill in fish culture can hatch fish when there are no
parents from whom to obtain the eggs. That proposi-
tion is self evident.

Migratory Fisu Conrinep to Fresa Water.—An
experiment was made by Mr. Wilmot of Canada, by
which it is thought to be proved that salmon can live in
fresh water wholly, if they are permitted to migrate for-
ward and back from the great lakes into their fluvial
tributaries. This change, it is claimed, satisfies the
demands of their natures and supplies them with abun-
dant and fitting food. A similar conclusion appears to
be reached in reference to the shad. A number of the
fry were deposited in the Genesee river, and were seen in
that and Lake Ontario,where they appeared to remain till
they were grown. They increased in size year by year
and were caught frequently in nets near the mouth of the
Genesee. Some were large enough to be marketed, and
it is possible that they bred of themselves, as their num-
bers instead of- diminishing, augmented. In four years
after they were introduced, they were observed in im-

155

mense shoals at the lower end of the lake. Still it must
be borne in mind that both of these fish could descend to
the sea, although the journey would be a long one.
Moreover, it has not been shown that the salmon feed
in Lake Ontario, but some of the shad that were caught
in the lake were full of food.

Another interesting experiment resulted with similar
success. At the request of the commissioners of Cali-
fornia, some twenty thousand shad fry were sent to that
state. They were carried through the vicissitudes of
their journey safely but at the cost of much labor and
anxiety, and were safely deposited in the Sacramento
river. Up to that time, shad were wholly unknown in
the Pacific coast, so the experiment was nothing less than
to introduce them into a new ocean. Of course the un-
dertaking was most doubtful in its results. There were
questions of water, food, temperature and so forth, which
no man could answer and which had to be referred solely
to the fish themselves. Fortunately they rendered a
verdict in favor of the attempt. They adapted them-
selves promptly to their new home; they explored the
neighborhood, discovered satisfactory food, made them-
selves contented and proceeded to possess the land, or
rather water. In 1874, shad weighing three and a half
pounds, were caught ia the Sacramento, which they were
ascending evidently for the purpose of spawning, and in
1878, they were an article of commerce and sale in the
public markets. It is therefore, possible that within a
few years the rivers of the Pacific slope will teem with
this excellent fish as abundantly as was once the case
with the rivers of the Atlantic states.

Attempts have been made to transport shad eggs and
fry in salt water, but without success. The young are
delicate at best, and have to be watched with the greatest

156

care during removal from place to place, and the oftener

the water can be changed the better; about 6,000 is as

many as can be trusted in one milk can, unless for very

short journeys. A plan has been suggested for hatching

shad and other fish in still water, where there is any

power by steam or otherwise, of keeping the boxes in

motion. These are made ot metal, and are dipped up

and down by being hung on the end of a bar lifted and
lowered by machinery or otherwise. The point is to keep

up a circulation of the current of water, and any arrange- -
ment that effects this will hatch the fish.

The time of shad spawning depends upon the tempera-
ture of the water of the rivers, which must be between
65° and 80°. This differs on different rivers. On the
St. John, in Florida, and in the Savannah River. it is in
February ; in March shad begin to run into the Potomac,
and in May and June they are spawning; in the Hudson
the season is still later, usually commencing in May and
closing about the Ist of July; in June it begins in the
Connecticut, and extends up to the middle of July; so that
the farther you go north the later the season is.

It is propable that the introduction of shad even into
the tributaries of the Mississippi may be a success. There
was a four pound shad taken in the Ohio at Louisville,
in 1877, from those that were deposited in 1872, and
there were forty or fifty shad taken daily during the
entire spring of that year. Reports have come in from
many parts of the west giving more or less creditible
accounts of the capture of shad, although many of the
' circumstances that there surround them are adverse to
their life and growth.

Avewives anp Sarr Warer Herrina.—These are to
be hatched like shad, and ascend the rivers to spawn at
about the same times. Bartram in his “ Harvest of the

157

Sea,” p. 168, assures us that in England, the herring
spawns and breeds in salt water, and twice in the year.
This is not the case in America. We are supposed to
have a herring that belongs entirely to the fresh water,
but the identity of which is not quite established, but our
common herring is migratory in its character, like the
shad. Since the shad was introduced into the rivers
emptying into Lake Ontario, the herring seems to have
appeared there having been seen quite frequently in ‘the
: spring of 1878 along | the shores of the lake and in the
streams flowing into it, having entered them apparently
for the purpose of spawning.

CHAPTER XIIL

BLACK BASS AND OTHER FISH.

We now come to the consideration of other species of
fish that need entirely different treatment. Most of
them are rarely cultivated on the purely artificial plan
ia consequence of peculiarities of their habits or of their
ova. The fish of which we have already treated have
eggs that are loose in the uterine sacs when ripe, and
are comparatively free from mucous when emitted. The
eggs of the trout adhere at first to whatever they touch,
and those of the whitefish need a-little agitation for a
time; but these qualities do not interfere with their
managetietit in troughs or on screens. On the other
hand the black bass, the carp and their cognate varieties
have eggs that are either surrounded with a glutinous
fluid or attach themselves at once and permanently to
whatever they touch. Some ot them can be rendered
free by agitation of the water, which is readily effected

158

by placing the open hand upon it with the fingers dis-
tended and moving it up and down. ‘his keeps the
eggs in motion while it does not bruise or crush them.

The species of which we shall now treat include
the black bass, Oswego bass, strawberry bass, rock bass,
white bass, pike perch, striped bass, yellow perch, pick-
erel, muscalonge, carp, catfish and goldfish. The eggs
of. the white perch, pike perch, carp and goldfish stick
fast to whatever they touch on emission, and must be
kept in motion for an hour to remove this tendency:
Those of the fresh water bass, yellow perch, pickerel
and muscallonge are surrounded with a glutinous matter
coming out like long semi-transparent ribbons which
may be attached from point to point like a spider’s web
A change of water is needed for these, but not so strong
a current as for the eggs of trout and salmon. The
eggs of the striped bass are free from the sticky or glu-
tinous matter, but are about as adhesive as whitefish
eggs and need agitation for nearly an hour.

Taz Brack Bass.—-This is among the finest sporting
as well as food fish in America. It abounds in the clear
waters of the Western and Northern lakes; bites
fiercely at fly or trowlling spoon, makesa vigorous fight
for life, liberty and happiness, showing a perfect willing-
ness “to fight it out on that line if it takes all summer,”
and at last when subdued and brought to the table does
honor to the’ cook wlro prepares it, and pleasure to the
palate that enjoys it. It is unknown in European coun-
tries, and exists solely with us, where its vigor, enterprise,
restlessness, and independence, its athletic but not alto-
gether comely appearance make it rather representative
in its character. It is self-reliant, and when placed in
new waters not merely makes itself at home, but appro-
priates the locality, explores its furthest recesses and

159

devours its aboriginal inhabitants. It natural distribu-
tion was through a few of the lakes of New York, but
mainly in the North-western States. It has, however,
been acclimated in many other ponds and lakes where it
now flourishes extensively. The black bass loves bright,
pure, lively water, not as cold as the trout streams of
our spring-producing hills and mountains, but free from
foul matters held suspended in it, and with motion either
of current or from the winds. It deposits its eggs on
rocky or pebbly ledges. The parents guard and protect
their nests till the young are hatched, and even watch over
the latter till they can take vare of themselves. Alter-
nately the male and female stands guard over their
precious possession of infantile possibilities; if one is
away scouring the country for food, the other is on the
watch, fierce, brave, resolute, and woe to the unhappy
intruder who would steal a dinner from the deposit of
bass eggs. The bass is the tyrant of the fresh waters;
even the big-jawed, snake-like pickerel cannot stand
against him. His teeth are loug and sharp, his mouth
is large and threatening, his body is close knit and stout,
and his fins are arrowed at every point with sharp and
poisonous spines. Such a creature mounting guard over
his young is not an enemy to be despised. The young
need a mother’s care for some days after they are
hatched. They ‘have scarcely any sac and need fovod.
They cluster around the mother, and she takes them
where the food is and teaches them how to get it, until
they learn how to provide for themselves—just as an old
bird teaches her young, after leaving the nest, how to
get their own tood—then she leaves them to take care
of themselves. It would be just as impossible for a
young fish, belonging to the black bass family, to take
care of itself just after it was hatched, as it would be for
a bird just hatched to take care of itself.

160

Black bass is one of the most prolific varieties of our
fresh water fish. Their natural increase is so great and
their growth so rapid that it never_has been an object to
fish culturists to attempt their artificial propagation.
When the spawning season draws near, they select, guid-
ed by natural instinct, with great care for the purpose of
propagation certain portions of the river having a pebbly
or gravelly bottom. From these they remove carefully
all sediment, weeds and sticks. This work completed
leaves a clear bright space in the bottom of the river,
circular in form, and having a diameter of about three
feet. These beds are readily distinguished by the casual
observer from the ordinary bottom of the river~by their
brightness, the gravel having the appearance of being
washed or scoured. When the parent fish are ready to
spawn the female goes upon this prepared bed and de-
posits her spawn in a glutinous band or ribbon running
in various directions across the bed., She is followed by
the male who impregnates the eggs by the expression ot
his milt.

Their care of the young, (the exercise of which is
peculiar to the bass, sunfish and catfish) taken in connec-
tion with the fact that a large pair of bass will deposit
20,000 eggs,will give some idea of their fertility. Possibly
the fish are capable of reproduction when two years old,
having at that time attained the extraordinary length of
eight or nine inches, but this is mere conjecture, based
more particularly upon our knowledge of the size and
weight of the fish at that age. They frequently attain
the weight of five and six pounds; in rare instances
seven and eight. They are unsurpassed in flavor by
-any of the perch family.

Some ponds have been stocked with the fry, but it re-
mains to be seen whether this will prove successful.

161

The fry are very small, and remain buta few days over
the beds where they are hatched, so that it requires very
close watching to capture them. They are removed just
at the time when they are accustomed to have the protec-
tion of the parent fish and they are all liable to perishtin
new water among other species of fish, The common
and the most reliable method of introducing the bass is
to transport adult fish from well-stocked ponds to new
localities. This, when properly done and the water is.suit-
able, has never been known to fail. The fish do not bite
freely until after the spawning is over in June, and they
do not usually reach their new home until July “or later,
so that there is no try from them until the second year.
The fish generally selected for transfer are from one to
three years old, measuring from three to twelve inches
in length. Fish of this size are not only more numerous,
but they bear transportation better, and are more readi-
ly acclimated than when larger. They are moved with
a great deal of difficulty in hot weather, especially when
the journey requires more than twelve or fifteen hours ;
but with care and skill no serious loss need take” place.
It has been our practice to distribute these varieties dur-
ing the spring because we had facilities for obtaining
full grown fish at that season, but in most localities it
would probably be necessary to transport them in sum-
mer.

From our present knowledge we cannot recommend
hatching black bass by artificial methods, although the
eggs if kept in motion at first, can afterwards be develop-
ed in the shad hatching boxes or in Holton’s boxes.
They take five to ten days to hatch. The fish begin
spawning in May and complete the operation in June
and remain with their young for about fifteen days
thereafter,

162

Osweao'}Bass, Wurtz Perc, Rock Bass.—The same
observations apply to these varieties as to the black bass.
They spawn a little earlier, say in May and early June,
and are to be treated in the same way. The Oswego
bass is not so exacting, however, in the quality of water
that it affects as the black bass, it will live in sluggish;
warm, discolored streams and ponds where the muddy
bottom produces lilies, grasses and weeds. No matter
how much earthy matter may at times become suspended
in the water, the oswego bass will thrive and be contented.
It is known as the “chub” in Virginia and other of the
southern states, and is well adapted to most ot the ponds
of that section of our country. Its flesh is good, although
coarser than that of the black bass, and it is the fish for
home consumption, and for introduction into by far the
larger part of our land where nothing more is demanded
than a certain amount of fish food for the table. It is
voracious and bites freely at bait or trolling spoon, but
does not give the angler much sport, as ite resistance is
feeble and not sustained. It is mainly distinguished by
having a larger mouth than the true black bass, and by
having a dusky;stripe along the side called the lateral
line,.which is more visible than in the black bass. They
are often confused, and even the scientific names have
been muddled and confounded. They were known as
grystes nigricans for the black bass, and grystes salmoides
for the Oswego bass, until new appellations were lately
applied of micropterus salmoides for the small mouthed
and micropterus pallidus for the large mouthed bass.

Pixe-percu.—This fish which passes under many
aliases as the grass pike, the pike of the lakes, the wall-
eyed pike and pickerel of Canada, is an inhabitant of
many of the larger waters of our country, and was former-
ly abundant. It is also known in localities as the Susque-

163

hanna and Ohio salmon. There are several species, which
at one time were the subjects of a large and valuable
trade, and which are still highly prized for their table
qualities. Their numbers have, however, greatly dimin-
ished. They require a free range of water, and cannot
be confined to the narrow limits of private preserves.
Their cultivation and extension are solely a matter of
general public interest. They spawn early in April, and
the eggs if extruded by hand, must be kept in constant
motion for an hour and a half. They may be hatched
in the shad and Holton boxes, and require thirty one
days for development in water at a temperature of 34°.
In warmer water they will mature in ten days.

Gotp Fish anp Carp—May be hatched precisely like
pike perch. They spawn in June and can be raised to
advantage by the artificial method, as in their natural
state the old ones devour the young as fast as they ap-
pear. Persons owning gold fish ponds are often sur-
prised that the number of the fish never inereases, and
explain the phenomenon by the supposition that they do
not breed in confinement. This is a mistake; they
breed freely and abundantly, but the fry are devoured
unless the pond has a shallow shelving edge, with prass
or weeds where they can lie and hide from the larger
ones. The motion of swallowing is peculiar. The prey
is not seized by being darted upon, but is sucked in by a
motion of the water into the mouth and out at the gills
of the larger fish. The latter will remain motionless
while his destined food approaches and pauses before his
jaws, when suddenly the youngling is drawn sideways
and disappears. The operation is well adapted to the
lazy motions of the gold fish.

The eggs of these and kindred varieties may be hatch-
ed on baskets made of wicker or boughs, into which they

164

are stripped directly, male and female together. The
eggs catch on the twigs and remain there while the
basket is deposited in some stream with a gentle current.
Or the eggs may be caught on glass and, after being fer-
tilized with the milt, left where the water can flow over
them, care must be taken to shake and move the glass
so that it is not covered with more than a single layer of
eggs. The king carp is strongly recommended for in-
troduction from Europe, where it attains great size and
enjoys a high reputation for flavor and succulence. It is
distinguished from other and inferior varieties by having
only a few scales. There is also an American carp which
attains a weight of eight or ten pounds and is occasional-
ly seen in market. \

Srurexon.—-As an article of food the flesh of this fish
is not to be despised. In England, being a royal dish, it
is held in high estimation, and every sturgeon captured
in the British Isles is the property of Her Majesty.

Experiments were first made in this country in 1874
by the New York Commission to hatch out the eggs
of this fish, but, owing to the difficulties experienced in
obtaining ripe males and females at the same time, the
attempt proved unsuccessful. The year following these
difficulties were overcome, and a complete success
achieved.

The fishermen were constantly netting sturgeon at
New Hamburg, on the Hudson, at the mouth of Wap-
pinger’s creek, at which place there appeared to be a
natural spawning ground, and on June 7th, at 10, a. m.,
aripe,male and female were caught. As the fish could
not be handled in the ordinary way, the female had to
be cut open, after it had been previously ascertained by
experiment, that the eggs seemed to be perfectly ripe.

165

The eggs were quickly placed in the pans, and the milt
bag cut bodily from the male fish, and the milt pressed
out over the eggs.

The eggs were found to come from the fish in an
agglutinated sticky mass, somewhat similar to the eggs
of the perch or the frog. In order to hatch in the shad
boxes, it was necessary that the eggs should be free and
not stick together. This is avoided in the case of stick-
ing eggs, by stirring them until the gummy envelope
dissolves, or is washed away. It was found almost im-
possible to do this in the case of sturgeon eggs, but by
constant stirring, the eggs appeared at last (thirty min-
utes to two hours) to be in a state which would justify a
trial in the shad boxes. The eggs are larger than those
of the white fish and measure about seven to the inch.
They are of a dark brownish color, with the yolk show-
ing black through the opaque brown. On June ninth, a
brown line showed itself around the eggs, being the first
visible formation of the fish. At 3 p. m. on that day,
about fifty-three hours after impregnation, the first
movement was observed in the fish. Almost all fish
embryos move the tail, the head being quiet, these stur-
geon seemed to move only the middle part of their
bodies, the head and tip of the tail‘being quiet. On
June tenth, at 6 p. m., the young sturgeon commenced
to hatch, the next mionmitig by 5 a. m. they-were all found
hatched out. When turned loose into the river the
young fish sought the bottom immediately, hiding in
the mud and among the stones. A few of the young
were kept until they were an inch long, and could be
seen to pick up food from the sides of the box, but it is im-
probable that they could be kept in confinement by arti-
ficial feeding. The food sac was very small and apparent-
ly lasted about six days. The time of hatching was

166

about one hundred hours, with the water ranging from
sixty-seven to seventy-four degrees.

The importance of the sturgeon as an article of food
has never been fully appreciated. They contain, when
ripe, enormous quantities of eggs; from fifty to sixty
pounds being taken from a full grown fish. From its
roe, caviare, the national dish of Russia, is prepared,
and a company is now profitably engaged on the Hudson
and the upper lakes in its manufacture, and the mature
fish attains the enormous size of three hundred pounds.
The flesh is yellow and rich, and so nearly does it re-
semble meat that it has been nicknamed “ Albany beef.”
It is probably possessed of greater muscle giving and
hunger appeasing qualities than that of any other fish,
‘the salmon not excepted. It is delicious food when
properly prepared. but having in former times been ex-
ceedingly cheap, it came to be despised as the food of
the poor. Unless something is done for its cultivation it
will soon become a delicacy only of the rich.

Strripep Bass, RooxrisH or THe Sourn.—Contrary to
the opinions of most fish culturists, the ova of the striped
bass have been found to be entirely free from the gela-
tinous covering which always surrounds the eggs of the
perch, pike, black bass, Oswego bass, etc., etc. It flows
from the fish readily, is easily hatched, and the young
fish quickly develop.

Fully half a million eggs have been found in females
of fair size. Striped bass are more numerous than any
other salt water fish of our coast, and yet they are daily
growing scarcer. Their habits are little understood, and
their times and places of spawning still uncertain. It
has been supposed that they spawned at different sea-
sons of the year, and. while some investigators were posi-
tive that this act was accomplished in fresh water, others

167

were equally confident that it occurred at sea. The most
experienced fishermen of the seacoast—men who have
followed the business all their lives—have been consulted,
but were far from agreeing in their views.

It was certain that a number of these fish were migra-
tory, or at least semi-migratory in their character, visit-
ing the fresh waters at certain seasons, but remaining in
the new element for an unknown period. This is
proved by their ascending the falls of the Potomac at
certain months every year, and their appearing in other
rivers at established periods. The supposition was
natural that they made this change for the purposes of
spawning, and yet it was equally clear that the vast ma-
jority of striped bass never left the ocean or the salt
bays, coves and lagoons which are connected with it.

Striped bass are the most numerous of the salt water
fish of our coast from Maine to Florida. They are with
us, more or less, at all seasons of the year. They are the
principal means of supplying our markets. They grow
to a large size, and are extremely prolific. If they can
be cultivated artificially, an immense benefit will be con-
ferred on the community. The only doubt is whether
a sufficient number of the spawning fish can be obtained
in ripe condition.

Those that spawn in the fresh water ascend the rivers
for the purpose in spring, and begin the operation about
the month of May. The eggs are expressed without
difficulty, and hatch in eight days in the ordinary shad
hatching boxes. The fry have little umbilical sac, and
may be turned loose immediately, and will take care of
themselves, The eggs are about the size of those of the
shad.

Striped bass have a peculiar aptitude for both fresh and
salt water, and may be changed from one to the other with-

168

out preparation, and without detriment. They will live
and grow if retained in fresh water ponds, to which they
may be transported as soon as they are caught in the salt
inlets and creeks in which the young usually make their
appearance. Whether they will spawn if kept wholly
in small preserves, we do not know.

One of the most remarkable experiments in fish culture
was made by the New York Commission in the years 1876
-and 1877, on the Hudson river. Shad and striped bass
were not only successfully crossed, but the young of the
mixed breed were hatched in large numbers. The
eggs of the shad were impregnated with the milt
of the striped bass. Every care was taken to
make the experiment conclusive. As male shad
were being stripped at the same time, and it was possible
that the sperms might be in the water around the boat
where the nets were landed and the operations conducted,
and consequently impregnation be effected by the milt
of the shad itself in that way, the utmost precautions
were used to obtain water a safe distance trom the
boat, and always up against the current. It was thus
made certain that the impregnation was effected solely
by the milt of the striped bass. The eggs were then de-
posited in the shad boxes as the bass eggs had been pre-
viously hatched, and a very fair percentage of them
matured in the ordinary time. There was a marked
difference in the appearance of the fry—a difference
clearly observable to the practiced eye, but not capable
of description on paper.

These results seem almost incredible, and open an
entirely new field in fish culture.

If two such wholly dissimilar fish aa the striped bass and

shad can be crossed, it may be expected that all varieties
which spawn at about the same time, and hatch under

169

analogous circumstances, can be treated in the same way.
New and remarkable species may even be originated,
and as great changes effected as from the crossing of
flowers and fruits. This operation was repeated in 1877,
aud fully ten thousand of this strange combination were
hatched and turned free in the river. They must soon
prove their capacity for existence, and more or less of
them should be caught in 1879 or 1880, enough to call
attention to them if they shall have successfully solved
the problem of life, and combatted the dangers that en-
compass them. The adaptability of bass to unusual
circumstances, their capacity ot living in fresh or salt
water, or changing from one to the other, and their inde-
pendent habits of life, make a favorable result extremely
probable. ‘It will certainly be a “ queer fish” that shall
be compounded of half bass, half shad, and we look to its
appearance with interest.

Carriso.—These have habits somewhat like the black
bass. They make nests and guard over them and their
young. They spawn in June, and are exceedingly pro-
litic. The young grow rapidly, and should be transport-
ed about the time the mother leaves them, while they are
still in schools. As food, there are few better fish to eat
than the blue catfish, while the yellow variety, though not
quite so dainty, is equally satisfying to the cravings. of
hungry nature. They dig out a room two feet across in
the solid mud at the bottom or sides in the stream or pond,
and deposit their eggs in that, and lay over them and
fan them with their fins until they hatch, which takes
place in eight or ten days. They leave a hole open as a
sort of door to their hatching chambers to give them
egress and ingress.

Lozsrers.—The American lobster is found upon the

Atlantic coast from New Jersey to Labrador, and yet
8

170 :

almost nothing has been published in regard to its traits
and local distribution. It lives upon rocky, gravelly, and
sandy bottom, from low water dgwn to twenty or thirty
fathoms and perhaps deeper, but not probably at great
depths. It feeds upon any kind of animal matter either
fresh or decaying, which it can discover.

In Long Island Sound the lobster fishing begins late in
March or early in April, and continues till late in the fall,
although the greater part are taken in May and June.
On the coast of northern Massachusetts and Maine, whence
the winter supply comes, they may be taken nearly all
the year round. The time at which the females carry
eggs varies very much on different parts of the coast, be-
ing later and later as we vo further north; south of Cape
Cod, in Long Island and Vineyard Sounds, they are found
carrying eggs from the first of April till late in June. At
Portland, Maine, they were carrying eggs till the middle
of August, while in the Bay of Fundy they are tound with
eggs from mid-summer till September.

Soon after the hatching, the young leave their parent
and live for a considerable period a very different life
from the adult. At first they are not more than a third
of an inch long, and have scarcely any resemblance to a
lobster. They are furnished with long swimming branches
to the legs and swim about freely in the water, living
most of the time near the surface, like many kinds of free
swimming shrimps. With each change of the skin they
become more and more lobster like, until when a little
more than half an inch long they appear like veritable
little lobsters, but still have the free swimming habits of
the earlier stages. During this period, which must be
several weeks, they are constantly exposed to the attacks
of fishes and all sorts of marine animals, while they them-
selves pursue and feed upon still smaller fry. Any at-

17i

tempt to rear great numbers through these stages in con-
fined areas would probably prove unsuccessful, as the
young at this time require a great amount of pure sea
water and peculiar food, found only where minute, free-
swimming animals congregate.

Atter they become a few inches long, the growth of
lobsters is slow. They increase in size only at the
times ot shedding the shell, which probably takes place
only once a yéar for those of ordinary size, and the increase
at each of these changes is moderate, as may be seen by
comparing the size of the cast shell with the lobster a few
days after leaving it, although the increase of weight is
considerable. In lobsters of very large size the shell is
not always changed, even as often as once a year.

How early they begin to breed is somewhat uncertain.
Females not more than half a pound in weight are, how.
ever, found carrying eggs, but\in these small females the
eggs are comparatively few in number. The average
weight of lobsters sold in New York market is about two
pounds. a

The lobster can be propagated easily, yet there are al-
ways more or less difficulties to overcome, One of the
principal is to find a place suitable to build a pond, and
then to build it so that the young cannot get away. The
pond should be built in some place where the salt water
sets in from the ocean, and should be screened in such a
way that the water can flow in and out with the rise and
fall of the tide. It should be fenced on the seaward side,
and possibly all around, so as to prevent the lobster from
going over the land to the ocean. In June, put in a few
thousand lobsters, and we have no doubt there will be a
most abundant return. Lobsters carry their spawn under
their tails anti] they hatch, and the young are carried in

172

that way for many days, when they drop off. Thence
forward they look out for their own food. A single
lobster will hatch as many as 1,000 young. If there are
many lobsters in a pond it will be necessary to feed them,
but any refuse from a slaughter-house or fish-market will
answer for this purpose.

Frog Curturz.—There are many stagnant pools about
the country useless in their present staté, which can be
utilized by converting them into frog ponds, and the
man who could raise a million of frogs and get them
safely to market would be a wealthy man. The diffi-,
culties to be encountered are many and varied, but can
be overcome by patience and perseverance. To those
who feel disposed to take advantage of it, the following |
results of two year’s experience will prove beneficial.

Take a dipper and go to the pond where the frog casts
its spawn. A close examination will reveal a small glu-
tinous mass which is to be dipped up very carefully lest
the mass be broken and the spawn lost. Place them in
a pail filled with water and take them to your hatching-
box, which is made after the fashion of the shad hatching
box, two feet long and eighteen inches wide, with No.
12 gas-tarred wire sieving on the bottom. Anchor the
box in a gentle current. They will hatch in from seven
to fifteen days, according to the temperature of the
water. Soon after they are hatched they should be
turned loose in a pond prepared with great care, as they
have numerous enemies, such as fish, snakes, birds,
lizards, coons and many other animals. The pond
should be made where the ground is springy, and should
have plenty of soft muck at the bottom. In this the
frog lies during the winter. The pond should havea
light board fence around it so that animals could not get.
in, and should be built so close to the water that no bird

178

could stand on the inside and pick up the polywogs. It
is absolutely necessary to the preservation of the young
fry that these precautions should be most strictly ad-
hered to. You will have no trouble in feeding the young
while they are polywogs, as nature has provided for that.
In all waters they live on what is called sediment that
collects on everything lying in the water, unless it is
strong impregnated with some mineral.

Examine this sediment under a strong magnifying
glass and you will see that it is all animal matter, or a
formation between animal and vegetable, and is proper
food for the young fry. They will eat it off from the
sticks and stones on the bottom of the pond, and keep
them perfectly clean. An old pond is better than a new
one, as it has more food.

The polywogs will grow and after a while develop in-
to frogs. We cannot give the precise time required for
this change as we have had them change in one season ,
or go years without doing so. Probably this depends
upon the temperature of the water, and that the warmer
it is the faster development occurs. The hind legs break
throngh the skin first and are followed by the front, the
perfect frog varying in size according to the size of the
tadpole. When it is finally developed the frog requires
different kind of fuod, such as insects, smnall fish or meat.
Naturally it will only take living food, and difficulty
may be experienced in teaching it to live on any other.
It will eat minnows, young tadpoles, or flies of any kind,
but the ooze on which it existed in its transitory state is
no longer sufficient. Flies may be attracted to the pond
by placing stale meat around it, and minnows can be
supplied in certain quantities but the question of feeding
the frog is the difficulty in frog culture,

174

There are several varieties of these batrachians, some
of the southern sorts will weigh over a pound apiece.
The largest edible sorts should be selected and the
market for them will be found to be unlimited at a price
hardly surpassed by that paid for fresh trout.

Great care should be taken in gathering spawn, not to
get toad spawn. Frog spawn is laid in a bunch like a
bunch or sponge of jelly. It is clear with black spots in
it, but turns white when dead. It should be gathered
carefully and the jelly which is essential to successful
hatching, should be broken as little as possible. Toad
spawn is laid ina string, the female, when laying her
eggs, walks back and forth carrying on her back the
male, who is impregnating the eggs with melt as they
are emitted. When lying in the water, it looks like
glass tubes with No. 4 shot destributed the tourth of an
inch apart the entire length of the tubes. Frogs attain
their growth in from three to five years. We have
recommended putting the spawn in a hatching box, but
the eggs will hatch as well in the pond without a box, if
they are not liable to depredation by enemies. And if
the meat that is put around the pond to attract flies, is
cut up finely, the frogs will soon get a taste of it and
learn to eat it. When they have passed beyond the pol-
lywog into the frog state, they must have a chance to get
out of the water among the grass, and if the pond is near
the house, (as it should be,) there is less danger from
animals. We have seen taken from a spring hole in
winter, a solid mass of frogs as large as a bushel basket.

Preservine Fiumw.—The ordinary methods of preserv-
ing specimens of eggs and fish, have never proved satis
factory. We have obtained the following receipt, and
have tested it thoroughly, both for delicate young fry
and for fish eggs, and have found it entirely successful,

175

and far superior to the preparations usually employed.
It preserves the natural colors in almost their full
brilliancy, whereas spirits of any kind destroy them, and
both the fish and the eggs are as nearly like what they
appear in the water, as it is possible to conceive. For
microscopic observations, it is invaluable as it is perfect-
ly transparent and presents the growth of fungus abso-
lutely. Eggs that have been kept in it for weeks, retain
every appearance of life, they exhibit the various stages
of embryonic development precisely as if they were just
taken from the trough, the chanyed colors of the living or
dead eggs are preserved and the outlines of the embryo,
its eyes, its membranes and bones are plainly visible. It
is said to preserve specimens uninjured for years, but
certainly our experience justifies us in strongly recom-
mending it to all who desire to preserve specimens tem-
porarily or for merely microscopic and scientific investi
gation, while we have no reason to doubt that it would
answer equally well tor a longer time. The objections
to any other preparations, are numerous, as every one
who has tried them is aware, but this appears to meet
every difficulty and can be safely used by any one. In
preserving the delicate and evanescent colors of fish, it
adds immensely to the value of the specimens, which in
the ordinary preserving fluid, were of a dull unattractive
and unnatural sameness of hue, that not only destroyed
their beauty but rendered them almost undistinguishable.
We give the letter as we reccive it.

Rocuester, N. Y.
The preservative Fluid, which we prepared for you, for the preser-
vation of the ova of fishes, is composed of equal parts of Glycerine
and Camphor Water. The Glycerine should be the best quality—
(Price’s English or Bower’s American.) This fluid is very highly
recommended by Lionel S. Beale, F. R.S. Mr. Beale has prepara-
tions which have been preserved in Glycerine for twenty years. The

176

addition of Camphor Water prevents any tendency to mildew.
Another advantage, and one of especial value in the preservation of
ova in the Glycerine and Camphor Water fluid, is, that specimens can
be prepared and forwarded during cold weather without danger of
loss by freezing. Respectfully yours,

C. F. PAINE & CO.

CHAPTER XIV.

FISH CATCHING.

We now come to the second division of our work.
Having told our readers how to hatch fish, we will now
tell them how to catch them. We do not propose to
enter into a minute consideration of the subject, but shall
confine ourselves to a few general directions. Greater
detail would make this book too large, elaborate and
expensive; but there are suggestions and advice which
will be found of value to fishermen, who may then sup-
plement this information by experience recorded ina
more elaborate form in other works. There are many
ways of taking different fish; some of them are good,
some bad, and some indifferent. We sliall only give the
best, and mention those points which are often neglected,
or not observed, and which are essential to what has
come to be designated as ‘good luck.” There is more
skill than luck in fishing, us in most things; and the
man who possesses the most skill will, in the long run,
enjoy the most luck.

There are two peculiarities of all sorts of fish, which
are frequently unnoticed ; that they are largely attracted
to their food by scent, and that they feed at night. In
all muddy streams it is only by scent that they can dis-
cover their food, for their eyes are no more capable of

177

piercing a turbid and discolored medium than ours. At
such times which are the best for the purpose, as the
flood, which causes the roiliness of the water, carries
down worms, grubs, and other food, it is apparent that
they must rely wholly upon the acuteness of their powers
of smell. On such occasions it is wholly useless to use
artificial baits of any kind that only appeal to the sight,
and flies, trolling spoons, or artificial minnows, are out
of. place.

Then, again, when fish are scattered, and are to be
attracted to a special spot, recourse must be had to similar
means. It is a well known plan in striped bass fishing
to use chopped menhaden to cause a “slick” or floating
streak of oil that will be carried long distances by the
tide or waves. The same thing is done with still fishing
for blue-fish, and without this assistance but few of either
of these varieties would be taken on the sea coast. The
saine idea may be utilized in other ways, and prove how
fish may be allured to their destruction by their noses as
well as their palates.

It is possible that strong smelling substances can be
employed advantageously on baits. This has been main-
tained by many writers on angling. Assafcetida has been
recommended among other things for the purpose, but
we cannot say what its value is, having never tried it.
The main point to be borne in mind is, that in endeavor-
ing to catch fish as much attention must be paid to the
scent as to the sight. They must be hungry indeed, or
of the coarsest varieties, if they will take stale, rotten
and offensive bait, and it is not to be supposed that be-
cause our noses are not available under water, theirs are
not. The fresher the bait the better it is, as many a bass
fisherman has found out in a blind sort of way with his
ghedder crab or his bony-fish, which are successful when

178

firm and fresh, but are ignored when old and unpalatable.
It is said that eels will eat putrid meat, but even this we
deny, at least so far as to say that they will seek it when
in good order much more ardently.

There are several blind fish in the State preserves,
some of which have lived in confinement for years. They
have to contend for their share of the daily food against
their fellows who are in possession of all their faculties.
Nevertheless they manage to get their full rations, and
keep as fat as the fattest. The food is thrown in at in-
tervals, and the fish being hungry, and -knowing from
habit what it is, dart at it without fear, making the water
boil and foam. It would seem as though only the most.
active could obtain any, and in the struggle pieces of
meat which are too large to be swallowed at once, are
often torn from mouth to mouth. Amid this hurly-burly
and confusion, the blind would seem to stand a poor
chance; and yet against such odds they hold their own.
Their powers ot scent must be wonderfully developed,
for. it is on them alone they can rely. They do not go
grubbing on the bottom for such pieces as may have
escaped attention, and have sunk, but they dart into the
crowd of ravenous creatures, and carry off their propor-
tion in fair fight. Compared with man’s helplessness
when deprived of sight, their self reliance is incredible,
and must be seen to be fully believed.

There are rivers and lakes which are always turbid,
and in which all piscatory life would cease were depen-
dence tor food to be placed alone on sight. The Missis-
sippi is an example, its waters are never clear, but carry
an amount of sediment which must render vision at more
than a short distance impossible. It is not suited to a
great variety of fish, but such as dwell in it are fat, and
often attain great size. In the rivers and waters of the

179

Mammoth Cave, the fish are wholly eyeless, and yet
they manage to obtain food without difficulty. Such in-
stances and evidences prove conclusively that the sense
of smell must be consulted in angling nearly as carefully
as the seuse of sight, and that stinking bait will not
answer for a “lucky fisherman.”

Another way of taking advantage of the sense of
smell in fish is to fill a box perforated with small holes
with bait and sink it at night or in roily water, so as to
attract the fish. The best attainable food should be
used, such as worms or what is even preferable, the
spawn of other fish. The scent passes out through the
holes and the game is drawn together and made more
eager by the appetizing smell and the impossibility of
getting at the food. The fisherman then offers them his
bait with a hook and line included and they cannot
refuse him, but are quickly deluded into his basket.
This is somewhat of a poaching and unfair method of
fishing, but it is successful.

But not only do fish possess in a high degree the sense
of smell, but they are possessed of a smell of their own.
We do not mean that “ancient and fish like smell”
which comes to all fish equally, the bony fish and the
salmon alike, when they have been left out of water
for a length of time but a delicate and perceptible odor
that clearly distinguishes one species trom another so
positively that a person who has studied it can tell them
apart blindfold. A little investigation will satisfy any
one with keen olfactory organs of this fact, and that each
kind of fish gives out a peculiar characteristic perfume
that can be recognized with a reasonable amount of
practice. The odor of the smelt is plainly perceptible,
it is supposed to have given the name to the fish, and is
observed to differ in the two common varieties of smelt,

180

being much stronger in one than in the other. This is
by no means the only instance: some species are easily
distinguishable, while with others more experience is
required.

It is too much the habit with all anglers to seek their
sport only during the day, for often better fishing and
far pleasanter can be had at night. So common is this
mistake that few persons know that fish, as a general
thing feed more freely at night than during the sunlight
hours. In some trout streams the largest trout are
never taken during the day. Caledonia brook is an in-_
stance. In its waters which are as clear as liquid glass,
the big fellows, the wise, cunning grandfathers who have
seen such deceptive offerings as flies before, cannot be
tempted from their safe retreats under logs and stones
so long as daylight lasts during the months of July and
August. Only when the sun has disappeared and dark-
ness rules can the fisherman hope to lure them to his creel
with some large, light colored fly; then no moon must
interfere with her “ray serene,” but the darker the time
the more suitable it is. A little piece of worm on the
point of the hooks adds to its killing qualities on such
occasions.

In other matters such as bass fishing, we have thought
the moon to be an advantage. It it does not guide the
prey to the lure it at least lends beauty to the scene and
bathes in its pale light the surroundings of the fisher
man, which are often so exceedingly beautiful. In
addition, it assists him in his work and enables him to
handle his tackle more easily and play his fish more -
comfortably.

It is not in every locality, nor with all varieties of
fish that night fishing is successful. In the ponds of
Long Island, although trout are often caught by poachers

181

on set lines, they are rarely taken with the fly at night,
and fishing for them would not pay for the trouble.
Whether fish will bite or rise at night is 4 question that
must be determined in different localities by trial. We
do not know any rules or principles that govern. There
are only few kinds of fish that we know of that always,
in all places and on all occasions bite better at night than
during the day, and those are our uneasy friends, the eel, _
and bullhead and catfish. Darkness suits their sinuous
nature.

The next suggestion of general application is the
desirability of using the finest tackle that can be ob-
tained and that is otherwise suitable. When we look at

.the heavy rods, the clumsy materials, the coarse lines

and the huge flies that are so much in vogue, we won-
der that any fish are caught, and feel that we cannot too
often or too earnestly press upon those of our readers
who desire to reach more than mediocrity in the art the
necessity of fine tackle. We have found anglers’ fishing
for salmon with a three-ply twisted leader fit to haul over
the rocks the heaviest bass, and almost capable of defy-
ing the shark-like jaws of the blue fish. We have seen .
gentlemen at the club houses along the coast where they
would be expected to be educated and refined, using
double brass wire for leaders, to catch striped bass in the
surf in order to escape the pecustonal raids of the blue
fish. But more objectional than all, the practice ot a
large part of our trout fly-fishermen is to use a leader of
gut heavy enough to hold a salmon. Anglers who do
these things will never be “lucky.” Instead of sighing
for better fortune or envying their brethren who bring
in better filled baskets they should heed these words,
and get better tackle.

182

It is true that until the angler who has used his coarse
tackle gets accustomed to the more delicate, till the fly-
fisherman for instance, overcomes the habit of “striking
with all his might,” advised by one famous writer, he
will meet with a “smash up” now and then, and lose some
fish. It is also true that in fishing for striped bass in the
surf with a single gut, a blue fish will trequently cut the
line and carry off bait and hook. But these are matters
which can be cured by practice or borne with equanimity,
and do not compare with the sense of degradation that
one feels when a-brother of the angle catches all the fish
and carries off all the honors.

If we find that we are taking nothing, while our neigh-
bor is doing well and having fine sport, we should, in-
stead of denouncing the fates, attribute the disparity in
nine cases out of ten to his finer tackle, unless we can see
that he is a better fisherman than ourselves. We should
try to find out at once in what our inferiority lies and
remedy it without delay. So accustomed aré people to
common and rude implements, that they will at first think
it impossible to have better. The tautog fisherman as a
case in point, has always used a stick, a string and a hook,
or what is even inferior, a hand line, and to tell him that
he would do better with a short leader of silk-worm gut,
would make him stare and laugh, yet the change would
often, especially in still, clear water double his catch.

The rule should be an invariable one, that for fish
under ten pounds, a leader of gut not heavier than that
known as salmon gut should be used. This will bear a
direct strain of six pounds, and should enable a skillful
angler to kill a salmon that would weigh fifty, if not a hun-
dred. An ordinary flax line will part at about a strain of
twenty-five pounds, and a three-ply twisted gut leader
will support about eighteen pounds. A fish in the water

183

cannot pull as much as half his dead weight out of it, and
under the pliancy of the rud does not exert one fifth as
much torce; so that even a fine trout leader which will
not sustain two pounds, direct pull, will kill a fish of
many times that weight, if scientifically managed. In
giving these estimates of resistances, we would say they
were tested by spring balances to which the lines were
tied, and as the rupture always occurred at the knots, it is
probable we have somewhat understated the strength of
the materials.

It must be understood that in this part of this work we
are not writing for mere novices, and we presume that
the reader has mastered the rudiments of the anglers art,
and has had more or less practice. We put forward such
hints and suggestions as our experience has taugbt us to
believe, even good fishermen have not always noticed,
and which if acted on, will tend to perfect the perform-
ance of those who have passed the stage of mere beginners
and desire to hold the rank of adepts. Our directions
will not be extended, and will not cover the simplest fish-
ing rules or maxims, but will be confined to what may be
regarded rather as finishing touches with reference to
whatever is new, and not mentioned by other writers,
with perhaps a few other ideas that are peculiarily our
own.

; 184

CHAPTER XV.
FISHING FOR THE SALMON FAMILY.

Fry Fisuma. —Casting the fly is essentially the same
sort of art, whether it is cast for salmon or for trout, and
is the highest development of the angler’s skill. It is no
more difficult, perhaps, than casting the bass bait; but
the delicacy of rod, line and fly required, place it at the
head ot all kinds of angling. In salmon fishing a two-
handed rod of some twenty ounces weight is used, with
one hundred yards of line, a stout single gut leader, and
a large fly. In trout fishing a single-handed rod of ten
to fourteen ounces, a leader of the most delicate gut ten
feet long, and never over eleven, and three small flies,
are the proper implements. But the motion and method
of casting the fly are in both instances essentially the
same; and the man who can wield the pliant trout rod
deftly, will in a few hours’ practice master the stouter
and more powerful salmon rod.

There are all sorts of fly rods manufactured, and each
sort has its advocates. There is the stiff elastic rod,
made of cedar or bamboo; the double action, made of
ironwood and greenheart, and the tough, slow rod,
made of ash, spruce, or hickory. The first is suited to
the man of quick eye and hand, impatient of the slower
motions of the others; the second is adapted to the de-
liberate fisherman, who goes on the plan that fish hook
themselves ; and the third is suited to the careless man,
who will never acquire the higher development of his
art, but wants something strong, that will not smash up
on the first pound fish that startles him with its unex-
pected rise, and which he strikes “ with all his might,”

185

and endeavors to “ yank,” without more ado, out of its
native element. We do not mean in making the above
distinctions of material, to say that each kind of rod may
not be manufactured out of the wood spoken of, as ap-
propriate to the other; but we only mention the mate-
rials as they are iennlly applied.

We prefer the spongy elastic rod, that sends he fly
straight out, even directly against ihe wind, and which
controls the line to the very stretcher fly, dader all cir-
cumstances, and on all occasions. But to use such an
implement requires strength, often the entire muscular
power of an unusually strong arm. Where two fisher-
men are equally skillful, the strongest will invariably
cast his fly the farthest. Let there be no mistake about
this; in fly fishing there is not merely an application of
delicate manipulation, but often the violent exertion of
the utmost strength. It is the combination of the two
qualities that wins. A line seventy feet in length is
heavy, and the wrist and arm must be vigorous that can
lift it from the water and send it out extended to its full
length behind the fisherman. The difficulty is not so
much in the forward delivery of the line as in recovering
it, and the man who can clear the line well behind him,
can usually send it out over the water with the help of
the wind, that must favor him always to enable him to
make a very long cast. In casting against the wind, the
same strength is necessary, but it is expended on ashorter
cast, and in overcoming the opposition of the wind
while the line is being delivered.

A limber double action rod casts a line neatly and
easily. It is the king of rods for short casts in moderate
weather, and with the wind; but for rough work it will
not meet the highest demands, The man of moderate

186

muscles and sinews should stick to it, and the lazy.

mediocre angler will prefer it; but the ambitious sports-
man, who wants to be “head of the heap,” and do the
best that can be done, who must cast over a “break to
windward,” or reach a promising spot a long way off, or
jerk his fly under an overhanging branch if there is a
hope that a trout lics perdu near the bank on the other
side, and who demands a tool that will respond to his
efforts, will condemn it as not up to the mark. Mr.
Thaddeus Norris made his rods, which were of the double
action, with a ridge on each side, so as to give them
more stiffness if they were held edge forward, but we
were never convinced that this remedied the difliculty.

The great point in selecting a rod is for the angler to
adopt the kind that is suited to him; get one that
gives play to his best powers, and then stick to it. This
is not an easy matter, and our readers will be fortunate
if they succeed without many trials and much disap-
pointment. There is always one rod that suits one man,
and possibly there may never be another. The endeavor
is to bring these together, and once joined they should
never be sundered till death doth them part. But it is
no easy matter for the fisherman to tell just when he
has the rod that fits his body and mind. He gets accus-
tomed to one, and a new one comes “ awkward” to him
for atime. At present prices they are expensive play-
things, and only the richest gentleman can go on testing
results at a cost of twenty five to fifty dollars for each
experiment. We can only assist in the process by mak-
ing such suggestions as we have offered above.

In winning matches in fly casting, and in acquiring a
great reputation for casting prodigivus length of line, the
rod is of essential importance. It must be backed by
skill and strength ; but if it is weak and faulty, its owner

187

will never take first rank. The difference between rods
is enormous, and there is not one ina hundred, we might
say one in a thousand, that will do its work as that work
should be done, no matter how admirably it is handled.
The fault does not lie in the material, nor wholly in the
taper, but there is a subtle something, like the lines of a
fast yacht, which cannot be discovered or described, but
which distinguish failure from success. Of all the rods,
hundreds in number, that the authors of this book have
owned, only one was suited to each, and one of those
being lost, has never been replaced.

It is utterly impossible to select a rod in the shop
where it is sold. It might as well not be handled at all
as handled there. The only test is use on the stream.
We do not know whether any of the makers will permit
this test, common as it has become with guns, but it
should always be demanded. A rod need not be injured
or defaced in the least by a day’s careful use; and it is
as much to the interest of the manufacturer as to that of
the fisherinan, that the latter should be satisfied: Doubt-
less the suggestion should be complied with by our
dealers as soon as its reasonableness is explained to
them. In this way some idea of what is desired can be
obtained, but the choice of a good rod isa matter of time
or luck.

As to material of which the rod should be made, there
is probably no preterence among the higher classed
woods. Bamboo, if split or inlaid on cedar, is the most
expensive, and is now the favorite. Iron wood was the
preference of the late Mr. Norris. Greenheart had a
great run for a time, and in the hands of a careful man
cedar, although brittle, is excellent; but ash will make
a fairly good rod, and so will Jancewood, although the
latter is rather heavy. We speak of the second joints;

188

the butt may be of anything, and the top should always
be of split bamboo. We havea very nice little rod of
spruce, which was made as an experiment by a friend,
and presented to us. It will not cast far, but for light
work it responds neatly and easily. It is doubtful
whether the quality of the wood is wholly decisive as to the
qualities of the rod, and should only be taken into con-
sideration generally.

It is the fashion now to use trout rods, weighing not
more than eight ounces. They are artistic and pretty
little implements; and tor streams or short casts on
ponds, are very pleasant. They will not cast a hundred
feet, however; no, nor much more than half that dis-
tance. But they do not tire the wrist; and where fish
are as scarce as they have become in the more settled
regions of our land, they will probably remain in vogue.
Where long casts are imperative, and it is important to
kill large fish in a reasonable time, they will not answer.
They should never be carried to the wilds of Lake Supe-
rior, Mairie, or Canada, but their use should be restricted
to Long Island ponds, or the trout brooks of the Middle
and some of the Eastern States. Although we have rec-
ommended fine tackle, we do not approve of what is too
fine to be effective. The eight ounce rod in its place is
very beautiful, but all places do not belong to it. It is
far preferable, however, to a fly-rod that weighs a pound
or over, and that is suitable to no place, being not heavy:
enough for salmon, nor light enough for trout. <A trout
fly-rod for all work should weigh from twelve to fifteen
ounces, according to the physical strength of its owner.

Similar observations, varied to suit the varied cases,
apply to salmon rods. We never use a ealmon fly-rod
under eighteen feet in length. On the broad rivers of
Canada and the British Provinces, the casts are often

189

long, and sometimes extremely difficult. Frequently
there will be a rocky precipice at the angles back, and
only a narrow ledge for him to stand on. If, under such
disadvantages, he shall find salmon breaking at the fur-
ther extremity of the pool, which cannot be reached from
the other side, he is apt, unless he has a long, powerful
rod, to smash many of his hooks, miss many of his fish
in consequence, and utter many thoughtless and incom-
plete observations. Trout can usually be approached,
because the streams in which they lie are navigable by
boat, or fordable by man; but with salmon this is differ-
ent, and the fly must be sent where they are, whether at
the foot of a fall or the head of a rapid, either of which
would soon use up a man, or his frail boat, if exposed to
its tury.

A salmon rod of twenty teet is in some waters prefer-
able to one even of eighteen. Weight is not so objec-
tionable in salmon as in trout fishing, for the reason that
in the former both hands and arms are used, and there
is not such wear and tear of the wrist. A dozen casts will
usually determine whether salmon are in the humor for
rising in any pool, and then it is as well to wait for a few
moments till their humor changes, as to go on urgiug the
fly on their notice. This gives a rest to the fisherman;
and as his ground for fishing is always limited, he is not
overworked by the handling of his rod. Killing his fish
is what tires his muscles. With trout this is different, and
the trout fisherman has no rest either while wading a stream
for miles at any pool in which he may rise a fish, or
while moving from spot to spot in a boat about a pond,
where he can only fill his creel by persistent effort.

In our country a salmon stream is ordinarily a mighty
river, dangerous, and at places impassable to the frail
canoe, which alone can navigate it. It cannot be waded,

190

and the fisherman must be careful not to get within the
grasp of its powerful current. It abounds with cataracts,
whirlpools, and rocky rapids, in which the canoe is as
helpless as the man; but in which the salmon, enjoying
the rush and funnel of waters, love to lie. Perched on
some commanding rock, the angler must reach all por-
tions of the stream, and cannot select his station or move
from place to place. He must accept the opportunity
that nature offers and make the most of it. When he
has once been so situated, and found his fifteen foot rod
unable to command the best pools or the best parts of
them, he will register a solemn oath never again to be
caught in such a foolish tix, and he will keep that oath
better than he does some others. One lesson will be
amply sufficient for his full enlightenment.

Linzs.—Practically there is but one line for fly-fishing,
either for salmon or trout, the braided silk covered with
a water-proof preparation, and tapered. We have a
fondness theoretically for the horse-hair line, on account
of its lightness, but we never use it now. The superior. -
ity of the water- proof line is so marked in every point
but lightness, which in itself is a qualified advantage,
that no one at present uses any other. It should be
tapered at both ends, in order to turn it end for end as it
wears out, the first portion to give way being that which
is most exposed. These lines were at first only made in
England, but now they are being generally manufactured
here, of a quality scarcely if at all inferior to the import-
ed article.

The trout line is from twenty to-thirty yards long, ac-
cording to the size of fish it is expected to catch, and the -
salmon line is one hundred yards in length. The latter
is heavier in the center, but they both taper. to nearly
equal fineness. Weight is necessary to make a long cast,

191

or to cast at all well against the wind; and a splash in
the water is avoided by the taper and the casting line.
Such a line will last a lifetime with care, and without
care will outwear a half-dozen of the best horse hair lines
ever made. It never has to be dried, except out of
abundant caution in case the entire roll on the reel should
get soaked. It is strong and reliable, and has no weak
places. It will not cut, and it does not catch in the rings *
of the rod. Old fishermen who read these words, and
who have used hair lines, will appreciate the weight of
what we say.

The hair line is lighter, and can be made under certain
circumstances, to fall more gently on the water, but in
recommending fine tackle we do not mean to recommend
any that is too fine to be practical. Some men use a
light, limber rod in bass fishing, because, as they say, it
takes them longer to kill their fish. This is Miss Nan-
cyism, and there is nothing we despise more. Use the
most effective tackle under all circumstances; for coarse.
fish, strong line and rod; for shy fish fine lines and gut
leaders, but always that which will kill the most in the
shortest time, and with the greatest ease and certainty.
When you go sailing for blue fish it would be a folly to
use a line so thin that it would cut your hands and might
not hold your fish; but in casting for trout in clear wa-
ter, you must fish far and fish well, and to do this the
water-proof line, all things considered, will be found to
be the best.

Castine Lins.—More important even than the line is
the casting line or leader, as we usually call it, made of
lengths of silk-worm gut. For the salmon fishing it
should be of round, clear, transparent single strands, not
too heavy, but tough and strong, and tapered, by choos-
ing the heaviest for the upper portion. No double or

192

twisted leader is ever necessary, for in a steady pull a
single strand will break any rod. When the smash up
occurs, it usually comes from striking too hard, and may
be avoided by leaving the reel free except for the restraint
of the click, aud not holding the hand on the line. When
a salmon is struck he often makes a plunge for the bot-
tom, so that if the angler both holds fast the line and
strikes too hard, he will part something—his leader,
whether it be single ply or three ply, or in default of
that, his rod. Salmon are as shy as trout, and the tackle.
to deceive them must be as little alarming as possible.

For ordinary trout fishing—we do not refer to Maine
or Canada, which exact heavy tackle—the gut lengths
can hardly be too fine. They should be tapered the
same as the salmon casting line, but should be infinitely
more delicate. The gut for the purpose is sometimes
drawn down through a guage, but we fancy that taking
off the outer skin weakens it, and we preter to select the
finest strands of the roundest and most transparent hanks.
You can judge of its excellence by the wiry way in which
it resists the teeth when it is bitten. All leaders should
be at least two feet shorter than the rod, or otherwise in
landing heavy fish, the upper knot will enter the tip
ring, and cause much trouble, with possibly the loss of.
the fish.

We cannot too often repeat, or too strongly impress
upon our readers, the necessity for the finest casting
lines in fishing in clear, bright waters, where the trout
have been taught to be shy, and comprehend .the decep-
tion that surrounds the “cruel hook.’ There are mo-
ments, rare indeed, happily rare for the continuance of
our sport, in which trout lay aside their suspicions, and
submit to the most bungling attempts at betrayal; but
let uo novice put his faith in these. They are ot rare

193 ‘
occurrence, and short duration; ordinarily the willful
creature must be beguiled and tempted in the most subtle
manner to be won, and the less visible the “entangling
alliances” about the line, the more probable the success,
Ninety-nine flies in a hundred, dressed in the shops, are
tied on gut nearly twice as stout as it should be; but the
dealers, as an excuse, say they cannot sell them other-
wise. It is to meet this assertion that we have dwelt so
long and earnestly on the advisability of casting fine.
lines over fine waters. We have hundreds of trout in
our ponds that were taken with a fly, and they: know the
fish rod for years. If you hold arod over the pond they
are out of sight as soon as they can find a place to hide.

Fiims.—This is a subject of infinite variety. We
scarcely know where to begin, nor how-much to say.
We would advise every angler to learn to tie his own
flies—not that he will or should always do so, because it
would often be an inexcusable waste of time—but in order
that he may be able to thoroughly know a good fly when
he sees one. The only perfect critic of a picture isa
man who can paint, so the only correct judge of a fly is
one who has made them. The art of fly tying is by no
means difficult; there is not the same labor expended in
the operation that there was formerly. The wings are
rarely reversed, and good varnish makes up for defects
in finish. The best and shortest way to learn the modus
operandi is by taking lessons from a friend, or a profes-
sional. A half dozen lessons, with some practice, will
teach all the essentials.

The fly-tyer needs a few utensils—such as spring-pliers,
bench vise, mohair, floss silk, gold and silver tinsel, var-
nish, hooks, sewing silk, and feathers of many kinds,
especially the hackles from cocks’ necks. The feathers
may be wrapped in paper; even put into open envelopes,

194

if the whole is kept ina box with a few pieces of camphor.
No insect is so easily defied as the moth—and none, we
believe, does such an enormous amount of damage.
There are very few things that a moth can or will eat;

"but those that he does fancy are often valuable, and them
he destroys utterly—furs, flannels, feathers; but above
all feathers are his delight. He simply revels in the
careless fisherman’s stock of flies, or fly-tying materials.
Yet he cannot’ penetrate through a leaf of this book,
though he be starving on one side with abundant plenty—
a groaning board of delicious feathers of most delicate
fibre on the other. He would perish miserably within
scent of paradise. Neither can he get through cotton
goods of any kind.

How many anglers wail yearly over the destruction of
their flies by moths, and it may not be amiss to add here
how many anglers’ wives compel their husbands to re-
place ruined furs at more than the cost of a dozen
pleasant fishing trips, when the simplest precautions are
absolute guaranty of safety. Place books, flies, feathers,
furs or flannels, either in paper, gummed with mucilage
at the edges, or in bags of muslin or linen, or cotton
goods, of any kind, and no evil minded moth can ever
enter. Ifthere are no moths or moth eggs in the fabric
or materials when put away, noue will ever get in. For
fly books, the simplest plan is to have a muslin bag a
little longer than the book, with a tape sewed fast an
inch or two from the mouth. Put the book in, twist
round the end of the bag tight, and tie the tape firmly;
That is all, and all mothdom will gnash its teeth in help-
less rage. Other things may be put in large bags of
brown paper, which of course must not have holes in it,
and the end can be gummed, or rolled over several
times—for moths will follow an opening, however nar-

195

row, some distance, if they scent game beyond, and
the parcel is then to be tied with a string. The man
who does this with the précious means of his sport, can
sleep easy, with no nightmares of merciless moths to
disturb his mind. r

As for the colors of flies, we can only say they should,
be of all colors. Their hues are infinite, and their name
is legion, and forever changing at that. Old and well
known varieties are continually coming up under new
names, till no man can keep the run of them. What
with the alterations of the names of flies, and the im-
provements in the learned names of fish, it has got to
sach a pass that the poor angler no longer can honestly
tell what he catches, nor what he takes it with. If the
fly dealers, on one hand, and the savans of the Smith-
sonian Institute on the other, keep on, we poor simple-
minded fishermen had better give up, or we shall soon
know as little what we are talking about as other
people.

There are delicate shades and differences of color in
flies which affect their killing qualities whatever writers
who love to generalize may claim. Every angler has
known a half worn out fly at certain times, although
its feathers were partly gone and its color almost washed
out, prove more taking than a fresh one of precisely the
same kind. There are times when trout and salmon
will accept simply one fly and no other, These cases
are rare, but they will occur. No rule can be given to
meet them, and the flies used in different localities are
so entirely different that uo special directions can be
given concerning their selection. Let the angler have a
fairly well filled book, and then if he is visiting an un-
tried stream let him consult some one who has fished
it before him. The salmon flies for American waters

196

are more simple, less gorgeous in golden pheasant top-
knot than the English and Scotch, and for sea trout and
the trout of Long Island and the ocean coast the red
ibis is in vogue, while it is generally discarded on inland
waters. The latter peculiarity has been explained on the
theory that trout having access to salt water take it for
shrimp. There is only one objection to this explanation ;
shrimp are red, it is true, but only after they have been
boiled, and as trout do not boil their shrimp so far as we
know, the resemblance to an ibis is lost.

We cannot within the limits of this work give rules
relating to the colors and make of the innumerable flies

that are used ; for that a book equally voluminous would oa

be needed, but there are points in reference to their size
which must be borne in mind, and partial directions
that we can give for their tying. For large, turbulent,
rough waters, and early in the season, large flies are
needed, but in bright, summer weather on clear streams
or none they should be as small as they can be made.
There is a regular natural gradation between these
points. In Lake Superior, a large, coarse, red hackle
made “buzz” as it is called, that is, with the hackle
standing “out the whole length of the body is probably
the most killing. For Caledonia brook and the ponds of
Long Island, in the day time during July and August,
it is only the smallest midges made of various colors
that will take at all. On dark days larger flies may be
used than in sunshiny weather.

In disposing the three flies on the leader or casting
line, the largest should be used as the upper dropper
‘and the smallest as the stretcher. This arrangement
will maintain the taper of the line and make them: fall
more lightly on the water. The gut lengths that fasten
the droppers to the leader should be short, the upper

197

say four inches and the second three, and they should be
tied one about a foot or eighteen inches from the end of the
main line, and the other half way between that and the
stretcher. For very short casts in small brooks more
very small fish can be taken in a given time if the three
flies are placed only about two feet apart and with long
strands to the droppers, so that they may be all trailed
along the surface together. This arrangement is to be
adopted by enthusiastic anglers who aspire to take a
thousand trout averaging an ounce apiece in a summer
day, but will not suit fishermen who seek larger fish.

A neat and ingenious invention in fly books has been
made by a gentleman in New York, for holding the flies
ov small hooks like those of the hooks and eyes of ladies’
dresses. The plan is not patented and enables the
angler to quickly remove or replace one fly without dis-
turbing the others. It may be applied to an ordinary
letter. envelope of parchment paper which can be made
to hold a dozen flies and answer all the purposes of a
fly-book, for a day’s fishing.

Hooxs.—As to the selection of the best shape of hook
for fly tying, there is a difference of opinion between the
editors of this work, and the reader will have to choose
between them. One favors his own discovery and what
has come to be called the “needle point hook,” because
it was originally made from the pointed half of a needle,
and the other prefers the sproat. The needle point hook
has no barb, being in this particular like the hook of the
Chinese, but the point is carried well forward. There is
no danger from what most people would suppose might
be the objection to it—the loss of fish after they are
hooked. It holds precisely as well as if it had a barb, but
the point is so long that there is risk—in the opinion of
the associated author—of the fish rising short and pull-

198

ing vigorously at the tail feathers.of the suppositious
insect without getting his lips over the point. This may
only be an objection in certain waters and with shy-
rising fish, but it is guarded against by the sproat in
which the point of the hook is almost at the very tail
of the fly. The approval or disapproval of the needle
point or barbless hook will depend probably upon the
habits of the trout among which it is used. If they
rise well it will be accepted, if they rise short it will be
discarded. The want of a barb has one great advantage,
the fish can be so readily and quickly taken off the
hook. This is sometimes of great importance to the
fish breeder who may use a needle point hook in order
not to injure the fish he wishes to take and keep for
spawners.

Fry Tyme anp Satmon Frres.—It is generally con-
sidered that fly making cannot be taught by written
instruction, but at all events there is something that the
experienced, and an immense deal that the partially’ in-
structed beginner may add to his store of knowledge, and
if the following directions will not make a novice perfect,
they may aid him when he has had a few personal les-
sons. To tie a fly, the gut should be singed in a candle,
or bitten at one end, and the hook and thread waxed to
insure the hook’s not coming off, which, when a fine fish
has it in his mouth, is a heart-rending casualty. Take a
few turns with thread on the shank of the bare hook,
nearly to the head, then applying to gut, whip it firmly
on by working back to the bend ; under the last turns at
the bend insert whisks for the tail, dubbing, floss or herl
for the body, and tinsel if desired. The floss, silk, and
dubbings are generally spun or twisted in with the thread,
and then wound back toward the shoulder, but they may
be wound on before, with or after the thread. Care must

199

be taken that the turns at the bend be firm, and when
the material is carried back the body is finished with a
couple of turns of the silk, a hackle is then introduced
and firmly secured by the smaller end. Wind the hackle
around the hook at the place where it is inserted, and
when it is sufficiently thick, and the fibres which consti-
tute the legs stand out well, tie it down. Prepare your
wings by stripping off the requisite number of fibres
from two feathers that are mates so as to have the two
wings alike, tie them on and finish off. Securely fasten
the thread with half hitches, or by passing the end under
several turns, and varnish with a little copal varnish.
“To make a buzz-fly, that is, one with the hackles the
whole length of the body instead of only at the shoulder,
insert a hackle at the bend at the same time with the body
and tail, and twist it around the body after that is put
on, and fasten it at the shoulder. The wings are some-
times laid on pointing up the shank, and afterward bent
down and secured in their places. If this is done the
head need not be, varnished.

To make a salmon-fly, the following additional direc-
tions, most of which apply equally to carefully made
trout flies, will be found convenient. Tie on the gut as
before directed ; upon reaching the bend fasten the spring
pliers on to the thread, and do not take them off till the
-- fly is finished. Take two turns with the silk over a strip
of tinsel, pass the latter several times around the hook
to form the tag, fasten it with the silk and cut it off; in-
troduce the floss for the tip, take several turns evenly,
tie it down and cut off the end; introduce the tail, and
then a piece of herl, wind the herl at the root of the tail
and fasten it; take in a new piece of tinsel and a hackle
by rubbing back all the fibres but a few at the point,
leave both pointing from the head ; take a small piece of

200

mohair between your fingers, break it over and over again
into small pieces, lengthen it out and twist it round the
silk toward the left, as otherwise it will unlay in wind-
ing; wind the silk and mohair together round the shank
to the shoulder; leave a space of bare hook at the head
sufficient for the wings. Wind in loose coils first the tinsel
and then the hackle, and fasten both at the shoulder.
Strip two wings from feathers that have been taken from
the opposite sides of the bird, place them together, hold
them firmly on the hook with the left forefinger and
thumb, and fasten them securely; cut off the ends, insert
a piece of herl, wind it over the head and tie it down.
Lay the end of the silk back down the shank, ard take
three turns with the other part over silk, hook and gut;
pass the gut end through the loop three times and draw
the silk tight.

Two turns of silk should hold the different parts dur-
ing the entire operation, and a couple of half hitches
under the wings at the shoulders are sometimes used to
fasten off, and the feathers should be mated to make neat
wings ; and if they are laid right side out they will close
round the hook ; if otherwise, they will stand out. Do
not fail to varnish at the head with woud varnish, or
some other kind that will dry rapidly. The hackle may
be introduced at the shoulder. When herl or floss is
used for the body, it is wound on separately from the
tying silk, which is sometimes passed in open coils after-
ward. A second hackle of a different color, or a feather
wound like a hackle, may be introduced after the first,
or after the wings and before the head ‘is finished, and is
called the legs. The wings must be tied above the dub-
bing on the bare hook, or they will be liable to turn,
especially where floss silk is used on the body. The
following is a list of Canadian salmon flies ;

201

No.1, Lowise—An extremely beautiful fly, having
wings composed of the golden pheasant’s top-knot, breast
feather and tail, with sprigs from the green parrot, blue
macaw, and kingfisher ; the body is fiery brown mohair,
with gold twist ; the head of orange mohair; the tail a
single feather from the golden pheasant’s top-knot ; red-
dish brown hackle and jay legs:

No. 2, Hdwin.—A much simpler fly, and often equally
efficcaious among the fins, the wings being composed ot
the golden pheasant’s tail feather, with a dash of yellow
macaw; the body yellow mohair; ribs of black silk;
head black mohair; tail, golden pheasant’s top-knot ;.
hackle yellow and scarlet silk tip.

No. 3, Forsyth.— Wings of the yellow macaw, with a
slight dash of mallard wings at each side; yellow mohair
body, with black ribs; head black ; tail, golden pheasant’s
top-knot ; hackle, yellow, with light blue silk tip.

No. 4, Stephens. — Wings of golden pheasant’s breast
feather, with slight mixture of mallard; body of reddish
brick-colored silk, gold twist ; head, blude ostrich ; tail,
golden pheasant’s tape: hackle, red, to cauieh the
body ; tip blue silk.

No. 5, foss.—Wings of mallard and peacock’s herl;
body, cinnamon-colored silk, gold twist ; no head; tail,
green parrot ; red and black hackles and black tip.

No. 6, The Parson.--This is a beautiful and efficient
fly; the wings are mixed, and very similar to those of
No. 1, but have a slight mixture of wood duck in them ;
the body i is of very dark claret silk, with gold twist ;
head, black ostrich; tail, golden pheaten?s top-knot;
hackle, dark claret; legs, blue, with atip of yellow and
gold.

202

No.. 7, Strachan.—Mixed wings, chiefly of golden
pheasant’s tail; yellow macaw and jay’s wings; body of
crimson silk, with gold twist; head, black ostrich; tail
golden pheasant ; black hackle, with jay’s wing legs ; tip,
yellow and gold.

No. 8, Langevin.—Wings, body, tail, hackle, legs.
tip, all yellow, made of the dyed feathers of the white
goose ; the head of black ostrich, and the twist of black .
silk.

No. 9, Whitcher.—Mixed wings of mallard and shell-
drake, or the tail of the golden pheasant may be used ;
head, black ostrich herl ; black hackle and black mohair
body, with a thin rib of silver; tip, yellow silk ; and tail
trom the top-knot of the golden pheasant. 3

No. 10, Grey Fly—Mixed wings, of mallard, turkey,
golden pheasant’s neck and top-knot, and sprigs of blue
macaw ; head of black ostrich herl; legs, carmine; grey
hackle; body of a grey mohair, with silver ribs, and tip
of silver and deep orange silk, tail, mixed gray mallard,
and tail of the golden pheasant.

It will be observed that the foregoing are not imita-
‘tions of any natural insects, but merely fanciful combina-
tions of beautiful colors. The more harmonious the
tints the finer the effect. Some of them are gaudy and
for the rivers of New Brunswick [ would add the follow-
ing, requesting the reader to bear in mind that larger and
more brilliant flies are permitted among the rougher
waters and heavier fish of the Canadas.

No 11, Micholson.—Wings, mallard with sprigs of
blue macaw; body, blood-red mohair, head of black os-
trich herl; hackles, one blood-red and one dark blue
wound on together; gold ribs and tip, tail, mallard and
golden pheasant neck. This is one of the best flies ever

203

cast on the Miramichi and Nipisiquit, and is simple and
inexpensive. It is often called “ Blue and Brown.”

No. 12, Chamberlain.—Turkey wing, the lighter and
darker fibres mixed, or turkey and mallard; head, black
ostrich herl; orange mohair, body and hackle; yellow
legs ; silver or gold ribs and tip, black silk twist; tail of
golden pheasant top knot.

No. 18, Darling—Wings of turkey, and golden
pheasant neck feather and sprigs of blue macaw ; head
black ostrich; hackles black along the stem, but with
reddish ends sometimes called “ fiery brown ;” tip orange
silk; tail golden pheasant top knot; thin gold ribs and
tag and black mohair body.

No. 14, Major.—Wings of mallard and turkey with
sprigs of blue macaw; head claret herl; light red
hackle, and orange legs; body deep purple mohair ; tip
blue silk; tail, golden pheasant neck feathers, ribs and
tag gold tinsel.

No. 15, Captain.— Wings of turkey and golden pheas-
ant, tail and neck feathers and sprigs of blue macaw ;
head, claret herl; red hackle; body, claret mohair; tip,
orange silk; silver tag, gold ribs and tail of golden
pheasant top knot.

No. 16, Ceriboo.— Wings of turkey and mallard with
sprigs of macaw, and a few fibres from the golden
pheasant’s neck, head of black ostrich herl ; claret legs;
grey hackle, body of green cariboo hair or mohair, lower
part of tip golden yellow silk, and upper part black silk;
tail, golden pheasant top-knot, and gold tag. This fly,
with various modifications, is extensively used by fhe
resident fishermen of Frederickton.

No. 17, Emmet.—No head ; wings of black and gold-
en pheasant neck feather with sprigs of macaw ; body,

204
black mohair ; black hackle; gold tip and twist; a turn

of black herl taken just above the tail, which is golden
pheasant crest.

No. 18, Liltie—Wings and tail dark grey turkey;
body, mohair of the same dull color; yellow silk tip;
red hackle and no head.

We have given more particular directions about sal-
mon thau trout flies because the comparative number is
smaller, and it is more difficult for one of our people to
ascertain correctly what flies he wiil need in Canada and
the British Provinces, and if he makes a mistake he can-
not easily correct it and may be put to considerable
inconvenience by finding himself in the heart of the
wilderness by the side of a salmon river and with a book
full of unsuitable flies. The above are all, and we might
say, more than all that will be needed on any river on
the Atlantic coast of America, and they will answer as
well on the Pacific coast rivers as any flies yet discovered.

There is one fact to be borne in mind in reference to
all flies, either for trout or salmon, and that is, that fish
get accustomed to any kind of artificial lure, which must
be changed from time to time. One fly, no matter how
good, will lose its attraction. Many anglers have from
a season’s good luck concluded that they have at last
discovered the fly of flies until the failures of next year
convinced them that their favorite was no better than
its fellows. Anything odd, out of the way or unusual
will receive more or less attention, especially from sal-
mon, when every ordinary fly has been tried in vain.
We have made a new fly, and with the most startling
colors we had at hand, every day for weeks in mid-
‘summer when salmon fishing in clear low water in pools
that had been well whipped for a couple of months, and

205

on such occasions were sure to raise several fish with
every new fly, that lost its virtues, however, before the
day was out.

A simple arrangement for quickly changing the color
ofa fly, especially with trout flies, which have not such
brilliantly colored wings as salmon flies, is to carry in the
fly book cards with various colored silks wound upon them.
There will be no difficulty in having as many as thirty
varieties of shade because only a little is needed of each
and they may be placed side by side so that any hue may
be selected at once. It is a good plan to open the first
trout taken and find out from the contents of his stomach
the precise fly on which he is feeding. Then if the
angler is without that kind he can make a tolerable
substitute by winding the proper shade of silk over
the body of any fly that he has, selecting suitable size
and wings as far as he can. It is the color of the body
that mainly distinguishes trout flies and the wings are of
less importance, being in nature little more than a dusky
membrane.

Reets.—There is probably no better reel than the
ordinary click reel. It should have the handle set in the
plate and not on an arm around which the line will be
forever catching. For salmon fishing of course, the reel
must be larger and stronger than tor trout. The advan-
tage about the ordinary brass reel is, that it will not break _
if it falls even on rocks, a misfortune that is peculiarily
liable to happen in agimon fishing, in which the fish have
often to be followed along a dangerous and difficult shore.
It may get bent, but it can still be used. ‘The objections
to it are, that it keep the line shut in between two plates,
so that it will not dry readily and may rot, and that it
does not take in the line rapidly. An open reel with a
large barrel, and made of gutta percha has come into

206

vogue lately. It will wind in the line far more quickly
than the ordinary click reel, and when wound in, leaves
it in such a position that it will dry, but if this reel strikes
any hard substance heavily, it will fly to pieces, being as
brittle as an ordinary gutta percha comb, and it does not
yield the line nicely to the hand when the angler is
lengthening his casts, the line binding on the narrow slit
through which it runs. This reel may be made with a
click or a friction screw, and should be sold very cheaply.
We have used it for years in trout fishing, and cannot
say that we give the old brass click reel any preference
over it, and it certainly enables us to command the line
more quickly when we have hooked a fish. We have not,
however, as yet, slamined it ayainst a rock, an experience
that is reserved for the first time we lose our footing on
the slimy, treacherous bottom of the trout brook we may
be wading.

Castine THE Fiy.—We can think of no way of giving
oral or written instruction in fly fishing, The purpose is
to get the line out straight, clear and lightly as far as
possible, and skill in doing so is only to be acquired with
practice. Something can be learned by watching a better
angler than yoursclt standing and casting by your side.
The motion is a peculiar one, and the best advice we can
give the reader about it is, to tell him to send his line
out with a jerk. This is contrary to every opinion and
direction contained in the books, and will at first, lead to
the snapping off of many a fly, but it is the aly way of
casting the line as it should be cast. Every other plan
will work after a fashion if there is a breeze to favor and
help, but on calm water and with no wind, it is only the
man that can twitch out his line that can get it out at all.
We should say lift it with a jerk, swing it to the full
Jength behind you; upon doing this thoroughly, depends

207

the question whether your fly will stay on the line or not,
and then send it forward with a quick motion that winds
up with a jerk of the wrist. This jerk communicates its-
self to the tip, and gives that peculiar springy motion
that will be noticed with all first-class fly fishermen.
Never try to help your rod by a long, slow awkward
sweep of the arm. It won’t answer—the wrist must do
the work. Do not let your rod go too far back, it should
never reach more than an angle of forty-five degrees.
And now, reader, if these directions don’t suit you,
you need not follow them, they are poor enough
at best, and you may work out your own fishing salvation
in your own way. If they do, and yon wil] courageously
snap off about fifty flies, we think at the end of that time
you can probably cast a line fifty feet long, and drop your
tail fly in a lily pad three times in five casts, in which
case you can begin to take trout.

Fish have sharp eyes, and in trying to allure them to
their death we must do our best to keep out of their sight.
They know a man as their natural enemy by instinct. In
approaching a stream, get behind a bush, or stump, or
rock. We have before now crawled on our knees within
reach of a hole in which we knew that a peculiarly large
and desirable trout had taken up his abode. In fishing
from a boat, always sit down and have the seats arrang-
ed to face towards the stern. Omit no precautions that
will tend to lull the suspicions of the trout, which years -
of persecution have rendered most acute. Never pound
on the bottom of the boat, or jar the bank of the creek.
Talking will do no harm, but rattling oars or jumping
from one log to another, or splashing i in the water, or even
treading heavily on the ground will alarm the fish and
often make them dart about in terror. When once
alarmed, trout will never bite. It is worse than useless

208 .

to show them bait or fly, and only teaches them to con-
nect in their minds the noise and the fishing.

Ornex Mersops or Fisaine.—As salmon and trout
are only taken for sport, they should never be caught
with anything but the fly, which is the highest develop-
ment of sport in fishing. Salmon are never fished for in
any other way, but it will occasionally happen that a
trout stream is so overgrown with trees and bushes, that
the use ot the fly is an impossibility. In such cases a
person is perfectly justified in having resort to a worm.
For this kind of work, especially in the small brooks
which are so common in our country, and which flow
down some mountain side through dense and unbroken
woods, the best rod isa pole cut from the forest, as it can
be taken by the smaller end and dragged along, when
more delicate tackle would give trouble. The best line
is a gut leader, which is tied to the end of the pole, and
may be shortened by turning the latter in the hands and
winding it up. For larger streams, where a reel van be
used, a short rod with a small float are the proper imple-
ments.. Pay out as much line, and keep the float as far
ahead as possible; have a leader of two or three feet in
length, and no sinker. In streams connected with salt
water and in ponds, minnows are better bait than worms.
Minnows and worms can both be cast and played some-
what like the fly, and often with deadly effect.

Trolling spoons are fatal with the larger sea trout of
Canada, and may either be drawn along after the boat
while it is being rowed, or if small enough, they may be
cast like the fly. It is rather a coarse method of fishing,
and if a fish is once hooked he can never escape, except
by breaking the line, as the hooks of the spoon will be
imbedded in his jaws so that they are difficult of extrac-
tion after he is landed. Such devices are more appro-

209

priate to fishing for pickerel or mascallonge, than for 80
delicate and beautiful a fish as the trout. Artificial min- |
nows, artificial grasshoppers, and the like, are not suc-
cessful enough to justify their use.

Satmon-Trovut.—As the fishing for salmon-trout is
altogether different. from that for salmon or trout, we will
give separate directions in reference to it. These fish are
known under several names, both scientific and popular ;
but it is questionable whether there are more than two
species. In different waters they have a distinct appear-
ance and differ greatly in size, but it isdoubtful whether
the changes are more than the mere effect of local causes.
They are fond of large sheets of water, the smallest of
which, and where they attain the least growth, deserving
the name of lakes. In such inland seas as Lake Superior,
they will occasionally reach a weight of one hundred
pounds, while in other places they will not average over
two or three. They are common in most of the north-
ern and north-western ponds and lakes, and are a favorite
food fish with many. They are taken with silver and
brass spoon hooks, by loading the line so that the spoon
runs near the bottom. But they are taken sometimes at
the top of the water, and sometimes half-way down, and
at the bottom, by trolling with three lines at one time
—one at the surface, one half-way down, and one near
the bottom. Another way is to anchor a buoy out in
deep water and cut fish in pieces, varying in size from a
hickorynut to a butternut, and scatter the pieces
around the buoy for some days; then anchor your boat to
the buoy, using a piece ot the same kind of bait on your
hook that you had been in the habit of scattering around
your buoy ; fish near the bottom, and give it a little mo-
tion by giving your line short jerks. The buoy should
not be baited the day you go fishing.

210

Another;way is to have a rod and reel and four or five
hundred feet of fine, strong line, and if the water is deep
put a lead sinker weighing three quarters of a pound on
the end of your line, and tie a single gut leader twelve
feet long, on the main line twelve feet above your sinker.
For hooks, youshould use nine number six Limerick hooks,
tied three together, back to back, so that they look like
a three-pronged grappel. Tie them on a single gut lead-
er about two and one-half inches apart, and you havea
gang of hooks five inches long. Put two very small
brass swivels on your leader. Use the kind of small fish
for bait that the trout are used to eating in your lake.
Hook one of the upper hooks through the under and up-
per jaw so that his mouth will be closed; then hook one
of the lower hooks through the back near the tail, in such
a manner that it will give the fish a curve and will turn
around like a trolling-spoon when it is drawn through
the water. The most successful fishermen use three of
these kind of rigs in one boat; they fish one rig near the
top with a light sinker, say four ounces, and one about
half-way down with an eight ounce sinker, and the twelve
ounce sinker near the bottom. The boat should be rowed
very slowly, so that you can feel the bottom with the
heavy sinker nearly every time you raise it up and let it
down. The bait should be raised up and down by a gen-
tle motion; set the other two lines, one on each side of
the boat, and they will take care of themselves. Live
fish should be used for bait. Some do not use but eight
hooks, one hook for the upper to hook in the minnow’s
mouth, and one to hook in the back near the tail, and
two sets of three each between the two single hooke tied
about one and-a-half inches apart. Be careful and keep
your minnow looking as natural as possible. Do not rub
any more scales off than you can help. When you let

211

your line out your boat should be in motion to keep your
bait from twisting around the main line.

There is opportunity for fine fishing in Lake Huron,
which will be utilized one of these days when yachting
shall have been developed in our grand inland Jakes, as
it will bein time. Trolling for salmon-trout can be done
very successfully with sailing craft, all the way from
Saginaw Bay to Mackinaw, and about five or ten miles
from shore. The ordinary trolling tackle is to be used,
much in the same way that it is used on the sea coast for
blue fish, but the fish taken will occasionally exceed
twenty pounds in weight, and will test the angler’s tackle
and muscles. :

CHAPTER XVI.

FISHING FOR BASS AND OTHER FISH,

Brack Bass.—These fish are taken with the fly either
cast as in trout fishing or trolled behind a boat and with
spinning tackle. They are also caught with bait and
show a preference for fresh water helgramite and crawtish
and, for small living roach, dace and yellow perch.
They are a voracious and predacious fish and will destroy
any other kind that occupies any small waters with
them, even the pickerel standing no chance against
them. They are courageous as well, and never give up
their lives till after they have made a good fight. As
goon as they are hooked they throw themselves out of
* the water with a rush and endeavor to smash the line,
and shake their heads, fiercely in their attempts to dis-
lodge the hook. When they jump out of the water it is
well to drop the tip, as, if they succeed in flinging their
broad sides on the line, they are apt either to snap it or

212

tear out the hook. They must be handled carefully and
cannot be landed immediately, and if they are of any
considerable size will demand skillful play. They attain
a weight of six to eight pounds, but the average is far
less, hardly exceeding two. They are thoroughly a
game fish and should be introduced into all waters
adapted for them which are occupied by inferior fish.

There is scarcely any prettier sport than taking black
bass by casting the fly. Trolling is far inferior in the
enjoyment it gives the true angler, being a coarser and
less artistic style of fishing. For very large fish the,
leader may be of salmon gut, but for ordinary fish, trout
tackle will do. In trolling a number of flies of light
colors, especially scarlet and white, are tied on the lead-
er at short intervals with often a small trolling spoon for
a stretcher. It should have a swivel at the top and a
couple of shot lower down. This is trailed behind at
some distance from the boat which is rowed rather slowly
over the reefs and other places where the bass congre-
gate. In the St Lawrence river among the Thousand
Isles where a school.of these fish is struck every fly will ©
hook a fish and the fortunate spot may be crossed again
and again with the same result. This is a good deal
like pot fishing however, and the landing of so many fish
at one time is annoying rather than pleasurable. As
they fight against one another, success in getting them
into the net is a question rather of strength of tackle
than of skill in the fisherman.

In casting this is wholly different and everything de-
pends on ability to use the rod and to manage the game.
The flies are larger ordinarily than those for trout being
about the size of such as are used in Maine or on Lake
Superior, and are gaudy although on light days sombre
colors are often the most successful. Otherwise there is

213

no essential difference between fly fishing for black bass
and for trout, except that it is well to fish a little more
slowly. The rod is the same, the line the same, and

_ there is the same necessity for dexterity in controlling
the fly and the line. Black bass are not so beautiful nor
delicate a fish, but they are more fierce and fully as
courageous. They are rarely brought to the net till
after they have leaped a half dozen times from the
water, sometimes as high as three feet from its surface.
The thrill of dread which this manceuvre on their part
aronses in the mind of the fisherman is never staled by
repetition and there is no assurance of safety till the bass
is fairly landed. ,

Osweco Bass.—These fish resemble the black bass
so closely that they are often confounded with them, but
they are quite inferior. They inhabit a lower class of
waters, prefering ponds and streams with sluggish
currents and muddy bottoms. They rarely rise to
the fly but will take the trolling spoon voraciously.
When hooked, however, they make no play but after
one or two feeble rushes come in like a “wet rag.”
Neither are they so good a table fish as the black bass.
They inhabit most of the southern waters of our country
being found in vast numbers in the coast lagoons of the
southern states, in water that is often quite blackish
from the inroads of the sea during high tides. They
grow to weigh fifteen pounds quite frequently and some-
times are said to exceed that by as much as five more.
In the northern states they rarely exceed five or six
pounds.

Mascattonen.—This fish, which is the king of the

_pickerel tribe, grows to a great size and gives good sport.
He is strong and willful, and is much better on the table
than his smaller kinsmen. He is taken by trolling with

214

a row-boat and what is known as the trolling spoon,—a
piece of tin wheeling around a pair of hooks,
Sometimes feathers are tied around the shank of the
hooks, and while the outside or face of the tin has its
natural shining color, the back is sometimes made red,
sometimes black or copper colored, and so forth. We,
prefer the trolling spoon without feathers for mascallonge,
but we often use a double gang of hooks and put a piece -
of the throat of the fish on the lower pair. Then if the
fish strikes and does not hook himself, he gets a taste of
food and will often come again. In case minnow is used
either for mascallonge or pickerel, it is fastened on a gang
of small hooks that are thrust into its back and sides so
as to bend it in order that it may turn round and round
in the water,— spin well” as it is technically termed.
Prokere, anp Yettow Prrox-—The most artistic
way of taking pickerel in summer is with the spear, but
they are generally taken with a spoon and line bait.
They furnish poor food and worse sport, as a general —
thing, and are not entitled to any law. They are better
to use as food for black bass than for man. During win-
ter they and perch are caught through the ice in a way
to furnish a good deal of amusement. A number of
holes are cut through the ice some distance apart, and
two sticks tacked together in the shape of a cross are laid
across each hole. The longest part of the cross reaches
over to the ice on both sides, but the other piece is too
short to strike the edges. To one end of the latter the
line is made fast, and as soon as a fish bites his jerk raises
the other end, which can be seen at some distance, and
may be decorated with a tiny flag. The fisherman is
kept running from one to another, and as he has from
twenty-five to fifty lines fishing all the while, he is busy |
if fish are at all plentiful. A similar method of fishing

215

may be followed in summer by having a flat float of a
piece of ordinary board with a stick run up and down
through the center and weighted at the bottom. The
line is fastened to the upper end, that half being painted
white, and a bite reverses the position and shows the
lower half, which is painted red. As pickerel do not
always pouch the bait when they first strike it, the line
may be coiled on the float and slightly hitched in a notch
so that it will run off at first and give the pickerel a
chance to move toa quiet spot for his deliberate meal. For
this fishing, live. bait is needed, minnows being the best,
and should be fastened by running the hook just under
the skin near the back fin, so as not to injure them. If
the line is tied to the leg of a tame gouse, there will be
seen considerable excitement when this new sort of angler
strikes a large fish. Pickerel are also taken in small
ponds, where they love to lie around the water lilies and
long grass, by fishing for them with a long rod and
small fish. The bait is tossed here and there into the
openings among the weeds, is twitched up and down in
a way to somewhat similate the action of a living fish.
When a fish bites he is unceremoniously hauled out.
Ssap Fry-Fissive.—Shad can be taken with the fly,
but only where they are collected together in consider-
able quantities, or over a reef, or where they are obstruct-
ed by adam or falls. The same rule obtains with salmon,
which never rise to the fly in smooth, still water, and
are caught most freely where the fresh stream falls di-
rectly by rapids or cataract into the brackish or salt tide-
way. If the lower part of the river is unbroken, the
salmon run directly up and are never taken by fly-fishing,
and if they have to ascend a long distance to the first
rough water, they do not rise so well. It is possible that
the failure of salmon tu take the fly in the Columbia and

216

other streams of Oregon and California, is due to the fact
that the falls are so far from the ocean, and they might
possibly be made to rise by an artificial obstruction.

The ordinary fly used in fishing for shad is one that is
a dull yellow throughout, the color of the sandhoppers
that are found on the sandy shores of salt water. It is
trolled more generally.than cast, and has been used suc-
cessfully in the Connecticut and Hudson rivers. The
sport, however, is not such as to attract the thorough
fisherman, and has been pursued rather from curiosity.
than for amusement. Shad have been taken in fresh
water with the minnow.

Strep Bass.—The fishing for striped bass is al-
together different from anything that has heretofore been
described. It requires a different rod, reel, line and bait.
It is true that at certain places bass may be taken with
a large coarse fly either cast or used in trolling, but
these spots are so rare that but few anglers have ever
enjoyed the sport of fly fishing for striped bass. The
best place for this is at the Little Falls of the Potomac,
and the sportsmen of Washington are favored in having
the privilege. But in general the fishing for striped bass
is done with bait and a rod that is short, strong but
springy, not over nine feet in length but very stiff by
comparison with anything used for salmon or trout. The
finest rods are made with the second joint and tip—there
are only three joints—of bamboo, and the butt.of some
heavier wood. A single piece of Japanese bamboo
makes an excellent rod and may be had at a cheap price
but it is awkward to carry. The guides which are used
in place of rings, and tip point or “funnel top,’ should
be lined with agate in order that theline may run through
them with the utmost freedom, this being the great
desideratum in the more difficult kinds of bass fishing, _

217

More important even than the rod is the reel. This must
be made with the delicacy of the finest clock work. Itisa
multiplier and should either run on agates or steel pins,
the latter is not so easily broken as the former and
renders as well if it is kept well oiled. The cog wheels
must be as perfect as they can be and run with absolute
accuracy and noiselessness. The least jar or chatter
renders the whole thing utterly useless. The handle is
balanced and the main barrel is large and able to hold
three hundred yards of line. When a good reel has once
been selected it needs and deserves the best of care; it
should be kept in a leather case, and if it is unused for
some time should be oiled occasionally. Before it is used
and when it is about being put away it should be taken
apart, wiped dry and oiled, and all rust must be thor-
oughly removed.

Lines anD LzaprErs.—The best lines are of grass
or raw silk, but they are expensive, rot easily, require
the utmost care, and will whip ont against the bars of the
reel. Silk lines are apt to stick and will not deliver
rapidly, and custom has fallen upon those of flax. These
are poor affairs at best; they swell when wet and rot unless
they are dried after every wetting, but they are the
most practical taken all in all, that the tackle makers
have yet given us. From twelve to fitteen threads are
the sizes generally used, although some persons prefer
those of eighteen. Of course the finer the line the soon-
er it looses its strength, and deteriorates under exposure.
No bass fisherman can do himself justice with any line
but one of raw silk, and the question only is whether he
can afford—taking into consideration his purse and the
amount ot fishing he may do—to bny the best or wheth-
er he must content himself with inferior tackle at a

moderate price. Even a poor fisherman can make a fair
10

218

show with a grass line, while a good one will often have
his patience tried with a line of flax.

These costly and delicate implements are only needed
for the higher kinds of bass fishing and for the largest
sized fish. For smaller fish and smaller sport, lighter
tackle will answer, but when the fish has the entire At-
lantic ocean to escape into, and the angler expects, prays
and ‘hopes for a victim to his skill of fifty pounds weight
it is unwise to use any but the best and strongest tackle.
In the innumerable salt water creeks, coves and bays
where fish of from three to five pounds are taken, a plain
rod with a float and sinker and double snell of hooks on
gut leaders is all that is necessary. More will be said
on this subject hereafter.

The grandest and most skilful method of taking the
striped beauties of the northern coasts, is with the men-
haden bait, cast into the boiling surf of the ocean, or the
larger bays, and this sport is universally enjoyed along
the rock bound coast of New England, from New Lon-
don to Eastport. This entire beach is one mass of rock
indented by innumerable bays or severed by inlets into
barren islands, where the tide rushes and the surf beate,
and in every favorable locality are the bass taken with a
stout rod, a long line and menhaden bait. From almost
every bold rock, or prominent island.can the angler cast
into the vexed water of some current made by the waves
rushing over the uneven bottom, and allure thence the
bass, who has been attracted from the ocean depths to
feed on the small fry that hide in the clefts and crevices, .
and waiting with fins often visible above the tide to
pounce upon his prey, mistakes for it the angler’s bait,
and after a brave struggle surrenders to human ingenuity.

Fishermen of long practice and great skill claim that
they can cast the ordinary menhaden bait one hundred

219

and twenty yards.. Although from a high stand with
the aid of a strong wind this is possible, the ordinary
cast is not over half that distance, and to exceed one
hundred when standing on a level with the water is rare.
Seventy five yards is a good cast, and no man need be
ashamed who can put out his line fair and true that dis-
tance. The length of cast is in a measure controlled by
the direction and violence of the wind and the elevation
of the stand above the water. In a contrary wind the
best angler will find it difficult to reach seventy-five
yards, while from a high rock with a favorable wind he
will cover that distance with ease.

Casting the menhaden bait is similar to casting the
float and sinker, only the power applied is enormously
increased, and difficulties are proportionally magnified.
The line is wound up till the bait, if a single one, is
almost two feet from the tip, the rod is extended behind
the fisherman, who turns his body for the purpose, and
then brought forward with a steady but vigorous swing
that discharges it without a jerk, like an apple thrown
from a stick. The reel is so far restrained by pressure of
the thumb, that it revolves no faster than the bait travels,
but does not detain it, and upon the accuracy of this
manipulation mainly depends the result. If too much
pressure is used, the line cannot escape rapidly enough
and falls short; if too little, the reel overruns and en-
tangles the line, stopping the cast ere half delivered with
a jerk that threatens its destruction. The fisherman
must be able to use either hand on the reel to rest his
arms and to take advantage of the wind.

Neither shrimp nor soft crabs are used in this style of
fishing, and the eel skin which is used earlier in the
season, is prepared by stripping the skin off the tail of an
eel from the vent aft for about a foot, turn it inside

220

out, and drawing it over a couple of hooks so placed on
the line that one shall project, near the upper and the
other near the tail end. A sinker of the size of one’s
little finger is inserted at the head, and this bait is cast
by hand, as it has to be drawn aptly. The rod is not
often nad § in this style of fishing, as the heavy bait is apt
to sink ere it can be reeled in. The skin is frequently
salted to increase its firmness, and when used, must be
kept in continual motion.

The menhaden bait is prepared by scaling it and then
cutting a slice on one side from near the head to the base
of the tail, passing the hook through from the scaly side,
and back through both edges, so that the shank is en-
veloped and the flesh is outwards, and then tying the bait
firmly with a small piece of twine that is attached to the
hook for that purpose. A menhaden or bony fish fur-
nishes two baits and the residue, except the back bone,
tail, and head, is cut up fine, called chum, and thrown
into the water to make a slick. A slick is the oil of the
menhaden floating over the waves, and being carried by
the tide or current a long distance, attracts the bass.

Where the water is clear, it is customary in rod-fish-
ing, to use two hooks; the smaller some two feet below
the other is attached to a fine line or gut leader, which
latter we decidedly recommend, and denominated with-
out any apparent reason the “ fly hook.” Many of the best
fishermen never use more than one bait, aud when the
fish are large and plenty, one is sufficient. The fly bait
is not generally tied on, but twisted round the hook in a
manner difficult to describe.

Lobster which is also used as a bait in this style of fish-
ing is deficient in tenacity, and has to be tied on like
menhaden, and probably the natural squid would be an
effective and manageable bait, could it be provided in

221

sufficient quanities. Hooks are manufactured expressly
for this fishing with a round head, they are fastened to
the line with two half hitches, the end again hitched
above so as to take the friction; and as they are carried off
by the first big blue fish or in the Yankee vernacular
horse-mackerel, that takes a fancy to the bait the angler
must be well supplied.

The friction is so great in casting, that the thumb must
be protected by a thumb stall or “ cot,” as fishermen call it,
or better yet, one. for each thumb, so that you can cast
from either side, and snub the fish with either hand.
They are made of chamois, leather, india rubber, or some
equivalent material, and in casting’ by hand, a similar
protection is required for the forefinger. A shoemaker’s
knife is admirably adapted to cutting bait, and the best tool
is desirable, as cutting up menhaden bait is about as dirty,
disagreeable and tedious an operation as can be imagined.
The angler should always have an assistant for the pur-
pose, or he will get his hands, his rod, and his clothes in a
condition of oil, blood and fish scales, that no cleaning
will wholly remove, and his person will smell “ancient
and fish-like” tor weeks.

Bass fishermen will boast that they never allow their
lines to over run, but listeners should make allowances
for sportsmen’s stories. We all like to believe that we can
shoot and fish as well as the best or a little better,-and
ambition to excel is laudable. The truth is, there never
was a fisherman yet whose line did not sometimes over-
ron and foul. This occurrence is the drawback to the
sport, and there seems to be no way of preventing it.
The pressure to be applied to the reel depends upon so
many considerations, the force and direction of the
wind, the power applied to the cast, the speed of the
bait which dimjnighes as it progresses, and the quality of

222

the line and perfect working of the reel, whereby the
restraining tension is so difficult to apply perfectly, so
hard to regulate exactly to the occasion—that no angler,
however skillful or experienced can always be sure that
his line will go out clean and clear, without bagging or
catching, while at the same time his bait reaches the
utmost limit of distance to which he can drive it.

So much for bass fishing’ in the surf, a sport that com-
pares favorably with and is only surpassed by salmon
fishing; but we must not neglect the smaller run of |
these fish which are taken by rod and reel, from the
weight of eight ounces to that of sixty pounds. The
large fish are diminishing at so rapid a rate that there is
danger that before many years have passed surf fishing
will have ceased to be practiced, and Outtyhunk, Pasque
and West Island will be deserted, as Point Judith is
already. Far more persons are interested in the milder
sport, and there is hope that it will last until the time
comes when bass will be bred artificially as trout and
salmon now are, and when a stop shall be put to the
decrease of these fish.

The prettiest mode of taking striped bass must be
admitted to be with the fly, which, unfortunately can
only be done in the brackish or fresh water. Like sal-
mon, they will not take the fly generally in the salt
creeks and bays, and then only when it is trolled. Thus
though the sport of fly fishing for striped bass is excel-
lent, it is confined to few localities, and those often
difficult of access. Fly fishing may be done either with
the ordinary salmon rod, or in a strong current with a
common bass rod, by working your fly on the top of the
water and giving a considerable length of line. The
best fly is that with the scarlet ibis and white feathers
mixed, the same as used for black bass ; but bass may be

223

taken with any large fly, especially those of the Blue Jay
color. Excellent sport is occasionally had in this way
from off some open bridge, where the falling tide mixed
with the fresh water rushes furiously between the piers.
In other streams striped bass are taken early in the
season with shrimp threaded on the hook, by passing the
point under the back plates; as the season advances and
crabs shed their coats, with the shedder crabs, and in
the fall with shrimp, the barred killey and the spearing.

In fishing with shrimp—and it is agood bait all the
season through and must be tried when others fail—use
a float fastened about three feet above a swivel sinker,
to the lower swivel of which are to be attached two
distinct gut leaders,,one of three feet, the other of two.
Single gut, if large, round and true, is decidedly prefera-
ble, and the hook should have a broad, round bend. If
very large fish are expected—and they rarely are—use
No. 0, but generally No, 3 is large enough. With crab
the hook must be larger. We prefer always to have the
point of the hook covered, and recommend that the
shrimp should be bunched on till they hide the hook
entirely, and form a round, attractive bait. In June,
and throughout thé summer the crab is a better bait
ordinarily than the shrimp.

There is no unbending rule for fishing ; the only way
is to try all plans, and if the fish will not notice your
crab suspended in mid-water, take off your float and
swivel sinker, put on a running sinker, as it is called,
made like a piece of lead pipe, with a small hole in the
center, tie a knot in the line to prevent its going down
on the hooks; use a single bait of a good sized piece of
crab, and cast well out from you, and let the bait lie still
till you feel a bite. The line being free, though the lead
lies on the bottom, you can feel the first touch of a fish

294

and can strike at once, whereas if the sinker were the old-
fashioned deep sea lead, he would have to drag its weight
some distance before you were aware of his proceedings.
The angler, by fishing on the bottom, although justified
by a philosophy which establishes the fact that bass ought
to look for crabs there, and not dangling about in mid-
water, will surely catch three eels to one bass. The bait:
except when on the bottom, should be kept in continual
motion; this is the first law of all bait-fishing. It is
done by twitching the rod, and induces the fish to seize
the prey, which they imagine is about to escape. Every
angler has seen the fish time and again dart at a bait
when in motion, that they smelt round contemptuously
when still. Crab is generally regarded as the pre-eminent
bass bait in summer, although some anglers prefer that
wonderful product of the sea, the sqnid.

As the days grow colder, and the crab. re-assumes his
impenetrable coat and dangerous pincers, shrimp again
come into play, and on many occasions the belly of the
white soft clam will attract the bass even earlier in the
season. But in August excellent sport is had casting, if
we may use the word, for him with the spearing. Early
in the summer, a delicate little fish, an inch or two long,
pearly white and semi-transparent, with a black eye and
a white band along the lateral line, makes its appearance
on the shores of Long Island and elsewhere, and has
come to be called the spearing. It is a beautiful fish,
and properly dressed might rival in delicacy the English
white-bait, but it is never brought to market till later in
the season, when it has grown several inches long and is
comparatively tasteless. Being too small in the early.
summer to take a hook, they are difficult to catch; buta
good working net, both for these and killey-fish, can be
made of mosquito netting stretched double between two

225

hoop poles, with a stout cord run along the top and bot-
tom to receive the leads and floats respectively. The
netting being wide can be doubled together with the lead
line laid in the bag, or, as sailors would say of a rope, in
the “ bight” ; and the leads being small bits of pipe, fasten-
ed at short intervals, will keep the net close to the bottom
—an important particular. It should be five to six yards
long, and two men taking each a handle, can sweep a
considerable part of the shore, and often fill a pail with
minnows or spearing at one haul. The killey-fish, so
called by our ancestors from being caught in the “ kills” or
creeks, and of which there are at least three common
kinds, will rush about and try to creep under the net, but
spearing go in shoals, and when once in the net do not
seem to be able to escape, but will stay there as long as
it is kept in motion. If spearing cannot he had, though
that is rare, the barred killey, vulgarly called the bass
killey, is the next in beauty and attractiveness, and if it
cannot be had the ugly green killey-fish may be used, or
the shrimp itself.

To cast with spearing in the manner here suggested,
successfully, a stout, long salmon rod will be requisite.
A small hook is run through the spearing’s mouth, and
out at his side, for he dies quickly and cannot be used
alive, and a-cast is made into the foaming torrent of a
mill-tail or rushing tide. The bait is drawn irregularly
over the surface of the water, and again cast and played
like the fly. The bass strike it as trout or salmon take

~the latter, and there is much the same skill and uncer-

tainty in the pursuit. In fishing with the killey, it is
usual to keep him alive by merely running the hook
under his skin alongside of the back fin. He will live
for hours under such treatment.

226

Brive Fisa.—These fish furnish one of the most re-
markable instances of the appearance and disappearance
of species on our coast. As in our day with the Spanish
mackerel, that favorite of the gourmand,so in former times
the blue fish appeared suddenly. He was first seen on
the coast of Massachusetts in 1764, and then not again
till 1792, and it is only since the year 1830 that he has
been abundant. He seems to have superseded another
and larger fish of the same name, and as his numbers
augment, those of the weak fish diminish. The blue
fish has singular vagaries, sometimes crowding every in-
let in swarms, and then deserting us altogether, visiting
in one season one locality, and in the next another, but
ordinarily frequenting our entire coast uorth to Massa-
chusetts. They afford excellent sport on a rod and line,
being among the strongest and boldest of their kind,
taking the fly readily under certain circumstances, and
they fight well when hooked, but from the character of the
localities they usually trequent, they are mostly taken
with a hand line from a sail boat. An artificial squid of
bone ivory or lead is trailed along at the end of forty
yards of stout line from a boat dancing merrily over the.
waves under the influences of a moderate breeze. The
boatman’s business is to watch for a shoal which can be
seen by their breaking in their pursuit of the. mossbunk-
ers or by the action of the gulls, and when he has found —
it, by repeated tacks to keep the boat in or near it, the
fisherman’s duty is to haul in steadily and regularly im-
mediately on feeling a bite, and to get out his line again
as soon as possible. The fish dart forward when hooked

and throwing themseves out of water turn almost a com-**’’

plete somersault, when, if the line is not taut, they will
throw the hook out of their mouths. The dashing of
the waves and flying of the spray, the rapid exhilarating

227
inotion of the vessel, the fresh sea breeze, the rapid bit-
ing, and fine play of the fish make a day pass pleasantly
in trolling for blue fish.

A- variety of squids is desirable, for dark days the
bright one are preferable and for bright days the con-
trary, but for general use the leaden or pewter squid is
the best. The size must be adapted to that of the fish.
After a run of good fish in the latter part of May none
appear in our bays until about July first when the small
ones arrive. For these small squids are desirable, but
as the season advances and they grow larger the bait
also must be larger, Their teeth are sharp and will cut
through the line if they reach above the hook, and it is
said, will take off the fisherman’s finger if he puts it in
their mouths. It is necessary to have a stout line, and
it is well also to wear gloves to prevent cutting the
hands, the shearing about of the fish together with* the
motion of the boat causing sharp jerks and a heavy strain,
and when the water is clear and the fish shy it will be
found profitable to use a twisted or double gut leader
for a short distance above the squid. This will stand a
good pull and will lift an ordinary fish out of water,
and if one is occasionally carried off will more than pay
for itself’ by the extra number of bites that it will obtain.
There are no shyer fish than blue fish, fierce and raven-
ous as they are. It they encounter the wing of a pound
net on entering a harbor they will not attempt to pass
arouud it like bass and weak fish and even Spanish
mackerel but they will turn back immediately and go
out to sea again. The finer the tackle that can be used
with them the more successful the fisherman will be,
and throughout the entire summer months no blue fish
will be encountered that cannot be hauled into a boat
on a good line of double salmon gut. Beyond this there

228

is not much science in trolling for blue fish, although
there is some practice necessary in keeping one’s feet
on the deck of the yacht, if a yacht is used, while it is
dashing over the waves of the ocean and the fisherman’s
attention is absorbed in hauling in his line more rapidly
than the fastest of fish can swim forward on it.

Still fishing for blue fish has become quite a favorite
sport lately in localities where formerly - nothing but
trolling was ever thought of. There is an excitement in
dancing over the restless ocean in the diminutive sail
boat ; there is more or less of danger upon the “ mighty
deep” and passing in and out of the angry, sullen, threat-
ening inlet, with its rows upon rows of crested breakers,
its uncertain and changing shoals and its rapid currents,
and there is always the possibility of being caught out
all night by the turning of the tide or the falling of the
wind. So that although the mere striking and hauling in
the fish on a stout line and with a big hook would other-
wise be dull sport, the accompaniments’ make trolling
more exhilarating than bait fishing from an anchored ves-
sel. The sport has, however, so greatly deteriorated of
late the fish have become so scarce, being caught
by pound nets placed across their favorite inlets or by
fishing with fly nets at night on their feeding grounds
inside the lagoons along the coast, that trolling with a
sail boat, at least near New York has almost ceased to
furnish remuneration either in the way of sport or profit,
and anglers have been driven to other methods. One
of the best of these is still fishing with rod and reel.

The same tackle is used as in bass fishing in the surf,
except that the hook had better be fastened to the line
with a length of fine brass wire to prevent the saw
shaped teeth of the blue fish cutting it off. ‘The boat is
anchored generally in the channel, inside of the inlet

229
where there is a strong current, but often out in the
ocean itself. Menhaden, otherwise called mossbunkers
or bony-fish are used for bait. A number of these fish
are cut in pieces and cast into the water to make what
is called a “slick”-—the oil trom them floating on the
surface. This is continued until the blue fish are
attracted and are tolled in to take the food. The angler
then baiting his hook with mossbunker commences his
work, Casting into the strong current his bait is carried
off as far as he cares to let it go, and amid the “chum ”
as the chopped fish is called. Asit offers a more attrac-
tive morsel than the smaller pieces around it, a blue
fish is sure to give it the preference, and
Darting upon it with hungry maw,
He sinks the hook in.his upper jaw.

Then comes “a terrible rush of fear and dread with a
force by rage made double,” and away goes the fish and
out runs the line till the reel sings ‘“‘ sweetest music to
attendant ears,” and the fisherman has all he can do to
control and conquer his powerful prey. Blue fish are
game from the tips of their noses to the ends of their
caudal fins, and have back bone for anything. They are
worthy relatives of the dolphin, of antique and lyric
fame. They fight to the last, and in their dying gasps
do not disdain to bite off the finger or thumb of their:
victor if he comes “ fooling around ” their jaws too heed-
lessly. Such sport as this is not to be despised, and
compares fairly with that had with a “wet sheet and a
flowing sea.” It is followed at Fire Island inlet on
Long Island and elsewhere, and will be successful in any
water inhabited by blue fish, where there is a current
and where bait can be obtained. Formerly a weak
imitation of it was indulged in by Miss Nancy fishermen
who regarded trolling with a hand line as coarse work,

230
and who had themselves towed in a row boat behind a
sail boat while they fished with rod and reel. As soon

as they struck a‘fish it was the duty of one of the hands
on the sail boat to cast them loose and let them kill it at

their leisure. They could not fish from the sail boat —

because its speed added to that of the fish was more
than their tackle would stand. Such make-believe sport
however never had many followers, and still fishing,
such as we have described has wholly supplanted it and
is in every way to be preferred.

The sport “outside” is better thgn that inside the
inlet, as the fish are larger and there is something glori-
ous in fishing in the clear depths and on the limitless
surface of the mighty ocean, but we warn all who have
the least tendency to sea sickness to avoid it. When
anchored “ amid the breakers,” the boat, whether large
or small, rolls, pitches, twists, turns, wobbles and dances
in a way that is wholly unexpected even by those who
have had experience on the unstable element, and good
sailors have become so sick in a short time’ that they
have scarcely been able to get up their anchors, make
sail and work back again into smooth water. In all
chumming there are but two secrets; cut the chum fine,
and use enough of it. Although we have spoken of
‘using a rod and reel, more blue fish are taken on a hand
line which, especially ‘‘outside” is far more easily man-
aged.. It is what we generally use, but those who prefer
more science and fewer fish can use the more elegant
tackle.

Spanisa MacxereL.—These splendid fish which have
become quite abundant at times on our coast of late
years, are shy and difficult to capture. They were
occasionally taken while trolling for blue fish, but we
have sai.e. hrough miles of them and searcely induced

231

a half dozen to bite at the artificial squid. Persons have
devoted their special attention to finding some line that
would satisfy their dainty views, but with only moder-
ate and partial success. They are wonderfully active
and powerful, leaping from the water in long graceful
curves like the mythical fishes of “ Fairyland” and not
like trout, salmon and blue fish, which either makes a
quick snap or splash on the surface of the water, orjump
a short distance out and up above it, falling back on the
tails or sides, as often as on theirheads. But the Spanish
Mackerel pursue their prey, the small bony fish or moss-
bunkers and the spearing, with such velocity, that they
throw themselves in a long arc out of water, when the
latter rush to the surface and leap from it in their frantic
efforts to escape. By this peculiarity, they can be
distinguished from their coarser brethren the blue fish,
and may be followed with the sail boat. On the South
coast of Long Island, we have seen them “breaking in

» this way over miles square of water and have sailed by
millions of them. The most successful troll is a squid
made of red bone and with this as many as a hundred
have occasionally been caught by the anglers being on
the ground or rather water early in the morning. This
red bone has a hook run through it in the ordinary way,
and it is trolled behind a sail boat precisely in the same
manner that blue fish are trolled. They are probably
the finest fish for the table that are drawn from the salt
or the fresh water and they are worthy of all the labor
and patience required to catch them.

Wrak-Fisu ann Kine-Fisu.—The latter of these are
exceedingly the better fish to eat, and are deserving of
the angler’s attention whenever they can be found, which
is only in a few of the salt water bays or inlets of our
coast. They both take clam bait and the weak-fish will

932°

often take a white-fly fastened to the line above the bait,
and used in bait-fishing not fly-fishing. King-fish are
essentially bottom fish, and have a small sucker-like
mouth, which can only swallow a small hook and bait ;
they are found on oyster beds which they no doubt
explore for tood. Once hooked, although they pull hard,
they can rarely escape on account of the leathery nature
of their lips unless the hooks break. They must be
fished tor close to the bottom. Many persons use a
sinker on the end of the line with the hook or gut leader
fastened six inches above, but we prefer a float and
sinker and two hooks on leaders below the latter. By
this rig, more space can be covered. Weak-fish, on the
other hand, are mid-water fish, and have large mouths
and soft jaws. For them, it is well to use a large
Carlyle hook of fine steel with a round bend, a float and
sinker, with but a short distance between them, and
fine leaders of gut. Both of these fish like shedder crab,
and at times will take the belly or soft part of the clam,
when they will refuse the tougher portion usually used.
The king-tish is always and everywhere rather scarce,
but the weak-fish, was once taken in New York harbor
in immense numbers and is so taken in Barnegat Bay.
The first of flood tide, is usually preferred as the time
for catching all salt water fish, but this is not a univer-
sal rule and often they will only bite on the first of the
ebb, but if they bite on neither, it is useless to fish
“between times.”

233

CHAPTER XVII.

NETS AND NETTING.

Before closing this work we will say a few words con-
cerning nets and the dangers that follow unrestricted net
fishing. When the country was sparsely populated, and
fish were abundant, the most ready and effectual methods
of capturing them were the best. Now that all kinds of
fish have become scarce, and some have disappeared
altogether, limits must be placed on their destruction,
and the kinds of nets and sizes of mesh must be regula-
ted, or the supply will soon be utterly exhausted. There
are strong and blindly selfish interests opposed. to all
legislation in such direction, but the public welfare is
paramount and must prevail. If we are to have fish
much longer abundant with us the use of nets must be
regulated by law. Of all nets the most fatal are the
pounds.

Pound nets are so called from a sort of trap or pound
made of netting at their outermost extremity, so arranged
that fish can enter it, but cannot escape. To this trap is
attached along wing or wall of netting, and it has
mesh fine enough to prevent the passage of the smallest fish
which are only used and only fit for manure, the mesh
not being over one and a quarter inches stretched, or three
quarters of an inch between. knots. The wing reaches
from the trap, which is either located in the channel
or adjacent to it, weil up ashore, and is hung on
stakes driven firmly into the ground. It is some-
times six miles long, and has sometimes six traps
at intervals of a mile each, and is never taken up after
once it is set, except for a change of location, or

‘qld boreas removes them without permission of

234

the owners. The plan of operation is this; A school
of fish, or a single individual running into a harbor
—for it is such localities that are usually selected
—strikes against the wing, and is arrested in his
course. Sometimes he turns back and goes to sea
again. Timid fishes are often driven off in this
manner, and never return, doing no good to the pound
‘fishermen, nor to those who might have captured
them in more legitimate ways. But if they are bold and
determined they will push on, following the obstruction
to its outer end, with the intention of passing around it.
Theyjare frequently of the class of migratory fishes
which must change their element, and will strive by
every means to overcome obstacles, or they may be shore
varieties which are seeking some bay or shallow creek in
which to spawn, and which it is very desirable should
not be frustrated in their purpose. They swim cautious-
ly, but perseveringly, along the wall of netting, but
when they come to the end, instead of passing around it
they are conducted into the trap, from. which there is no
escape, and where they await the arrival of the fisher-
man, who usually raises and empties his pound once or
twice a day.

This simple statement of the plan of operation shows
its great destructiveness. It is fishing all the while ; day
and night its victims are beiyg led into the fatal traps.
Nothing that comes along can escape, unless it be the
timorous varieties, whose alarm carries them at once back
to their haunts of safety and out of the reach of man. It
is an inexpensive engine of piscatorial warfare as fatal to
the masses of fish life as to the single individual voyaging
alone. No one would object if there were fish enough
for it and for the neighboring residents beside. Were
that the case,it would be a convenient and effectual method

235

of supplying the markets, but this is not the case, and
while pound nets misappropriate the common stock, they
overwork the fisheries, however prolific they may be, and
in the end exhaust the supply. The more fish there are,
the more are taken; none escape but the very few who
follow the exact center of the channel. Not enough are
left to keep up the breed, the habits of spawning are
directly interfered with, the fishing begins to deteriorate,
it never lasts but a few years, and at the close leaves that
entire section of water absolutely bare of fish, dependent
upon accident or the laborious efforts of man for its
possible restoration.

Against this unfair appropriation of public property,
the people have a manifest right to protest and legislate,
and the question of investments of property in so glaring
a wrong is not to be considered fora moment. The pro-
cess has been permitted to go too far already, and the
sooner it is stopped the more will be saved to the com-
munity. It has caused much harm, and is daily continu-
ing its injurious work. Inthe New York Fishery reports
reference has been made to many localities where the
fishing, once excellent, was ruined by this process.
The list can be extended every year.

Fallacious views have existed as to the migratory habits
of fish. It has been supposed that they were accustomed
to make long journeys, that they traveled up and down
rivers, moved from shore to shore of broad lakes, and
even crossed the ocean. The motions of anadromous fish
had probably furnished ground for this opinion, but even
as to them the impression is essentially incorrect. Shad
appear first in the spring in the rivers of our southern
states; as the season advances they begin to be taken in
more northerly waters till in June and July they visit
the streams of New England and then close their career,

236

Nothing was more natural than to suppose that these
fish traversed the entire sea coast, coming in, perhaps,
from the depths of the ocean or the warm waters of the
Gulf of Mexico where they had been feeding during the
winter, and gradually advancing northward as the hot
days progressed, sending off a cohort into each river
which was adapted to their propagation. Subsequent -
experiments have tended strougly to negative~ this
theory as we have already explained and it is now
believed among those best informed that fish move
their quarters rarely and to only a limited extent;
and that even migratory varieties remain not far
from the mouths of the rivers which they ascend for the.
purposes of procreation.

The slow succession of changing varieties along our
own coast confirm this later view of their habits. I is
within the memory of man that the common blue-fish,
temnodon saltator, arrived among us. It did not come
all at once, but augmented slowly, displacing a coarser
and larger variety of the mackerel family. But it had
come to stay, and the advanced guard was soon joined by
others.

It took up its permanent residence with us and pro-
ceeded to increase and multiply. It is now the most
abundant of our salt water fishes. It stands at the head
of the list and yet it may be on the way to displacement.
We hope it is, as it is very voracious, and if supplanted
at all will have a substitute its superior in every point.
Within the last fifteen years the Spanish mackerel, cybium
maculatum, has made its appearance among us. Taking
its name from the Spanish West Indies where it was first
only caught, it was wholly unknown on our shores till
quite lately. Nor does it now seem to breed among us.
The young are not found in any of our bays or creeks,

237

but it is yearly becoming more and more numerous.
Even now there are days in summer when the Long
Island coast literally swarms with Spanish mackerel.
They have been observed in solid schools twenty miles
wide and of unknown length. These immense masses
must evidently have come on from the south, but it has
taken them years to get here. They have moved gradu-
ally and it is to be hoped they will be equally slow in
leaving, and that they may supplant the blue-fish to which
they bear a family resemblance. They are, as a table
delicacy, the finest fish which is to be found in our country,
and will add much to the attractions of our fish food if
they remain with us.

This same unwillingness to change locality is still
more observable among fresh water fish. The trout
fisher has often observed a trout of unusual size
occupying a certain spot in the stream, and expected
always to find him until he was captured, or driven
away. Salmon Trout and Pickerel fishing through
the ice, in winter, demonstrates this love of locality in a
still more marked degree. It is found that after fishing
for a few days at one place, the fisherman can take no
more, and he must move and cut new holes for his lifes.
Though it be only a change of a few hundred yards the
fishing will he renewed and as good asever. Now, if
trout were in the habit of roaming about they would have
no local habitation, but be taken in one part of the stream
one day, and in another the next. So with Salmon
Trout and pickerel, did they keep continually moving
there would be no use in a fisherman changing his lines;
he would only have to wait in one spot till the fish came
round. ;

It is this peculiarity which rules in most if not all our
fish which makes pound-netting so terribly destructive.

238

Was the supply at each favorable station continuously

renewed from the vast storehouse of nature, it would make

no difference if they were all fished out at any one particu-

lar spot—a short rest would recuperate the fishery and

others would take the place of those which had been

caught. As it is, however, when any locality is stripped -
clean and bare, it remains barren for a long time. Where

only a few valuable fish are left, their natural enemies,

being as numerous as ever, prevail against them and

destroy the last remnant.

Possibly, after many years of waiting, strangers may
work their way in; but it is a slow operation. If man
endeavors to aie the process by artificial cultivation,
he has nothing to work upon. He can get no eggs,
because the parents are gone. He must import and plant
new seed, an undertaking always difficult, and often
doubtful.

Fykes are modified pound nets, and not so injurious
unless too many of them are set, or the mesh is toosmall.
They have short wing, and the outer end is kept. open
with hoops of wood, some being larger and some smaller,
so as to make modified traps in which the fish are retain-
ed: The objection against them as they are now used is,
that they catch the fry on account of the smallness of
their mesh. Seines are sweep nets, and are the least in-
jurious ot all, as they give the fish a chance to slip by
while they are not in use. Another destructive net is
the gill net. It is used largely for shad, and is either
attached to poles as a permanent and fixed fishing engine,
or is floated by the current, suspended in the water.

Their length varies between one hundred and eight hun-
dred fathoms, The largest of these require but one light
skiff,with two, or at most, but three men to manage them.
Being constructed of fine twine they are almost imper-

239

ceptible to the fishes in the turbid tide waters. When
later in the season the water becomes clear, greater ex-
ecution is done by fishing at night. The mesh was for-
merly six and one-fourth inches, it is now reduced to
five and even less, sufficiently large, however, to admit
of the shad getting its head so far through the mesh that
it is fastened by the gills, hence the term gill net, but
so small as to take fish that should not be marketed.

These gill nets have both a lead and a cork line,by which
they are held in a vertical position as they dritt with the
current. With the treble view of the economy of mate-
rial, the prevention of injury by vessels of light draught
in passing over them, and to enable the same net to be
used with facility in either deep or shoal water, the upper
margin of the net is supported by long and slender cords
ot from five to seven feet in length, to the free ends ot
which corks or wooden floats are attached. The net
thus constructed is laid upon the stern of the skiff, one
or two men, according to its size, row the boat across the
curreut, while another standing on the stern carefully
casts the net into the water. This done, it is suffered to
drift with the tide, direction being given it by the boat
to which the end remains attached. After the net has
drifted a sufficient length of time, the fishes are removed
from it, either by under-running it or by replacing it upon
the stern of the boat, again to be cast into the water.

No nets should be used except in the ocean, the large
rivers and lakes,and even then the mesh should be limited
as to size, but as it is doubtful.whether the community
is ready tor so sweeping a law, necessary as itis; the most
injurious, which are the pound nets, should be everwhere
prohibited. These are so fatal, that they should not be
allowed anywhere unless it be in the ocean. We do not

240

enter into any further details as: to nets and net-fishing,
for the reason that we are wholly opposed to their use
except for two or three kinds of fish that can be taken
in no other way and that are wholly food and not sport-
ing fish. We believe that the sportsman and fish-cultur-
ist, has some rights which the net-fisherman is bound and
will one day be made to respect. And the sooner that
day comes the better for the community.

CONTENTS.

PAGE,

INTRODUCTION... -....02.6 cece seen eeeseseacees eis aisinidsiaheouss Vemaeeutacansicen:
Chapter 1—Fish Culture.......... aeenegiorenay Maa aR aitramuetoae meu bate ree A)
8 Re Trout Caltare sisic niceia: diessenewieaenwimaee calesigegae Aare ajeta leg arate 19

“ 38—Trout Ponds ....... ate wie nto ata fapivazeinVarsbarassn stent és 44 depuacatore OO

s -§ Treatment of Bges...... Lecce eee cee nee e eee srileiervdaretescieneal cores 50

“ 6—Young Trout and Salmon........0 6... ..scceeeeee osalbrenseseieranses frealarain 58
HH=AGult Tront wcies, seeceusaeamenniacames sidinieipyelanaelaye aie emanate vara oe 4

“ .8—Holton and other Hatching Boxes .... 20.0... . see cee cece eee cee 93

" ¢ “Mantontsting Salmon and Wrow6)cpscecseceviun asinuyg vedio way 102

“ 10—General Remarks on Trout Breeding..........6-.s cece sees eeee ee LQ

“ + 11 Other Varieties of Fish 2.00 ....eecseeceeeseee cee eee eaten ves, 188)
99 Ba OAs 6c cen acne Eee JER || A eee 141
‘“* 138—Black Bass and other Fish ....:.. .... intone aeatdtais 157
“« 14-Fish Catching ............+

‘© 15—Fishing for the Salmon Family.................sesccesveeereeeee 2184
“ 16—Fishing for Bass and other Fish ....... .. 0 .seeeee se Ove wanieN ea 214
*« 1%~Nets and Netting .... .......... a RUrn pdieaveiinachipinenmnes selena enemas 283

zi WE

American Waters.......... ae awit 11
American Fish ......
Ainsworth’s Screens.
Alewives........ 06.
Black Bass....

Young ...........

Fishing..

Bullheggs,.......
Brook Trout..

.8ee cat-fish
..8ee trout

Blue Swelling . aceee 69
Blind Fish....... 41, 8%, 178
Bottom of Ponds................- 34, 388
Breeding of Trout..............66-. 120

Semt-artificial .............. 120
Bait Fishing... cgcccaa cay ce ewane 208
Brewer's Fish Way...... Suess eee 130
Blue-backed Trout .....
Bottom Fishing...
Blue Fish .........

Trolling ........

Chumming .... ....... Raswae
Cold Blooded Creatures ............ 7%
Connecticut River.......... eestor 12

Catfish.........2.0....20---+18, 158, 169
Carp .....ceessccsceusceeeeee 15, 15%, 163
Commissioners of Fisheries..... ... 1%
Cisco .......6..00e aniles teapot 18
Conferva ..
Cleanliness.
California Brook Trout

Handling......
Cybium Maculatum....
Chumming for Blue Fish......
COts sev ecsecesianaesieens
Casting the Fly..
Casting Lines...........0..
Changing Water in Cans of Fish... .128
Cannibalism,...... .....00.e00+ +89, 129
Cray-Fisl .c.scccscee censecccassses 89

sees 660206
-8ee leaders

PAGE,

cD) ceeceee 1B
-8ee Balinon; Cal,

Color of Fish........
California Salmon...

Dry Impregnation...............085 16
Diseases....-...... .. 28, 68, 69, 87, 109
Diminution of Fish.......... 25, 26, 144
Deformities...... aetna’ SBE i eile

Distribution of Trout Fry .
Enemies of Fish Life.22, 25, 54, 87, 90,92

Eggs when ripe... .
How Fertilized. i

SHON S si cis-esserdecamee ace
Number o on Trays.
Treatment........ ...
Placing in Troughs
Growth............0006-
Dead .... ...... ©

Transportation ...

Trays for .........ceseeeeeee OF
Inspecting .........cces sens 98
Loss Of.... 2... ..00 ne wee L06
Number in Fish........... 10%
Washing..... aaciense AB
Wilmot’s Treatment .......117
Dead before impregnation. .118
Killed by cold.......+....... 119
Of Shad ...........0..0.200 0155
Of Black Bass .............--160
Exhaustion of fisheries....... ee 888
Fish Culture, General Review...... 6

Compared with Agriculture 6,7
Conclasions Established 9

Origin of................ «+ 10

In American Waters........ 11

Foreign Method ............ 15

Partly Natural Method..... 12t

Palmer's Method............129
Fecundity ............

Fish Commissioners...
Fish Catching....

Fykes ...........
Plies... cece ee miata a3

t PAGE.
PROD secrecy tie ch asessin ueAjeinitis 68 BETS 4%
Feather Implement... ....... ...- 49
Fry when Visible ... .............. 53
Food of Trout Fry.......... seceee 68
7 Motion of ... 0.2.2.6... 65
Food for Tront. .............06- 19, 130

SRL Ge io nccie Genetisecmnmantecen 83
Fry of Shad......00 ......2. eeeee 155
Fly-Fishing ........ ........02.... 184

for Striped Bass ..... 222

For Shad

Fly Rods

Tying...... ... .. 193, 198

BOOK: cussureacienie ne -. 197
Frog Culture... 172
BB WAYS) sieiiesscais vecicamais nana averse 181
Frozen Fish.... ......06.-. seeeeees 119

POOG aici esis wtassina’s eereciarenes 184
Gravel for troughs....... ........5+ 48
Growth of Eggs ...............0eeee 53
Trout, Salmon and Salmon
MTOM. cKicjs i caseeins 3 See 66
Glass Trays .... 0.2.2. 22. eee
Jars
GHUNGtS ccs cevaemecssn ss, aaned
Mesh
Hueninguen
Holton Hatching Box........ 16, 93, 139
Hatching Boxes ..............0..005 93
CORN Ecc. senses scares

Hatching House ...........
of New York ......

Needle Point............... 198
Handling fans

Wilmot’s Plan........... .. 11%

Shad Eggs .2...........0.06. 152

Time OF 5 sic veccewemonas arene
Inspecting Begs wcscscaexsesvean vans
Improving Streams
Jars of Glass for Trout Hatching ... 99

Kinds of Fish Cultivated........... 5, 7
WEIMER as cad aisiscisinnairs” elegans 281
Lake Trout.......... see Salmon Trout
LODStOrS seis seter oceewn vere eeewesaae. 169
Propagation .............065 11
Lines, for Trout and Salmon........ 190
Striped Bass.......... ..+.- 21%
Leaders for Trout and Salmon. 181, 191
Striped Bass............... 21"
Localization of fish.. .............. 237
Microscope ...........- secseeeesees 49
Measure ........ sisisiorsie 3 gubatucereranans 50
Moss for Transportation..... ...... 54
Monstrosities............. ...... . 59
MG BROS scssicicrstccnrcisiade sisiet <roereeiardies 65
Motion of Food..... aa ierepainee ame 65
Muskratsipcceias, sanxeescenenameers 88
MIDKS es ccisrsiecjes te zeroed vareie wea’ dente 90
Manipulation of Salmon and
TEOW besos cisorcraie oa droieinsaie sin 102, 108, 112
OF BRR co saccss cnamewne reer 152
Miltiiccc wsncetcs sued 10%, 110, 114, 115, 119
Migration of Salmon
Bhadvecwex wads canes
Wishiicsieucsevecaes vested
Migratory Fish confined to fresh
Water... . ees cece eens ;

Movement of embryo. .
MOUS seccincanvacn cans
Mascallonge ..........
Fishing. ..
New York Lakes.....
Commissioners...
Nippers <icseves covas <5
Net for moving Trout...
Nursery for Trout Fry...............
Substitute for .........
Net from Worms...
Night Fishing.................
Nets and Netting........ ae gee
Natural Spawning of Trout..
Ova...

PAGE.
Outfit for Fish Culture......---.... 122
Oswego Bass..... ........e000e 158, 162

Fishing
Over-running of reels..
Pike Perch..............

Ponds for Trout .............005-
Location..........ceececees
Laying out ........... 2206 31
Shape.... . 81, 32
Raceways.. 32, 33
Bottom... 2... .ceeseeees 34, 38
Holes through Banks....... 68

- For Salmon..........s00006+ "0

Pound Nets............. wigaipincwenia es 233
Destructiveness. ............ 234

Preserving Fluid ............-..+.05 1%4

Polywogs

Pickerel.... . a ak aes
Fishing. .ccssissaveeee ox +. 214

Price of Eggs and Fry.. seer. 180

Palmer’s Method of Fish Culture. 129

Profit of Fish Culture...

Pan for Spawn........... z

Plan of Hatching House............ 43,

Proportion of Males and Females. .107

Preserves.....20.2650 seseee see Ponds

Rotation in Fish Culture.......... 8

TRAUB sa oinre iaicracreie ciate ae yetiesiniag sisvelercis 54

Remedies for Disease.. «87, 91

Raceway ...........20 5 382, 33, 108
Netting, from...... ........ 108
Net for...-... aanasile aleGeemioats 108

Restripring Female Trout.......... 114

Rock Bass

Rock-fish .............

Rods for Fly Fishing

ROG 2.6. cic-cisccisisinieseisie=
Running Sinker..............00. «6.
Success of Fish Culture .. ae B
Suitable Varieties of Fish.......... 13
Salmon Trout...............
Fishing....
Trolling for.. .
Salmon cccveseaerxeewenieesues sas 18, 64
Caltnre is stesceeinecnsiceas 19
Riversy ces ezct sesws soevees 19
Family Scientific Names.... 20
‘ California, 20, 64, 66, '70,71, 77, 85
; Migration.... ............

Nests.:.. .....
Spawning....

tee ewes

Salmon—EHggs......-+.eceee cece eens a1

Time in which Eggs Hatch.. 23

Land Locked

Confined to Fresh Water... .154

Fishing

Rods......--...55

Flies
Seles siecesieerdces eae
Smell of Fish....
Scent of Fish................. Masbes 176
Strawberry Bags......... ..seee cere 158
Supply of Water.. ’.87, 88, 46, 74
Sediment..........0--.cee eee 4%, 96
Shipping Eggs.. sigiel cities avate 54
Starvation: 05 ssecanen desneaeda eeisis 69
Salt Food for Fish..............0005 88
Shading Ponds. ....... . 85

Salt Water Bath for Disease.
laa Leahaeeen evesle ‘

Stripping Fish... ........ 0... eee 108
Seth Green taking Spawn........... 112
Spermatozoa ............6 diaceieake nals 115
Stocking Ponds............ sears 122

Streams........... seusseensins 123

Cleaning. a
Ainsworth’s...........00 0055 121

Salt Water Herring................. 156
Streams, how Improved............ 132
StOrLeONs serscccwaier seeweis wnmaer oss 164

Migration.... ....... ......141
Natural Propagation........ 145
Natural Loss.... ........... 146
BOX vpeccsssistoass aids sine te eo ase 147
Artificial Culture Sidi os amt 148
Errors in Fish Culture...... 148

Development of Hgg........149
Distribution of Fry.........150

PAGE.
Shad—Handling the Eggs.. ........152
Ponding the Parents........ 153
Confined to Fresh Water ...154

Sent to California...........155

Transportation of Eggs..... 155

Temperature....... aw Siasetad 156
Acclimatization.
Fly-fishing.........

Striped Bags............ . 5
Spawning....4 sccies .0.-0, 167
Bishing............ 60200 216
Lines for....... a ry
with ‘Menhaden... 218
with Lobster. . - 220
Fy-fishing,.... 222
with Shrimp. +223
with Crab ... 224

with Spearing...

Culture,

ATONE... 220.0660 rccees
California
Nests.......
Spawning...............21, 102
BeeSs QMaassccesacscwa gee eggs
of Rangeley,............. 22, 15
Time of Incubation... ..23, 52
PYG) esgeea anc Seeentar ed 24, 58
Natural Hatching..... ..... 2

Geographical Distribution... 27
WOUND i eiscisieae secietietesore ae

Removal. .

Food............

Growth..

AdUlt ass sacsens

Long Island......... -- 16
Waters for............ e000 86
Cannibals,....... 0.2205 89
Our practice in Hatching 100, 108
Crowding together.......... 101
Netting. scicicins vcesteenviecey 108
Culture Profitable . +125
Blue-backed.... 185
BUGbiINGS iociscsiecis aie ssinseniene 184

PAGE.
Trout—Rods........ eieie a eee 189
Troughs for Trout................4+ 44

to {Cleanse.................. 61
Temperature ............. 27, 52, 84, 86

That will kill Eggs ‘

for Shad.

Treatment of Eggs.
Time of Incubation
Tameness of Fish. .

of Glass,...........
Number of Eggs on
Double in Trough ...

Taking Spawn by Hand.
Tiring out Fish........
Transporting Live Fish .
Times for...... Si cis plaatale eee
Number to each Can........
Black Bass,.........-00s0008
Tackle ineeresidareial wayie® OU. Sie
Trolling for Trout ieeureubantes tate
Thumb-stall...........-.0....-
Umbilical Sac. ...... .... cease eee eee
Wall-eyed Pike. ... ...see pike-perch

Whitefish....... ......... 18, 20, 97
Hatching Box for .......... 94
Eggs Impregnated after
Death
Welcher’s Treatment
Raising the Fry
Food for
Weak Fish..
White Perch..
Welcher’s Method with Whitefish. .138
Wilmot’s Handling..... ...... +117
Washing Hggs ..........ceeeeeeneee 115
Water Snakes. . 89
WOLDS iis teiass aieis aornareinteierso une ceaamenis 69
Water Supply............. 37, 38, 46, ‘74
Wastefalness of Nature............. 22
Yellow verch........ .c..ceueeee 13, 158
PUM vraacaes nen F0adeces Ih

MOK SK WOW
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