378 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



iu the latter part of August iu as fat and uice condition as fish could 

 be. I feel satisfied that from June to August some of them increased 

 from one-fourth to one-third in size. With two seasons of experience 

 1 fancied that I knew the cause of disasters and could make the busi- 

 ness a success the next year. 



So this last spring I threw up banks to cut off the back creek water 

 entirely and replaced the wires over the basin from 3 to 5 feet apart. 

 I also put in a trunk, with lumber, from the basin to about 30 feet beyond 

 low-water mark in the bay through which the tide ebbed and flowed. I 

 then built a wharf, from which we could work the nets and catch all 

 the fish we wanted on flood tides, sending them in through the trunk 

 into the basiu without handling them at all. The whole arrangement 

 seemed to work well, and I suppose we had over 20,000 pounds in the 

 basiu with but very little loss offish. It was a grand sight to see them 

 swimming about iu the basin. The account spread, and many ijeople 

 came from a distance to see them. 



On last Monday I received word from my men to come down imme- 

 diately. I arrived on Wednesday morning, and to my surprise found 

 half or more of the fish dead. I was s itisfied that all would die if left 

 in the basin, and so I took out the grates and raised the gates and let 

 all that were afloat, dead and alive, out into the bay. I assure you it 

 was a disappointment to me; not only the thought of so many fish dying, 

 but the expense, and trouble of my whole arrangement seemed to be a 

 a total loss. 



Now I ask if you will be kind enough to explain to me why this sud- 

 den change should take place with the fish. My men tell me that on 

 Sunday, June 23, they looked fresh and lively up to 9 o'clock at night, 

 when they left; by Monday noon great quantities were dead. On Mon- 

 day night after sunset they heard a great commotion in the water all 

 over the pond, some of the fisli jumping 2 feet out of the water, and 

 before I arrived on Wednesday I judge more than half were dead when 

 1 let them go. There is at high tide on an average 4 feet of water which 

 would be let off to 2 feet for a change. They bad on that day the 

 same change, about one-half the water as usual for weeks before that. 



The water flowed in and out at the same place, and as only about one- 

 half the water could be changed each day, much of the old water must 

 Lave remained at the upper end of the basin. As an evidence of this, 

 much grass grew on the muddy bottom at the upper end. I do not think 

 many of the fish remained in it except at high tide, and when the water 

 was let off a few apparently sick fish remained among it. It is all a 

 mystery to me, as old fishermen tell me that the fish "feed among this 

 grass in the sounds; others tell me they think they were poisoned by 

 some one intentionally. 1 cannot think so. But 1 do believe there was 

 disease among them, or that such quantities of fish in the amount of 

 water exhausted the oxygen from the water to such a degree as to make 

 it poisonous. The fish when dead looked well ; the eyes were bright 



