422 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



ing is to be carried on as an industry, may often prove useful in every- 

 day life. A fire is kindled somewhere in a field (the fuel should be 

 green branches, heather, or juniper bushes), and the smoke is led 

 through a trough or channel of boards to a barrel placed upside down 

 from which the top' has been removed. At the lower end an opening is 

 cut to admit the boards, and the opening at the top is covered with 

 mats or a sack, which allows some of the smoke to pass through. Sticks 

 of wood are placed crosswise inside the barrel, and the fish are hung 

 on these. For cold-smoking the channel is made 7 yards long, and for 

 warm-smoking much shorter. In the latter process, in fact, the fire 

 may even be made under the barrel. 



139.— TOE SAINT JOHN'S RIVER AS A SHAD STREAM. 



By II. H. CART, HI. D. 



I have just returned from Florida, and have been continuing my re- 

 searches on the Saint John's River in investigating the habits of the 

 shad in that stream. From the best information I can gather, it was 

 not known that shad passed up the Saint John's at all until after the 

 war, and I may say very few were captured until within the last few 

 years. As there are no shoals in this river it has very much puzzled 

 fish-culturists to ascertain where they cast their spawn. The Upper 

 Saint John's has quite a number of broad, shallow lakes, beginning with 

 Monroe and ending with Washington. These lakes have large areas 

 of bottom consisting of clean sands. I am satisfied the shad casts her 

 spawn upon these sands. It is somewhat difficult to gather up infor- 

 mation in regard to the Upper Saint John's, as sometimes not an inhabi 

 tant can be found for 50 miles. The shad commence running in the 

 Saint John's in December. Better appliances are now being used at 

 Jacksonville for their capture than heretofore, and hence the catch is 

 comparatively large. I was in Jacksonville on the 14th instant, and 

 found a large supply of shad in the market, captured opposite the 

 city. Upon investigation I found about an equal number of males 

 and females, many of the females not quite, but very nearly, ripe. The 

 river at this point is wide, so that the small nets used can capture but 

 a limited number of the whole school that passes. And still at this point 

 careful inquiry among the fishermen shows that from 2,000 to 2,500 are 

 captured a day. Grown shad were selling in the Jacksonville market 

 at 25 cents apiece. Now, if proper appliances were had iu the Saint 

 John's for capturing and artificially hatching, this river might easily 

 produce an almost unlimited number of shad, as there is never any in- 

 terference from ice; and as the watershed of the Saint John's is a sandy 

 surface almost destitute of argillaceous matter, the water never becomes 

 turbid, and there are comparatively no freshets. 



Department of Agriculture, 



La Orange, Ga., February 25, 1885. 



