COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 39 



lines as in former years with the usual amount of success. The rearing 

 season opened on May 20th with a good lot of ripe egg lobsters and 

 for a short time the cars filled up rapdily. However the season as 

 quickly slacked off in the latter part of July. Operations however 

 were continued through the first part of August, although the amount 

 of lobsters on hand was small The sudden closing of the latter part 

 of the season put a damper on our hopes of rearing a million young 

 lobsters to the bottom stage, although we equalled our last year's 

 output. 



No changes of marked importance were made this past year. A 

 few improvements in mechanical details have still further insured 

 a continuance of power and considerably lessened the chances of a 

 serious breakdown. Chief among these was an improvement along 

 original lines in the central gear boxes on each raft which will greatly 

 lessen the amount of care and lengthen the life of this important 

 part of the gearing. Another troublesome factor was eliminated by 

 the use of an angle-iron at the top of each corner post of the rearing 

 cars to hold them up. This will prevent strong tides from cutting 

 them under," especially when the cars are heavy at the end of the 

 season. Another unit of four rearing cars was added at the stern 

 of the house-boat. This makes a total of fifty-two (52) cars and 

 will doubtless be the limit in number of cars which can be safely 

 run with our present equipment (3 H. P. engine.) 



