36 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



tension to a large scale of operation. These things we have accomp- 

 lished. 



The apparatus now used comprises a house boat between the pon- 

 toons of which are three small hatching bags 6x6x4 feet, made 

 of canvas; two side floats constructed of 6x6 in. spruce beams 

 bolted together and buoyed by barrels, each supporting five large 

 canvas rearing bags about ten or eleven feet square and four feet 

 deep. Each bag has in it a two-bladed propeller, or "paddle," re- 

 volving about ten times per minute, which creates an upward 

 whirling current of water strong enough to keep the fry and par- 

 ticles of food suspended. The vertical shaft of each propeller is 

 geared to one of three longitudinal horizontal shafts; these, in turn, 

 to a transverse shaft which is belted to the two-and-one-half horse 

 power gasoline engine. Each paddle shaft can be thrown out of 

 gear by a lever. The transverse shafts of the somewhat moA^able 

 floats are coupled to the one nmning across the house boat by a 

 universal joint and sliding shaft. The latter is a square shaft in 

 two pieces sliding in a sleeve which is cast in two pieces for the sake 

 of economy in manufacture. A drive of 75 feet of shafting is re- 

 quired to reach the farthest paddles, and the bed for the shafts is 

 not, by any means, an example of modern ''mill construction." 

 Indeed, the floats are constantly bending with the motion of the water, 

 and also warp more or less. The shafts also are almost continually 

 bending, but as they are comparatively light no trouble results from 

 the lack of rigid construction and the transmission is very satisfac- 

 tory. 



The improvements in this phase of lobster culture, namely, that 

 of hatching and rearing to the fourth stage, will, it seems to us, be 

 mainly in the construction of the bags, the feeding of the lobsters, 

 and the prevention of parasitic growth. The latter difficulty, how- 

 ever, is not so serious at Wickford as it was at Wood's Holl. Un- 

 doubtedly the percentage of yield can be raised by experimentation 

 along these lines. 



