xliv REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



out in contrivances which vary with the kind of fish, and which will be 

 more especially referred to hereafter. Suffice it to say that those 

 of shad are hatched in boxes which float on the water of the stream 

 adjacent to the camp where the fish are captured and fertilized ; this 

 being accomplished within a week, and after a further detention of a 

 few days, or until the yolk-bag is absorbed, they are turned into the 

 middle of the stream at night while the predacious fish are most quiet 

 or lying near the shore, and soon find hiding-places for themselves. 



Theeggsof salmon and troutrequire a period of from two to four months 

 for development, this being in the winter-season. This process consists 

 in jjlacing them in boxes, with the bottom composed of parallel glass 

 slats or of solid boards, lined with gravel, over which water of uniform 

 temperature is allowed to. flow continuously until the exclusion of the 

 young takes place. Sometimes trays are used with wire-gauze bottoms, 

 either singly or in tiers, and the water caused to flow either from above 

 downward or the reverse. After this the young are sometimes trans- 

 ferred to some other receptacle until the yolk-bag is absorbed, when 

 they are either introduced into rivers and streams or else retained in 

 ponds and fed artificially for a greater or less length of time. 



The key-note to the treatment of the anadromous fish lies in the now 

 well-established axiom that each will always endeavor to return to 

 spawn, if possible, to the very spot where it was first introduced into 

 the water as a young fish, and that it will make every effort to accomplish 

 this result ; sometimes incurring even loss of life by persistent labor to 

 this end. This is fully believed by all who have given attention to the 

 subject, and in this we have the guarantee of success in any attempt 

 to stock a particular body of water. It is true that the labor would 

 in many cases be a profitless task, since the reaper might be, as already 

 explained, and probably would be, a x^arty having no interest in com- 

 mon with the sower. So universal, however, is the principle just 

 enunciated, that we are assured that if three streams empty into the 

 same bay on the coast, or are tributary to the same principal river, aud 

 all are equally eligible for the maintenance of anadromous fish, although 

 destitute of them, one of these may be stocked and abound with fish, 

 while the others which have beeu neglected will, be almost entirely unvis- 

 Ited or will possibly become supplied very slowly and after a long period 

 of time. 



The existence of obstructions in a river, natural or artificial, is always 

 detrimental in preventing the ascent of fish from the sea. If the young 

 are introduced artificially into the headwaters, they will pass down 

 after the proper period, and will remain in the sea for two or three and 

 j)08sibly sometimes for four years, when they will return, and, as already 

 explained, use every effort in their i)ower to reach their original station. 

 If arrested at any point by an impassable dam, they will become the prey 

 of such fishermen as have the right of access to them, while the upper 

 waters will remain destitute and no captures be possible therein. For 



