REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. liii 



this species, aud 7,000 eggs, taken from the Ocouee at Milledgeville, 

 and hatched out at Montgomery, in the Ahibama River there; aud that 

 since that time they are caught in increasing numbers every year at 

 Wetumpka, as also in Passalouga Creek, aud at Enftila, on the Chat- 

 tahoochee Elver. 



As stated, it was in 1867 that the first precise efforts were made look- 

 ing toward the increase of the supply of shad in any of our American 

 rivers, this having been done in behalf of the fish commissioners of 

 Massachusetts by Seth Green. He first treated the eggs as he would 

 those of trout by placing them in hatching-boxes in a brook which 

 emptied into the river. His experiment with several millions proved to 

 be an entire failure ; all the eggs spoiling before hatching. On exami- 

 nation he found that the temperature of the brook was thirteen degrees 

 below that of the river, aud he quite reasonably inferred that the water 

 was not warm enough, and accordingly obtained some boxes, with wire 

 gauze at the bottom, and allowed them to float on the surface of the 

 river itself. To his great satisfactiou, and that of his employers, the 

 young were found to have hatched out at the end of three or four days, 

 and swam about the boxes like the larvte of mosquitoes. 



This method answered a good purpose; but the percentage of loss 

 was greater than Mr. Green considered satisfactory, mainly owing to 

 tlie fact that the eggs were carried by the current to the lower end of 

 the box and heaped up there, so that many were spoiled for the want 

 of proper access to the water. By a happ}^ inspiration he finally devised 

 the hatching-box, to which reference has already been made, which is 

 simply a wire-bottomed cubical box, with two slats nailed obliquely on 

 each side, and floating on the water, so that the plane of the bottom 

 shall be slightly inclined to the surface of the water, allowing the cur- 

 rent to strike along underneath the entire length of the box, creating 

 a slight eddy within, aud causing a gentle agitation among the inclosed 

 eggs. 



Thus assured of success in the operation of hatching the eggs, the 

 attention of many of the States was called to the advantages to be 

 derived therefrom ; and commissioners were appointed, charged with 

 the duty, among others, of restoring the shad to the rivers. Massachu- 

 setts was followed in this effort by Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New 

 York; in all of which very great success has followed their persistent 

 labors in this direction. The most favorable situation for the purpose iu 

 question appears to beat South Hadley Fallsin the Connecticut, where the 

 impassable barrier of the Holyoke dam cuts oft' the upward movement 

 of the fish, and permits them to be taken in great numbers. It is 

 asserted by the Connecticut commissioners that in the spring of 187L 

 63,000,000 eggs were taken and fertilized; and in 1872 the enormous 

 number of 93,000,000. 



The data of the annual captures, here aud elsewhere, will be found in 

 an accompanying table, which contains an enumeration of the sliad 



