242 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Notwitlistaiiding- the great mortality among tlie parent fisli, which 

 seriously reduced the stock of eggs Obtained, the experiment must be 

 considered successful. There was no longer any doubt that salmon could 

 be kept in cdnfinement in a small inclosure, in fresh water, from June 

 until Xovember, without any injury to their health, or any interference 

 with the development of their eggs and milt, and the conditions of suc- 

 cess were now sufSciently plain. Spring brooks, newly-built ponds, 

 and very clear lakes must be avoided, and dependence x)laced on ordi- 

 nary pond or brook water with a muddy bottom. 



The cost of collecting and developing these eggs, up to the shipping- 

 point, was at the rate of $18.09 per thousand, and it was evident that, 

 with the benefl-t of the first season's experience to guide in the care of 

 the pstrent fish, this would become the most economical mode of collect- 

 ug- salmon-eggs available to the Kew England States. 



3,-^OPERATIONS IN 1872. 



The parties interested in the experiment in 1871, together with 

 the State of Rhode Island and the United States Commissioner 

 of Fish and Fisheries, united in operations on a larger scale in 1872. 

 The disadvantages connected with the site at Craig's Pond Brook, 

 as detailed above, were such as to render a change very desirable, and 

 a small pond in Bucksport, variously denominated " Great Pond," 

 "Spoft'ord's Pond," and "Salmon Pond," was selected as the new site of 

 operations. This body of water, about sixty acres in area in the sum- 

 mer season, receives the drainage of a small tract in the interior of the 

 town, through very small tributaries, that are completely dry in sum- 

 mers of ordinary dryness. There are a few springs near the shores, but 

 the volume of water they discharge into the pond is very small, and in a 

 very dry season the overflow nearly ceases, sometimes entirely. Around 

 the pond are extensive meadows, that are overflowed the most of the 

 time between October and June, and whose drainage imparts a dark, 

 peaty color to the water, and deposits at the bottom a thick stratum of 

 soft mud. The shores, except adjoining the meadows, are stony, and 

 the adjacent bottom, down to a depth of from 3 to 6 feet below the sur- 

 face, at summer level, is stony, gravelly, or sandy, for the most part 

 hard, partially overlaid by a dark, peaty sediment. The bottom ad- 

 joining the meadow is peaty, and supports an abundant growth of 

 aquatic vegetation, such as Nuphar^ Nymphaea, Brazenia, Potamoge- 

 ton, &c. The same vegetation grows to a less extent along nearly all 

 the shores. The fishes inhabiting the pond are perch, {Perca;) sun-fish, 

 {Pomotis ;) pickerel, {Psox ;) hornpout, {Pimelodus ;) trout, (Salmo 

 fontinalis,) very rare; eels, [AnguUln ;) suckers, {Catosfomus ;) and a 

 few other species of cyprinoids. The water is, in general, about 9 feet 

 deep in midsummer, and 13 or 14 in the fall and spring, when the pond 

 is full. The outlet of the pond is commanded by a dam and gate, which 

 regulate the flow of water for the use of the mills at the mouth o^f the 

 brook. The brook is nearly a mile in length, for the greater part of its 



