REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. LIX 



rivers, Minnesota, wliicli indicates that the plants heretofore made in 

 those streams have been successful. 



The station force was occupied as usual during the summer months 

 in overhauling the apparatus and painting the buildings. The low, 

 marshy land at the south of the building was also filled in with gravel 

 and stone, and protected from encroachments of the lake by a crib 198 

 feet long, G feet wide, and 3§ feet deep. 



Neosho Station, Missouri (William F. Page, Superintendent). 



The work of the station was directed by W. F. Page until Ajml 4, 

 when the foreman, L. E. Ealdridge, was placed in charge. A special 

 appropriation of $1,000 having been provided in the deficiency bill for 

 1896, the money was ex])ended in building an addition to the hatchery 

 18 feet by 18 feet, similar in style to the main building, and equipped 

 with 6 hatching-troughs. By this change the capacity of the hatchery 

 has been increased over 50 per cent. Bass ponds Nos. 11 and 12 were 

 improved by substituting brick and cement standpipe and kettles in 

 place of old wooden ones, and the wooden outlet flumes were replaced 

 by terra-cotta pipe. The trout pools, formerly constructed of wood, were 

 remodeled and rebuilt with brick walls and concrete flooring. 



The regular force was utilized in making various other improve- 

 ments, including repair and ijainting of the annex, graveling the walks, 

 miscellaneous repairs to the remainder of the ponds, and tlie construc- 

 tion of a blind ditch from the cellar of the superintendent's residence 

 to the branch. This ditch was rendered necessary by the frequent 

 flooding of the cellar during the fall and winter after heavy rains. 



At the beginning of the fiscal year there were on hand at the station 

 the following fish : 



The fry were held through the summer in troughs and ponds, as 

 heretofore, and distributed during September and October. 



Rainbow trout. — The stock of breeders on hand at the opening of the 

 spawning season consisted of 1,700 two-year-old trout derived from 

 eggs shipped from California and 790 fish hatched in 1892 and 1894. 

 The spawning season extended from December 17 to February 11, and 

 resulted in the collection of 578,400 eggs, 509,557 of which were from 

 the old breeders. Only 58 per cent of the eggs from the California fish 

 were fertilized, but this is not surprising, as experience lias shown that 

 only about half the eggs taken from very young fish are of value. 



The shipments of eggs aggregated 229,125, of wbich 90,200 were 



