100 REPORT OP' COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



By early winter they will have grown to a length of from 3 to 6 inches, 

 necessitating a change to a larger pond. The Korthville breeding- 

 ponds are 20 by 75 feet, and are constructed in the same manner as 

 the rearing-ponds. One of these larger ponds accommodates 10,000 

 yearlings, 5,000 two-year-olds, and about 3,000 fish from three to five 

 years old. By the time the fish are three years old and over, less care 

 is required in the preparation of their food, as the liver may be given 

 to them in pieces half an inch in diameter. 



PACKING EYED EGGS FOR SHIPMENT. 



Eyed eggs prepared for shipment in the following manner have been 

 sent from Northville to all parts of the United States with practically 

 no loss: The trays upon which the eggs are to be shipped are made 

 from the same materials as those upon which green eggs are carried, 

 but are usually much smaller. Fewer eggs are placed upon a given 

 surface than is the case with green eggs. For example, 10 trays, 12 

 inches by 12 inches, will carry 50,000 eggs; 8 trays, 10 inches by 10 

 inches, 32,000 eggs; and 5 trays, 8 inches by 8 inches, 12,500 eggs; or 

 5,000, 4,000, and 2,500 eggs per tray, respectively. 



The trays are allowed to stand in cold water till thoroughly soaked, 

 and are then drained off" and taken to the packing-room. After the dead 

 eggs have been removed from a box, the trays are taken out, drained, 

 and removed to the packing-room. A f-inch wooden frame, made to fit 

 the inside of the canton-flannel tray, is then inserted, the eggs are 

 carefully brushed with a feather from the wire trays and sj^read as 

 evenly as possible upon the flannel. The eggs have been previously 

 measured at the time when they were removed from the gravel to the 

 hatching-box, so the number to be placed upon each tray can be easily 

 determined. After the eggs are spread upon the flannel, the inside 

 wooden frame is taken out, leaving a | inch margin around the inside 

 of the tray. A square of mosquito netting large enough to lap over on 

 all sides of the tray is laid upon the eggs and tucked down firmly along 

 the inside. Sphagnum moss is scattered to a depth of about f inch 

 upon this netting. The moss is prepared by removing sticks and other 

 foreign matter; it is soaked in water a short time and then run through 

 a clothes- wringer. In spreading it upon the netting the moss is picked 

 apart and made as light and fluffy as possible, to give the eggs plenty of 

 oxygen. 



When the required number of flannel trays are packed they are 

 placed one upon another and cleated together on all sides, with boards 

 at the bottom and top. This crate is usually placed, if possible, where 

 the temperature of the air is below freezing, so that the moss may be 

 slightly frosted before the crate is put in the shipping-case. 



A case is made large enough to allow a 4-inch space above, below, 

 and arouud all sides of the crate when it is placed in position. Its 

 bottom is filled with fine shavings, 4 inches deep, and the crate placed 

 upon them as nearly as possible in the center of the case. Shavings 



