XV.-THE PROPAGATION AND DISTIUKUTION OF SHAD IN 1877. 



By James W. Milxf.r. 



A.— STATION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA ElVER NEAR HAVRE 



DE GRACE, MD. 



Reference has been made in previous reports to the failure to procure 

 a sufficient supply of shad in the southern waters of the United States 

 to warrant the expense of establishing stations, the results having 

 always proved greatly disproportionate to the outlay. In laying oat 

 the work for 1877, therefore, it was determined to concentrate effort upon 

 the Susquehanna and Connecticut Rivers, with the object of obtaining 

 a sufficient number of young fish from these two streams to meet the 

 requirements in the way of stocking new waters. Another reason for 

 concentration was the desire to test, during part of the season at least, 

 the efficiency of a radical change planned and adopted by Mr. T. B. 

 Ferguson, Maryland commissioner of fisheries, in the entire theory and 

 practice of the hatching of shad, iu dispensing entirely with the use of 

 floating boxes of any kind whatever, such as had been hitherto consid- 

 ered absolutely necessary for successful work. These boxes, as the 

 result of several years' experience, were found to answer an excellent 

 purpose in comparatively narrow rivers, where there was a steady and 

 continued current, but they were inadequate to the requirements iu 

 tidal waters. 



As has been explained in previous reports, the floating boxes are con- 

 nected iu a gang by cords, the foremost one being held to its place by 

 an anchor. During the strong tide-current th^re is sufficient move- 

 ment of the eggs, but when the tide is slack they rest in masses upon 

 the bottom of the boxes and in consequence suffer greatly, especially 

 when the water is at a high temperature, unless shaken up by hand. 

 In the event of a storm or freshet the boxes, except in the few sheltered 

 places which are available in the region of the shad fisheries, are in great 

 danger of being upset and the eggs and young fishes thrown out or 

 carried away as has frequently occurred; and under the best of circum- 

 stances the exposure of the apparatus and the attendants to the ele- 

 ments, and the great number of boxes required to contain even a 

 million of eggs at one time, are serious obstacles to their use when 

 work is done on a large scale. In most tidal waters, and waters with- 

 out current, as at the head of Albemarle Sound, these objections are 

 fatal to success. It was therefore with much satisfaction that the 

 experiments of Mr. T. B. Ferguson in the employment of an entirely 



