Notes and Queries 



165 



further provides that no trout of any kind or 

 land-locked salmon shall be taken from any 

 waters of the State for stocking a private pond 

 or stream. 



INSTRUCTIONS FOR TRANSPORTING AND PLANTING 

 YOUNG FISH. 



Brook, brown, rainbow and Loch Leven 

 trout should be planted in small spring rivulets 

 tributary to the larger stream intended to be 

 stocked. From the rivulets they will work 

 down as they grow, into the main stream. 



Lake trout should be planted among bould- 

 ers or rocks on a shoal in mid-lake, very near 

 to deep water, into which the young trout soon 

 find their way. In the absence of such shoals 

 with rocks to afford hiding places for the young 

 trout, they may be planted on natural spawn- 

 ing beds, when they are known. 



In transporting young trout, if they come to 

 the surface of the water in the cans, it is a sign 

 of exhaustion, and the water should be fre- 

 quently aerated by dipping it from the can in 

 a dipper and let it fall into it again from a 

 considerable height. It is safer to aerate the 

 water placed in the cans at the hatchery than 

 to add fresh water during the journey, the 

 ■qualities of which are unknown. Should the 

 water in the cans become warm, the tempera- 

 ture should be reduced by the addition of ice 

 troken into small pieces. 



If the water in the cans containing young 

 trout should be warmer or colder than the 

 water in the lake or stream at the time of plant- 

 ing the fish, the temperature should be equal- 

 ized by mingling the two waters in the can be- 

 fore the fish are turned out, as marked changes 

 in the temperature may kill the young trout. 



Fish cans ordinarily hold about 5,000 trout 

 fry, and not more than three cans of fry should 

 be planted in one year in a stream from six to 

 eight miles long, and the fry should be well 

 distributed throughout the length of the stream 

 {by planting in rivulets as previously stated), 

 as by bunching the plant there is danger of 

 exhausting the food suitable for the young fish . 



Fry or yearling fish should be planted as soon 

 as received, and never under any circumstances 

 kept over night without constant watching and 

 aerating the water. Trout are sent out by the 

 State in the spring or fall, as transportation 

 ■during the hot months is attended with great 

 risk. Applicants for fish should so far as possible 

 ascertain the kinds and quality of fish food in 

 the streams they desire to plant. 



A. N. Cheney, State Fish Culturist. 



Notes from a Montana Ranche. 



Fkiknu Harris, — I have been waiting at 

 Livingston, Mont,, for the winter to thaw out 

 and dampen me so I can get around on the old 

 fishing grounds once more. In my travels 

 among the mountains last year I ran on to the 

 finest trout fishing I ever struck, and had fun 

 and pleasure for a whole fishing family. 

 I think my trout-fishing record ahead of any 

 man in the country. I shall be sixty-eight 

 years old the day after to-morrow, and it is 

 safe to say I have averaged nearly one hun- 

 dred days of fishing in each year since I was 

 eight years old, and my continued good health 

 I think, is caused, more than anything else by 

 the pleasure of lifting out the brook beauties 

 and getting outside of so many of them when 

 cooked. 



I was educated in an old-fashioned country 

 school house, and, in consequence, cannot use 

 Latin, French or Greek in writing letters, and 

 so when I state anything I use language that 

 any ordinary man can understand. It makes 

 me tired to read some articles in which the 

 writers seem to care more about showing off 

 their education than making things plain. I 

 don't blame any one for being proud of having 

 a fine education, but I do blame them for writ- 

 ing things that a common every-day man 

 can't understand. The people the world over 

 like to hear good stories, and it is an art to tell 

 a story in fine style ; and it seems to be that 

 the longer one can be in telling a story the bet- 

 ter it pleases the hearers, especially if there 

 are interesting points mixed in. 



I remember a few years ago I sat in a hotel 

 in town, and an old man and an early settler 

 in this country said he had an incident in his 

 early life to relate. It was about killing the 

 largest elk ever killed in Montana. It was half 

 past nine in the evening when he began, and 

 he mixed in interesting incidents in almost 

 every sentence and kept the listeners busy 

 thinking what was coming next, and so kept 

 on until half past twelve, and had not yet 

 come within sight of the elk, when some 

 one proposed interviewing the barkeeper, and 

 all hands arose and attended to pleading at the 

 bar, and the sitting broke up and we never 

 heard the end of the story. 



I was staying last December at Emigrant 

 Gulch mining camp, where placer mining is 

 the business of the people. This camp was 

 started in 1864, and several of the miners have 

 been working there ever since that time. 



