i66 



The American Angler 



There are about eight miles of the stream 

 where they are working, and the bed rock of 

 the stream is down about thirty feet or more 

 from the surface, and full of large boulders, so 

 that they earn all the money they get, but 

 when they reach bed rock it pays for the 

 trouble. 



There are very few trout in the stream, be- 

 cause of its being muddy air the while from 

 the working, but Mill Creek, six miles below, 

 is the finest fishing ground I ever struck. 



I enclose a Christmas card from my son, now 

 camping in Idaho, and a different kind of 

 bait used there I thought might interest you. 

 I think it fully equal to blackberries. I have 

 never tried it for fishing, but know it to be 

 good for some purposes. It is Pear's soap. 



Too much ice for fishing at present (Janu- 

 ary), but if I am in my usual health I shall 

 not waste any time when the spring campaign 

 opens — shall give my whole attention to fish- 

 ing and hunting. The old saying that the 

 number of years allowed to man being seventy, 

 and lacking scarcely two and a half years of 

 that I am in hopes of getting an extension, and 

 I think the chances are very favorable, from the 

 fact that when I was at the Appolonaris spring 

 I wrote you about, I could not help thinking of 

 the water of life, and I think if it was not 

 mixed too much it would certainly lengthen 

 and strengthen one's days. 



There are no private families that begin to 

 live as well as these miners at Chico ; they 

 have the best of everything to eat that they 

 can buy. The great trouble with me is that I 

 shall be so fat in the spring that I can't get 

 around to do what I want to do. Some of the 

 finest specimens of gold quartz are also found at 

 Chico. One party has made good money the 

 past summer ; his stock is partly decomposed 

 and assays over twenty dollars to the ton, so 

 he cleared over ten dollars per ton above all 

 expenses, and he doesn't think he has gotten 

 all the gold out yet. R. P. VanHorne. 



Salmon Fishing. 



To lease for the the season, the river Carneil, Mingan 

 Seigniory, Lower St. Lawrence. Good fishing for two 

 rods. Communication by steamer, sailing fortnightly 

 from Quebec. For full particulars apply to 

 W. W. WATSON, 



39 St. Francois Xavier St., Montreal. 



The Sunday service of the Fall River Line was re- 

 sumed, commencing Sunday, May 3d. 



Trout Diseases and Perils. 



In reply to "Amateur" we state that some 

 years ago Seth Green wrote us on the subject 

 of trout diseases, methods of cure and the pro- 

 tection of ponds, which we now print, as the 

 article will fully meet the queries made by our 

 correspondent : 



Fish, like every other order of creation, are 

 subject to disease, and not infrequently epi- 

 demics occur among them in different waters 

 which destroy large numbers. Usually only 

 one species is affected in the same waters, 

 while the other varieties remain in a healthy 

 state. 



The diseases fish are subject to are almost 

 invariably fatal. With trout the disease most 

 common makes its appearance in a white fun- 

 gous growth in spots on the body of the fish. 

 The fungus is probably not a disease of itself 

 any more than sores on the body of a person, 

 but is an indication of an unhealthy state. But 

 little is known about remedies. Trout are 

 sometimes cured by placing them in strong salt 

 and water brine, strong enough to float a po- 

 tato, and allowing them to remain a short time 

 or until they turn over ; then place them im- 

 mediately in fresh water, and repeat this about 

 twice a day. If the trout should begin to die 

 in numbers try the experiment of changing 

 them into another pond, or give them a strong 

 head of water, and they should also have ac- 

 cess to a dirt or gravelly bottom on which to 

 clean their sides. 



The dead fish should be taken out of the 

 pond as fast as they are discovered. They 

 will not rise to the surface in the majority of 

 cases until they have been dead for a long 

 time. They generally sink to the bottom, and 

 if there is much moss in the pond they will get 

 hid from view and decay, causing the bottom 

 to be foul and unhealthy. 



If there is a great deal of sickness among the 

 trout it is generally an indication that the 

 water supply is insufficient, or they are not 

 well fed, or perhaps both. 



The principal enemies to trout in artificial 

 ponds are minks, kingfishers, fish hawks and 

 cranes. If the ponds are near the house there 

 is not liable to be much trouble from them, and 

 a double-barreled shot gun properly used is a 

 sure preventive against too frequent visits, and 

 should always be among a fish culturist's outfit. 



Muskrats occasionally get into the ponds. 

 They are not liable to catch the trout, but will 

 destroy the young and spawn if they should 



