FISH CULTUEE. 2b d 



from a depth of tliiity leet. The few which escape these dangers must 

 fall into fissures, or auder thick weeds or be covered over with sediment ; 

 and in such situations it is only a very few which can have change of 

 water enough to hatch. 



For the hist three years New York State has been extensively engaged 

 in the hatching and distribution of sahnon-trout, for the pur})ose of 

 stocking its inhxnd waters. The processes here described are those in 

 use at the New York State hatching-house, at Caledonia, on the grounds 

 of Mr. A. S. Collins. The eggs have to be obtained, of course, from the 

 breedijig-grounds in the lake. In order to get them men are sent out 

 to the grounds at spawning-time; arrangements are made with the 

 fishermen, and the men go out with them when they take up their nets. 

 As the nets are hauled in, the fish which may happen to be ripe are 

 stripped of their eggs. Impregnation, &c., the same as that of the 

 brook-trout. The eggs, when first taken, are kept in shad-hatching- 

 boxes, at some convenient point in the vicinity, until enough of them 

 are gathered to send one batch to the hatching-house. The eggs are 

 brought either dry or in water. One hundred thousand eggs can be 

 sent three days' journey in a wide, eight-gallon milk-can filled with 

 water, by changing the water every four hours. Upon arrival at the 

 hatching-house, for the sake of saving room and of convenience in 

 handling, the eggs are placed upon wire-trays, fourteen inches wide by 

 twenty-four inclies long, and these trays are laid four deep in the hatch- 

 ing-troughs. The frames are so arranged that the water is evenly 

 divided and flows evenly over the whole surface. The eggs are at 

 present taken under unfavorable circumstances. A fisherman's small 

 boat is hardly a place in which to perform the dainty process of impreg- 

 nation 5 and when, in addition to the want of room, the boat is standing 

 sometimes on one end and sometimes on the other, the men being fre- 

 quently wet through to the skin, and the thermometer down among the 

 thirties, it is a wonder that any eggs are impregnated. In the face of 

 these difficulties, the impregnation last year was between GO and 70 per 

 cent. 



As it is about five weeks before the impregnation makes itself mani- 

 fest, only the bad eggs which die can be removed before that time ; and 

 for the purposes of picking out the uuimpregnated eggs and keeping 

 the good eggs clean, the trays have been found very handy. They can 

 be taken out of the water, cleaned with a watering-pot, and set back in 

 a clean trough without any injury to the eggs. Of those which are 

 impregnated, scarcely 1 per cent, die after removal to the hatching- 

 house. The period of hatching is about sixty-five days. The young 

 fish, when first out of the shell, cannot swim, can just " wiggle" about 

 and, loaded with the umbilical sack, hide in corners and under stones. 

 In about forty days the sac is so nearly absorbed that they begin to 

 swim and come to the top of the water for food. If they are to be used 

 for restocking lakes, this is the period for their transportation. They 

 are taken before the saclj is entirely absorbed, because then they require 

 no food on the way and less change of water. They may be carried in 

 tanks of any kind and emptied into the head- waters of the lake to be 

 stocked. This should be done in the night, when their enemies are not 

 feeding, and they will find hiding-places before morning. 



It does not look at j^resent as if the white-fish could l3e made a pond- 

 fish ; at any rate the point is not determined. But I think the salmon- 

 trout may be easily grown in jjonds. The State of New York has no 

 grounds suitable for trying such points. But Mr. Collins has been try- 

 ing a series of experiments under my personal observation, which are. 



