654 REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



further cm. During the season 1875-'76 a considerable number of eggs 

 were placed in the hatching-boxes, not only of trout, but also of saibling, 

 and of bastards of trout and saibling, as well as of bastards of trout 

 and salmon, which, through the Salzburg establishment, were ordered 

 from Hiiningen. Both in 1875 and 1876 a large number of young fish 

 were placed in the small tributaries of the Traisen. In the autumn. of 

 1876 I saw 1,200 trout, saibling, and bastards of the two, all of them 

 the results of the two above-mentioned hatching-periods. Besides these 

 there were 1,200 large trout in the pond Wa, which are used for propa- 

 gating ; but only a portion of these — about 500 from the hatching-period, 

 1873-'74 — are raised in the establishment ; the others have been caught 

 and fattened. In the autumn of 1876 the feeding-ponds, 1-16, were con- 

 structed, and the system of "chambers" for the young fry was intro- 

 duced, and some improvements made in the connections between the 

 various ponds and canals. 



After this brief historical introduction, I will proceed to describe the 

 present condition of the establishment. The soil which was gained by 

 the digging of the ponds was piled up along the edges, thus forming 

 dikes, on which walks have been constructed between rows of alder and 

 willow trees. There is a fall between all the ponds, so that the surface 

 of the last pond, Wa, is about 2 feet lower than that of Si. It may be 

 stated that on an average there is a fall of about 2 inches to the fathom. 

 The bottom of the ponds is covered by a species of Cham, which is grow- 

 ing luxuriantly. At many places of the basins, but especially in the 

 principal pond, Si, there are numerous springs. With this exception, 

 every pond receives its water from the preceding one. The experience 

 of three years has proved that the fish thrive very much under this ar- 

 rangement. At the end of the first year the percentage of mortality was 

 0. From the pond Si, the water flows through four sluices into the 

 ponds S 2 , S 3 , S^ from this one into the pond S 5 , and from here through 

 the canal J K into the pond Wa. The water also flows into the 

 pond Wa from the pond Si through the canal S K and J K (to the 

 left), and from the pond Wa it flows into the Traisen through the tunnel 

 A T. The average depth of the ponds is 2 to 2£ feet. The temperature 

 of the water even in August was 50° to 52° P. near the springs ; far- 

 ther away from these or near the surface, 61° F. In the beginning the 

 sluices were simply protected by a vertical grate; but as the young and 

 tender fish were pushed against it by the violence of the current and 

 were thus frequently injured, Mr. Fruwirth made two new improve- 

 ments. The one consists of two boards rising above the surface of the 

 water and meeting at an angle. Immediately below the surface square 

 holes are cut in the boards and are covered with a grating ; the lower 

 part of the board is hidden by a pile of sand reaching as far as the grat- 

 ing. The other improvement is very similar to this one, only that the 

 place of the boards is taken by a box open on two sides, viz, at the bot- 

 tom and in the rear ; the gratings are in the lower portion of the three 



