XXVIII -REPORT ON THE PROPAGATION OF PENOBSCOT SAL- 

 MON IN 1879-'80. 



By Charles G. Atkins. 



1. — Change of location. 



The original experiments in the propagation of Penobscot salmon 

 were made in 1871, in the towns of Bucksport and Orland, in the State 

 of Maine. The fixtures for the development of the eggs were located 

 in the town of Orland, at Craig's Brook (tributary to Alamoosook Lake 

 and through that to Eastern Eiver and the Penobscot), and the most 

 of the salmon used that year were confined during the summer in an 

 inclosure in the edge of Alamoosook Lake, in close proximity to the 

 hatching-house. With a view to testing the capacity of different waters 

 to sustain the breeding fish in health, a few of them were also confined 

 in Dead Brook, another tributary of Eastern Eiver, and a few more 

 were turned into Spofford's Pond, commonly known as " Great Pond," 

 a small sheet of water near Bucksport village. The fish in these three 

 places did equally well, and came to the spawning season, in the months 

 of October and November, in good health, as was proved by the few 

 that came to hand at that date. 



The site selected for a hatching-house was exceptionally good, but 

 the facilities for keeping the breeding fish from June to November in 

 that vicinity were far from satisfactory. The water of the brook, which 

 is exceedingly pure, had been tried and found totally unfit. The tem- 

 porary inclosure in the edge of the lake was entirely successful, but it 

 was exposed to all the force of storms sweeping across two miles of 

 open water, and would, therefore, never be safe from breach under the 

 force of waves or drifting rubbish. Besides, the shore was straight, 

 and a large inclosure would be costly. At Dead Brook the water was 

 satisfactory, but there was no good site for a hatching-house. At 

 Bucksport were found the best site for an inclosure, a convenient site 

 for a hatching-house, and water, which was not, to be sure, so pure as 

 at either of the other places, but which was believed to be quite good 

 enough. 



So, in 1872, the works were established at Bucksport, where operations 

 were pushed as vigorously as the funds warranted, and with a fair de- 

 gree of success, for four years. During these years it became apparent 

 S. Mi>s. 59 46 721 



