EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. Ixv 



Au iuteresting expsriment was tried on this occasion as to the possi- 

 bility of retaining the sea-trout in fresh water throughout the entire 

 period of their existence, about fifty of them being used for the purjiose. 

 Tliis has succeeded perfectly, the original stock having bred for five 

 years in succession in fresh waters. 



The history of the efforts in the United States, looking especially 

 toward the restoration of salmon to American waters, may perhaps be 

 considered as dating from a report upon the artificial propagation of fish 

 made in October, 1857, to the general assembly of Vermont, by the 

 Hon. George P. Marsh, now United States minister to Italy, almost 

 simultaneously with one by Mr. A. H, Robinson, of New Hampshire. It 

 was not until 1804 and 18G5 that the fish commissioners of the New 

 England States took measures to accomplish the desired object, and, 

 according to Dr. Edmunds* and Mr. William Clift,t the first positive 

 effort was made by Dr. Fletcher, of Concord, N. H., in 1866, who visited 

 New Brunswick for the sake of transferring adult fish alive to the New 

 Hampshire streams for the purpose of restocking them. 



Dr. Edmunds, however, remarks that, according to Mr. Thaddeus 

 Norris, James B. Johnson, of New York City, procured eggs of a 

 salmon {S. huclio ?) in 1864, and hatched them in New York City by 

 Croton water; but that they all died when liberated. 



According to Genio C. Scott, % Seth Green, by his advice, made appli- 

 cation to the French establishment at Hiiuingen, in 1865, for some 

 salmon ova, and was presented with 20,000 iu the spring of 1866, which 

 were properly packed and shipped. They were, however, delayed in the 

 New York custom-house until they died. 



Dr. Fletcher went again to New Brunswick in September of 1866, and 

 brought home 35,000 impregnated ova, of which a large number were 

 placed in the Merrimac River after being artificially hatched, and, with 

 the exception of a few, they were treated for this purpose iu Concord. 

 Whether the remainder hatched out or not it is impossible to say ; but 

 we may safely consider the date of March, 1867, as the first period when 

 artificially-hatched American salmon were introduced into American 

 waters; namely, in the Pemigewasset, at Comptou,N. H., by Dr. Fletcher. 

 In 1867 Dr. Fletcher again visited New Brunswick, and brought home, 

 as he supposed, 100,000 eggs or more. Half of these were distributed 

 to the New Hampshire commissioners, Robinson and Hoyt, at Meredith 

 N. H., and the other half to Livingston Stone, at Charlestown. The 

 entire yield of these eggs was about 5,000 of each lot, or 10,000 

 in all. 



In 1808 Mr. Livingston Stone, in behalf of several parties, built a 

 salmon-breeding establishment on the Miramichi River, New Brunswick, 



* Introduction of Salmon to American Waters : Proceedings of American Fisla-Cul- 

 turists' Association, 1872, p. 32. 

 t Salmon and its Culture, 1872, p. 19. 

 X Fishing in American Waters. New York, Harper and Brothers, 1869. 



S. Mis. 74 Y 



