ATKINS THE SALMON AND ITS ARTIFICIAL CULTURE. 229 



ing iuto the tidal part of tbe Miramichi River, where it is possible that 

 they all perished.* 



Mr. Stone's share of the eggs was i)acked up in moss and successfully 

 transported to his breeding-works at Ctiarlestown, IST. H. The Massa- 

 chusetts and New Hampshire commissioners, jointly, purchased 100,000 

 of them, to be devoted to the restocking of the Merrimac River, and 

 these were sent to the hatching-works of Robinson & Hoyt, of Mere- 

 dith, N. H. ; 7,600 were sent to the Massachusetts State hatching house 

 at East Wareham ; small lots to Winchester and West Barnstable, 

 Mass. ; to the Poquonuoc Fish Company of Connecticut, and the South. 

 Side Club of New York. 



The exact number delivered to Messrs. Robinson & Hoyt was, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Stone's estimate, 99,400. From these were picked out 

 53,123 eggs that showed no sign of fecundation.t The rate of fecunda- 

 tion was therefore about 46 per cent, of those transported. Of the fe- 

 cundated eggs only 329 died during incubation, leaving 45,948 that 

 hatched. The first fish came out January 6 ; the hatching culminated 

 on the 20th, and was concluded February 1. The incubation was con- 

 ducted in a graveled trough with a gentle current of water an inch 

 deep. After hatching, they were placed, at the suggestion of the com- 

 missioners owning them, in a wooden tank 60 feet long, 4 feet wide, 

 and from 1 to 2 feet deep, and were fed by placing finely-chopped food 

 in a stream of water which was led into a spout with a perforated bot- 

 tom that ran the whole length of the tank, the food being thus very 

 evenly distributed. . The conditions, however, failed to meet the wants 

 of the fish, and during the summer fully three-quarters of them died.t 

 In October a freshet carried the greater portion of those alive iuto a 

 trout-pond, from which, probably, few ever escaped. The remainder 

 were kept until the following summer, when they were set at liberty in 

 the Pemigewassett River, having meanwhile become reduced in number 

 to about 1,000.| 



Among the eggs carried to Massachusetts there was about the same 

 ratio of fecundation. Of the 7,600 sent to the State hatching-house 

 4,280 proved defective, the most of them being infecund ; and the 

 number hatched out was 3,320. During the season these got mixed 

 with a lot of Schoodic salmon of the same age, and it was found im- 

 practicable to sort them out. They were left together until the close of 

 the season. Until the 1st of September they were kept in a hatching- 

 trough, where the water was only 4 inches deep. During this time, 

 though perfectly healthy and feeding heartily, they grew very slowly, 

 attaining a length of only an inch and a half. Most of them were then 

 transferred to a long trench, with a foot of water and plenty of room, 



* Annual Report of the [Canadian] Department of Marine and Fisheries for the year 



ending '30tb June, lb'69, p. 107. 



t Letter of Robinson & Hoyt. 



t Fifth Annual Report of the [Massachusetts] Commissioners on Inland Fisheries, 

 January, 1871, p. 11. 



