ATKINS THE SALMON AND ITS ARTIFICIAL CULTURE. 263 



Eitlier before or after this period, eggs can be transported with much 

 greater safety, although I do not think it yet established that any time 

 is quite so favorable as that succeeding the first appearance of dark 

 color in the eyes. 



The general shipment of eggs began February 3d, and continued 

 weekly until late in the spring, the last lot being sent away in April- 

 The whole number distributed was 1,291,800. There were retained and 

 hatched at Bucksport about 150,000 eggs, being part of the share fall- 

 ing to the lot of Elaine. The remainder, 1,091,800, were packed up in 

 moss and sent away; 152,000 going on a sled to Bangor and thence by 

 rail to Dixfield, Me.; the rest all going from Bucksport to Boston by 

 steamer, and from that point b> rail to their several destinations. 



Several modes of packing were adopted. The first was the use of 

 trays similar to the hatching trays in use at Bncksport, made of iron 

 wire cloth with wooden frames around the edges. One or two layers 

 of eggs were placed on each tray, with layers of sphagnum-moss below, 

 above, and between them. In most cases pieces of mosquito-netting- 

 were spread beneath and above each layer of eggs, between them and 

 the moss, for convenience in unpacking, the trouble of separating the 

 eggs from the moss when nothing intervenes being very great. After 

 packing, the trays are set, one on another, in a box large enough to re- 

 ceive them ; the frames, coming in contact, sustain all the weight, en- 

 tirely relieving the eggs from any pressure excei)t such as the packer 

 may choose to give them ; this box is then inclosed in a larger one, 

 with saw-dust, tow, or some other non-conductor of heat, to protect 

 against extremes of temperature. This mode of packing is very econom- 

 ical of space, and thus far appears to be safe, unless the eggs and moss 

 be placed in the tray so loosely as to slide down together to one side if 

 the box be placed in any other than an upright position. The second 

 method is the use of cylindrical tin boxes about five inches deep and 

 six inches in diameter, in which the eggs are placed in layers alternating 

 with layers of moss. Each layer of eggs lies between two disks of mos- 

 quito-netting sewed to brass rings of just the right size to go into the 

 box easily. Six or eight layers of eggs, numbering from 1,600 to 3,000 

 eggs, are placed in each box. The tins are then placed, as in the other 

 method, in a large box, with a protective packing. I prefer this mode 

 to any other for long distances, and all the eggs sent to the Middle and 

 Western States were so packed. Some of the parties receiving the eggs 

 objected to the size of the boxes and the pressure that the eggs sus- 

 tained in them ; but I think that the loss which they attributed to this 

 cause was really the result of the general injury of the eggs, in the 

 troughs at Bucksport, as explained above. In all cases sphagnum-moss, 

 gathered from bogs, without any special care to keep out dirt, was used, 

 and excess of moisture, more than the moss coald hold without drip- 

 ping, avoided. 



The eggs hatched out for the State of Maine, in the Bucksport hatch- 



