MILNER ON THE ARTIFICIAL CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 439 



15. — SHIPMENT OF SHAD TO THE WATERS OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN, 



VERMONT. 



On the eveuing of the 4th, with six caus, containing a much larger 

 number of fish than in previous shipments, about one hundred thousand, 

 we started for Burlingtou, Vt., intending to pUice the fish in the 

 Winooslji River. The weather being very warm we made free use of ice. 

 We arrived in Burlingtou at 7 p. m. of the 5th, and, accompanied by 

 Mr. il. S. White and a gentleman connected with the Burlington Free 

 Press and Times, we drove to the river and put in the shad, in very 

 fine condition, the loss being hardly apparent. 



During 1872 a quantity of shad were planted at Whitehall, X, Y., the 

 head of Lake Champlain, under the direction of Seth Green, and a 

 quantity put in at the dock by Dr. M. 0. Edmonds, commissioner for 

 the State of Vermont. This season at the mouth of the Wiuooski, and 

 at the shore of the lake at Burlington, a number of unmistakable shad 

 five or six inches in length, had been taken ; a son of Mr. H. S. White, 

 in one instance, compelling their return to the waters. 



We returned to South Hadley Falls, arriving on the 6th, (Sunday,) 

 and remained at Holyoke, Mass., until the next day. 



IG. — SHIPMENT OF SHAD TO THE HOUSATONIC RIVER, CONNECTICUT. 



In response to a telegram to Dr. W. M. Hudson, commissioner for the 

 State of Connecticut, proposing to move fish to the waters of the State, 

 the reply was received : "Take as many as convenient to IS^ew Milford, 

 on the Housatonic." 



On the Sth we started with 90,000 shad and arrived at New Milford in 

 the afternoon, putting the fish in the Housatonic River with scarcely 

 any loss. Although the people of the vicinity were wide awake to the 

 fishing interests, and appreciated perfectly the value of stocking the 

 waters with valuable fishes, their enthusiasm was very much checked 

 by the condition of a fish-way in the dam at Birmingham, lower 

 down the river, which was represented as in no particular constructed 

 according to the models in use for this purpose, and was of no value 

 whatever for the passage of fish. 



We started back the same afternoon, arriving at the hatching-station 

 the morningof the 9th. In the afternoon we witnessed the sport of taking 

 shad with a fly-hook*. A citizen of Holyoke, Mr. Thomas Chalmers, has 

 made this line of hook-fishing quite popular on the Connecticut by his 

 successes ; on this evening we saw him take eleven full-grown shad. 

 The tackle used is a trout or salmon rod, with a reel containing one 

 hundred or more feet of line, and a small hook (about No. 6) with a 

 brown fly. A peacock body, long, turkey-feather wings, and light- 

 brown hackel is the fly in common use. Two persons in a boat select a 

 spot where the current is quite rapid, and anchor the boat and let their 



* A prevalent impression that this is a new sport will be corrected by referring to 

 page Ibl of Frank Forrester's Fish and Fishing, &.O., by Wm. Henry Herbert, 1850. 



