848 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



new process were observed, and a proposition to co-operate with the 

 Maryland commission in carrying it out was most readily acceded to. 



By the new method the work was to be done on floating barges or 

 l^latforms, and the agitation, required for the eggs, imparted by the 

 mechanical action of a steam-engine with its accessories. The work is 

 prosecuted more or less under cover, and is capable of being conducted 

 on a very large scale. 



Early in the spring of 1877 Mr. Ferguson commenced his operations 

 by borrowing from the authorities of the city of Baltimore four scows, 

 formerly used in the transportation of stone for its i^iers and sea-walls. 

 Each of these is about 60 feet in length and 20 in breadth, and one was 

 properly fitted up with the necessary apparatus for the work, the pro- 

 pelling power being a steam-engine of 5-horse power, purchased by the 

 United States Fish Commission and lent to Mr. Ferguson for the pur- 

 pose. An arrangement was made with Mr. Ferguson for hatching such 

 fish as might be needed by the United States Commission, their distri- 

 bution to be under the direction of the latter. For the purpose of bet- 

 ter accommodating the party under my diJection while waiting for the 

 production of the fish and their successive shipment to different points, 

 one of these scows was fitted up by the United States Commission in a 

 suitable manner, and placed in convenient relationship to a similarly 

 arranged vessel of the Maryland Commission. The first locality visited 

 for the shad work was situated in the Northeast Eiver at the head of 

 Chesapeake Bay ; but for some reason this was found to bo unsuitable, 

 and the station was finally established in Spesutie JSarrows between 

 Spesutie Island and the Maryland shore, about six miles below the 

 bridge at Havre de Grace. The actual work of shad-hatching com- 

 menced in the early part of May, and eggs were obtained at first prin- 

 cipally from the ripe fish caught in the seines, but subsequently almost 

 exclusively from the gill-nets. The season on the Susquehanna closed 

 the 13th of June, up to which time there were distributed on the Atlantic 

 side of the continent, in l!^ew England rivers, 1,477,000; in the Susque- 

 hanna Eiver, 1,910,800; in the Southern Atlantic waters, 1,245,000; 

 in the Mississippi and its tributaries, 1,158,000; and in the rivers of the 

 Gulf of Mexico aside from the Mississippi, 110,000; in the Sacramento 

 Eiver of California 110,000 were placed, making the total number of 

 shad distributed 6,010,800. 



The accompanying tables exhibit the number of eggs taken, the num- 

 ber of fish hatched, and the distribution to different waters. The 

 hatching apparatus (to be described hereafter) proved to be efficient and 

 to possess all the superiority over the former method of the floating 

 boxes that had been anticipated, especially in the success in hatching 

 the eggs in waters where there was no current whatever. Another 

 advantage not already referred to was the facility with which a cooler 

 stratum of water could be reached when the surface was too hot for the 

 proper development of the eggs, a condition always present when the 



