VIII.-THE PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF SHAD. 



A— OPERATIONS IN 1876. 



By James W. Milker, 



1. — STATION ON THE POTOMAC RIVER. 



The efforts of previous years to obtain eggs of the shad in the rivers 

 south of the Potomac having yielded very small results, it was thought 

 best not to make the attempt in 1876, but to commence operations on 

 the Potomac at as early a date as possible, so that a long season might 

 furnish the opportunity of obtaining the largest possible number of 

 eggs. 



The steam-yacht Lookout came up the river during the commence- 

 ment of the work, bringing Mr. T. B. Ferguson, commissioner of fish- 

 eries for the State of Maryland. Throughout the remainder of I'le sea- 

 son, on the Potomac and the Upper Chesapeake Bay or mouth of the 

 Susquehanna River, our efforts were combined. 



On May 8 a camp was established at Ferry landing, near Mount 

 Vernon, Va., and Mr. Frank N. Clark placed in charge. The seine- 

 hauls were sedulously watched, but no ripe fishes were taken until the 

 13th. From that date until the 24th eggs were taken almost daily, either 

 at the Ferry landing fishery, or from thetripsof the dispatch-boat Lookout 

 to other fishing-shores of the Potomac. In all, 686,000 young fishes 

 were hatched, of which about 100,000 were shipped to North Carolina, 

 and the remainder put into the river. 



The catch of shad was remarkably small along the river, the hauls 

 of the 1,000-fathom seines bringing in such quantities as 125, 130, rarely 

 200 at a time. 



There are few places in the wide portion of the Potomac where there 

 is sufiicient shelter for the hatching-boxes. During this season, many 

 eggs were washed out by the tossing of the boxes during high winds. 

 A boom of double logs is an essential protection to the boxes. 



The seines along the river "cut out" before the 23d of May, as the 

 fishing proved a failure and expenses were much greater than the in- 

 come. 



The disposition of the fish hatched will be seen in the tables on a 

 subsequent page. 



I'Ol 



