136 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [8] 



liave to be closed for lack of fiintls, and several gentlemen offered to 

 contribute to its support until such time as the State might furnish the 

 funds to carry it on. Upon presenting this matter to the consideration 

 of Mr. E. G. Blackford, of the Board of Fish Commissioners, it was de- 

 cided not to call upon private aid unless it became absolutely necessary, 

 which fortunately it did not. In addition to the use of land and build- 

 ings given by Mr. John D. Jones and his brothers, Townsend, Samuel, 

 and W. E. Jones, Mr. Townsend Jones has given the stone for the great 

 wall of the salt- water pond. This stone is brought from the brown- 

 stone quarries of Connecticut, and is in large blocks, making a solid wall. 

 Mr. Jones sent three schooners for this stone, and each brought about 

 200 tons. The actual cost of this I do not knoAv, but it cannot be far 

 from $1,500. Messrs. John D. and Townsend Jones have built a large 

 and handsome house near the hatchery for my use. It has hot and 

 cold water and gas throughout, and has spacious grounds. Dr. O. L. 

 Jones paid $04.80 for drain-pipe to lead the water from his pond on the 

 hill into the brick hatchery, thereby giving us an additional supply of 

 water for both the hatchery and the ]wnds. Mr. E. R. Wilbur, of For- 

 est and Stream, gave a water telescope, to be used in examining the bot. 

 torn of ponds. 



THE SALT-WATER DEPARTMENT. 



This portion of the work has been done entirely bj^ the State, assisted 

 by the Messrs. Jones. On October 10, 1883, the Board of State Com- 

 missioners approved the plans for introducing salt water and ordered 

 the work to begin. Mr. Townsend Jones, in addition to promising to 

 give the stone necessary for the sea-wall, also agreed to have the last of 

 it on the ground within sixty days, which was done. It was decided 

 to build this wall so as to inclose two sides of a pond, the beach forming 

 the other two, and by placing a floodgate in it the water would be re- 

 tained at low tide and it would not only be available for a place to store 

 valuable native or foreign fishes, but would serve as a reservoir from 

 which to pump. I had previously gone over the upper end of the har- 

 bor very carefully with a hydrometer and had tested the water in dif- 

 ferent parts at flood-tide and found that the water was saltest at this 

 point. The scale of the hydrometer is so graduated that when placed 

 in distilled water it stands at 1. At a temperature of 62° Fahrenheit 

 sea- water in mid-ocean raises the scale to 1.02S, and at the point where 

 our floodgate is placed the density varies from 1.019 to 1.022, and cod- 

 fish have been hatched, I am informed, with a density of 1.010. From 

 this pond 800 feet of 5-inch drain-tile bring the water within 150 feet 

 of the hatchery, where it is pumped by a 6-inch cylinder " Eider" hot- 

 air compression engine into a reservoir on the hill, whence pipes bring 

 it to the house. This engine runs with the consumi^tion of only an or- 

 dinary scuttleful of coal in ten hours, and it is claimed will pump 1,000 

 gallons an hour to a height of 50 feet. It runs very satisfactorily, and 



