Titcomb. — Some Fish-Cultural Notes 209 



there until the egg sac is consumed; then they start on their natural 

 life course. Last year, if my memory serves me correctly, we planted 

 500,000 of these eyed eggs, principally in the eastern part of Massachu- 

 setts, although we put a liberal stock in the west branch of the Swift 

 River, for example, which is up in the more rugged part of our state. 

 One of the great problems in fish culture, as I conceive it, is the 

 utilization of all those things which you may describe as by-products, — 

 that is to say, any fish hatchery can produce more eggs ordinarily than 

 it can hatch; certainly it can hatch more fry than it has the facilities 

 for rearing to reasonably sized fingerlings. Now, in our state we are 

 going to try to utilize our hatcheries to their maximum development, 

 and that means that we are going to eye more eggs than it would be 

 of value to us to hatch, for the reason that we would not be able to 

 rear the fry. We are going to put our wardens on snowshoes and send 

 them, with these eggs, into inaccessible parts of our state — inaccessible 

 at that time of year in any other way than on snowshoes, on account 

 of the presence of anywhere from two to five feet of snow on the level 

 in certain sections. These spring holes and many of the brooks are open 

 the whole year round, and we believe that if we can plant fry in the 

 small tributary streams, we shall be utilizing a product which otherwise 

 we could not take care of to advantage; and we shall be doing exactly 

 what nature herself would do if given full opportunity, that is to say, 

 filling every spring hole and every small stream tributary to a good 

 trout brook, full of fry. 



Mr. Eben W. Cobb, St. Paul, Minn. : Our experience has taught 

 us that the temperature at which fish spawn varies in different geo- 

 graphic locations. We have also learned that we can bring eggs from 

 certain sections to our hatcheries with very little loss, whereas, when we 

 bring them from other sections the loss is much greater. At our Bemidji 

 hatchery, which I believe is somewhat farther north than Ottawa, pike 

 perch have spawned in water at a temperature of 46 degrees. If the 

 water turns cold after they begin to spawn we still gather some spawn 

 but the take is much decreased, and if a snowstorm comes hard enough 

 to turn them back the run of fish is of very little benefit to us. If eggs 

 are shipped out from Bemidji to the southern part of the state, the 

 utmost care being exercised in transferring them, the loss will be 25 

 per cent greater than with eggs that have been hatched up there where 

 the conditions are the same as those to which the fish have become 

 acclimated. The question of the temperature of the water is a very large 

 one. It would take a great deal of time to get anywhere with it, be- 

 cause you run into all kinds of unlooked for conditions. Fish seem to 

 be acclimated to their own particular section, and each section has its 

 own problem. The results obtained in one section cannot safely be 

 depended upon elsewhere without careful investigation. 



Mr. Titcomb: What is the temperature of the water at the Bemidji 

 hatchery ? 



Mr. Eben W. Cobb: The fish spawn there at 46°. We cannnt 



