Centennial Meeting. 39 



shown that that fish, which only seeks the salt water at certain 

 periods, may be propagated with success in fresh waters. 

 Whether the results of years of training in fresh water will 

 produce the salmon that come to us direct from the sea is a 

 question which remains yet to be tested. Among the objects 

 prominently held in view in the State from which I come, one of 

 the first has been the reproduction of the whitefish, and the 

 adoption of such means as will have a tendency to prevent its 

 destruction by the fishermen in Lake Erie. This is the great 

 fish of Lake Erie. The first of the species ever taken in the 

 waters of the State was caught with a hook near Sandusky. In 

 making these statements I speak, of course, upon the best 

 information that could be obtained. The efforts that have been 

 made to acquire reliable information were largely made among 

 the fishermen, but this class could only answer as to a part of 

 the matters concerning which information was desired. These 

 men, who are interested in the business only so far as the profits 

 of their catches are concerned, can be depended upon for certain 

 facts, but, when applied to, were utterly ignorant of other 

 equally essential and more important facts. It has been left 

 to scientific men to develop the peculiar circumstances under 

 which the eggs of the whitefish can be treated most successfully 

 for a beneficial result. It has been found that the fish spawn 

 late in the Fall, near the shore ; and the trouble has been to 

 protect them from destruction by the lines and nets of the 

 fishermen. They are in danger of being cut off through care- 

 lessness, and artificial means have been resorted to and put in 

 operation for the protection of the fish and its young. The 

 speaker added that visitors to the lakes sometimes noticed a 

 difference in the flavor of the whitefish, and the explanation of 

 this was that in the summer months the fish, are not in the 



