17 



they spawn. In the second place, we should be within easy reach 

 of railway and steamboat transportation, while the spawning grounds 

 lie in the wilderness. In the third place, the spawn that we should 

 take away would not detract anything from the natural increase of 

 the species in the river, since we should use for parent fish only those 

 that would otherwise have gone to the markets, and the accustomed 

 number of adult fish would still be left to deposit their eggs without 

 molestation. The results of the experiment are the eggs actually 

 obtained, and the important addition to our stock of knowledge on 

 the subject of salmon breeding. 



The eggs cost the subscribers to the fund $18.09 per thousand. The 

 price demanded and received at the Canadian governmental establish- 

 ment at Newcastle, when I .purchased salmon eggs of them in 1870, 

 was forty dollars, gold, the eggs of a single fish costing several hun- 

 dred dollars. The prevailing price of parties- operating in New 

 Brunswick has been twenty dollars per thousand for eggs warranted 

 to be fecundated. When the extraordinary mortality among the 

 salmon we intend to use as breeders is considered, it is remarkable 

 that the eggs taken at Orland did not cost more. I have no doubt 

 that, with the advantage of this year's experience, they can be 

 obtained hereafter at an expense not exceeding eight dollars per 

 thousand. The experiment has decided in the affirmative the follow- 

 ing questions, viz. : 1. Whether salmon can be kept in confinement 

 in a small inclosure from June to November. 2. Whether they will, 

 under such conditions, develop their spawn and milt to perfect 

 maturity. It has also determined the conditions of safety in trans- 

 portation and to a sufficient extent for practical purposes, the conditions 

 of safety in keeping them through the summer, and finally the best 

 mode of manipulation to secure complete fecundation. 



As to the conditions of keeping salmon in safety through the 

 summer, my conclusions may be briefly stated thus : Salmon will live 

 in perfect health in common river, pond or brook water, provided that 

 there be sufficient change to prevent stagnation, that the depth be 

 not less than four feet, and that they be not too much crowded, that 

 the bottom be not newly submerged, that the water be not too trans- 

 parent ; and, in the case of a brook, that there be not a large per 

 centage of water from springs in the immediate vicinity. I have no 

 doubt that some of the salmon that died in the pond, died from 

 injuries received in capture and transportation. But the causes that 

 resulted in the death of so many of our salmon in Craig's pond brook 

 were mainly of a different character. The symptoms were these : 

 2 



