8 Report of the J 3f eric an 



He ordered an additional half million from Fryebiirg, and engaged 

 the services of Mr. Rudolph Hessel, an experienced fish cnltnrist of 

 Germany, to accompany them to this country. These eggs arrived 

 at New York, February 4th, much injured by the warm weather at 

 the time of their packing and during the voyage. Enough, doubtless, 

 will be saved to try the experiment of raising them in our waters. 

 They are supposed to be the same species as those found in our 

 eastern rivers. The success in this importation has been so limited 

 that it will have a tendency to discourage future drafts upon Europe 

 for salmon eggs, especially when we have learned liow to secure 

 them on the Penobscot in the greatest abundance and at very moderate 

 expense. 



This enterprise, begun under the direction of Mr. Atkins, in 1871, 

 with very limited returns, has been crowned with large success the 

 present season. Prof. Baird was able to put $3,000 at the disposal 

 of Mr. Atkins, yearly doubling the funds raised by the association. 



A million and a half of eggs were taken and are now being dis- 

 tributed, principally among State Fish Commissioners who started 

 the enterprise. A substantial hatching-house has been built near 

 Bucksport, in the center of the salmon fisheries upon the Penobscot, 

 so that it is eavsy to procure breeding salmon during the summer, and 

 to keep them in ponds until the spawing season in November. 



This method of taking eggs is original upon this side of the 

 Atlantic, and promises to give us an unlimited supply of spawn at 

 very cheap rates. 



Nearly all of the eggs are impregnated, and the loss by transporta- 

 tion from Bucksport to the neighboring States is very small. About 

 200,000 of these eggs were taken to the hatching-house of the 

 Poquonnoc Fish Co., and, after a two days' passage, the loss was less 

 than six per cent, and this loss was mainly confined to unimpregnated 

 eggs. It was exceedingly rare to find a dead egg with a fish in it. 

 The management of salmon during the summer is now well under- 

 stood, and the manipulation of the fish and impregnation of the eggs 

 are about as certain as other kinds of business. It is mainly a ques- 

 tion of money as to how many salmon spawn shall be taken in the 

 Penobscot, under the management of Mr. Atkins. With this source 

 of supply so near and so certain in its results, it will hardly pay to 

 run the risks incident to a thirty days' voyage to secure the same 

 kind of spawn in future years. 



The discovery of a new species of salmon upon the Pacific coast 



