28 Report of the American 



season, to the streams further and further north, until the work can 

 be closed on the Connecticut river. The young fish can be taken 

 from the coast, by the lateral lines of railroad, to differe?it points in 

 the west and introduced in hundreds of localities; and it is hoped 

 that many millions of young fish may thus be started on their own 

 way, to become the progenitors of an ultimate supply in tlie waters 

 of the entire Mississippi valley. If authority be granted, similar 

 eflforts with regard to shad will be made on the great lakes, in con- 

 tinuation of the labors of the Commissioners of New York and Ver- 

 mont, by whom several thousands of young fish have been planted 

 in the tributaries of Lake Champlain and Lake Ontario. The prac- 

 ticability of liaving shad in abundance in the great lakes, cut off' from 

 access to the sea, is yet to be proved ; but an augury of success is 

 drawn from the fact that, by reason of discoveries made very recently, 

 partly in connection with the United States Commission of Fisheries, 

 the waters in the deeper portions of these lakes have been found to 

 abound with minute crustaceans which are very similar if not iden- 

 tical with those which form the chief sustenance of the shad and also 

 of the salmon in the ocean. 



As regards the salmon, time was available to act with more delibe- 

 ration, so as to secure more definite results, the spawning season for 

 the eastern fish, as is well known, being as late as the end of October 

 or the beginning of November. The fact that nearly all the rivers 

 of the United States, which formerly abounded with salmon, are now 

 destitute of them, made it necessary, of course, to adopt measures for 

 obtaining spawn in large quantities. Heretofore the only establish- 

 ment in America where these could be purchased was the hatching- 

 house belonging to the Canadian government, at Newcastle, in 

 Ontario, not far from Toronto, and under the care of Mr. Wilmot. 

 The price charged, however, of forty dollars (gold) per thousand, was 

 almost prohibitory ; and, at any rate, the number that could be 

 obtained at any price was too small to be of much value in the pro- 

 posed experiment. Accordingly, I adopted three methods for procur- 

 ing the desired supply, in which I was encouraged by the fish cul- 

 turists at their meeting already referred to. It is known to most 

 persons that salmon come from the sea in the early spring, and, enter- 

 ing the large rivers, pass high up to their head-waters, remaining 

 there for several months before the business of spawning is begun. 

 Fat and in good condition at first, they gradually become very poor 

 and emaciated, until in the breeding season they are unfit for food. 



