22 Report of the American 



last season, will be found in the report of the U. S. Fish Commission for 

 1873, and a full account of the aquarium car enterprise in the California 

 Fish Commissioners' report for 1873. 



EXPERIENCES OF A PRACTICAL FISH 

 CULTURIST. 



BY SETH GKEEN. 



Mj first attempt at taking brook trout spawn was in 1864. I took a 

 few thousand daily for sixteen da3'S. On the seventeenth I made up my 

 mind that I could tell which spawn was impregnated and which was not. 

 I counted several hundred and found that I had twenty-five per cent" 

 impregnated. I was sure I had to pick out all of the bad ones. I 

 did not like the job. About that time Mr. Ainsworth came to ni}' place. 

 I told him what I had discovered. He said that twenty-five per cent. 

 was a good percentage as ever had been hatched. I was not long 

 in making up m}' mind. If that was the best that could be 

 done, I should not stay in the business long. That night I thought it 

 over and took a common sense view of it. I had used a good deal of 

 water, and but little milt. I made up my mind to try a little water and 

 a good deal of milt. I found when sixteen days had come around that I 

 had ninety-five per cent, impregnated, and even better. I kept using 

 less and less water until I used scarcely- an}'. I kept it a secret, everj'- 

 body wanted ray spawn. I sold a great many, and my secret was as 

 good as though I had a patent for it. 



I will tell 3'ou how I discovered that the sun would kill spawn. The 

 spawn in one of my troughs kept d3'ing and in all the others they were 

 good. I picked them out for several days and tried several experiments, 

 but it was of no use, the spawn kept turning white. So I thought I 

 would leave it for two or three days. The third day I learned the cause. 

 The sides of my trough were six inches high, and the side shaded one 

 half of the trough, and the shady side was all good, but where the sun 

 hit they were all bad. I left them a couple of days and scooped them 

 out and shaded my window, and I did not have any more trouble from 

 the sun. One of the one hundred and one difficulties I had to overcome 

 was rats. The}* left their tracks and I caught them ; I took 304 trout 

 spawn out of one of their stomachs. 



I must stop telling you the difficulties I had to overcome or I shall not 

 have time to tell you about anything else. The year 1867 the Commis- 



