10 



V. fS. \Vc ;ire ul)sei'viiiji; the (lcvclo}tiuent of the spawn, 

 and as soon as it iipproachcs ripeness, I will telegraph for 

 your man. What is the name of the man you have detailed 



for me ? 



Your's, 



T. B. Ferguson, 



Commissioner of Fisheries, 



State of Maryland. 



We wrote for the man on April 14th, and Oren Chase, of 

 Kochester, reported for duty on the 20th of April. 



Mr. Oren Chase was provided with as complete an outfit for 

 shad hatching as the appropriation would permit ; Hatching 

 hoxes which had heen ])repared after Seth Green's model, 

 sufficient to hatcli a half-million of eggs daily if the spawners 

 could be obtained, all of which were placed on the Steamer 

 ''Leila," Capt. Jesse K. Hines, who had been instructed, 

 through the courtesy of the Oyster Police Boai'd, to render the 

 Commission any assistance in liis power. We beg leave here 

 to express our obligations to the Board for assistance they have 

 from time to time cordially rendered, and to Capt. Hines for 

 the agreeable and efficient manner in wliicli he lias carried out 

 their instructions. 



Mr. Chase, with liis assistant, was transferred to the 

 Schooner ''Louisa Wiiyte," Capt. John Forrest command- 

 ing, at the moutli of the Patuxent, and was instructed to make 

 a thorough examination of tlie fisheries of this I'iver, and re- 

 port their condition, and if Bristol was found most advanta- 

 geous, to establish himself there, and take advantage of the 

 first ]-ipe fish. Bristol had been selected as a point for our 

 operations the previous year, as we found on examination that 

 a considerable number offish were taken at that point. 



As the flat opposite to tlie wharf was ibnnd to be what the 

 fishermen terma "splash" or^sliad" wash, we hoped to secure 

 a good many spawners. Tiie shad, spawning generally at 

 night, select shallow water, ;i,nd in })a,ii s, male and female run- 

 ning side by side, come suddenly out of the water as the female 

 deposits her spawn^ and the male ejects upon it the milt. 

 This causes a splashing, and the fishermen denominate the lo- 

 cality as '•'splash" or "sliad wash." They are generally the 



