458 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



About thirty years ago, a series of very accu- 

 rate and scientific observations was published in 

 Scotland, upon the habits of fish at the season of 

 spawning, which is the material matter in artificial 

 propagation. In France, about 1848, the atten- 

 tion of the government was attracted to the sub- 

 ject, and as the emperor in that thoroughly gov- 

 erned country vmdertakes to regulate everything, 

 an appropriation was made, and an institution es- 

 tablished for hatching, rearing and transporting 

 fish. I have not found access to any reports of 

 the success of those efforts. 



In New Haven, Conn., an experiment has been 

 going on for about five years, in stocking the 

 Saltonstall Lake, which is about three miles in 

 length, Avith the lake trout and white fish, from 

 Lake Ontario, which is said to be progressing sat- 

 isfactorily. In 1822-3, the black bass of the lakes 

 was introduced into Waramang Lake, in Litchfield 

 County, Conn., and more recently into other lakes 

 in the same State, and the report of their increase 

 in number and size is wonderful. "They have in 

 that lake," says Mr. Beeman, of Litchfield, "mul- 

 tiplied very generously. Their growth is estimat- 

 ed to be about one pound a year, and they have 

 been frequently caught weighing five pounds and 

 upwards. There were less than one hundred bass 

 originally placed in Waramang Lake ; there are 

 now probably millions, and they appear to propa- 

 gate and flourish better than any other fish in the 

 waters of that lake." 



ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION AND GROWTH. 



The whole secret of raising fish is in the knowl- 

 edge of their natural habits, and with the devo- 

 tion of such noble lives as Agassiz to the study of 

 what appear to many to be little things, such 

 knowledge is furnished ready to the hands of those 

 of us who have no taste or leisure for such 

 studies. 



There are two methods of stocking a pond with 

 fish ; first, by introducing the egg or spawn, and 

 secondly, by putting in living fish to propagate for 

 themselves. Many ponds probably will be found 

 adapted to the growth of particular fish, as trout, 

 for instance, which may not furnish the proper 

 breeding-ground, and again it is both difficult and 

 expensive to transport through long distances 

 enough living fish to commence stocking even a 

 small pond. It is therefore often advisable to as- 

 sist Nature somewhat in her disposition to multi- 

 ply and replenish the waier as well as the earth. 

 And wonderful it is to see how profuse is Nature 

 in her fU;tempts at re-production. A single sal- 

 mon, it is said, deposits in a season from ten to 

 twenty-five thousand eggs, and a perch two hun- 

 dred thousand, and a single male will impregnate 

 the spawn of several females. The greater part of 

 these are destroyed before they are hatched, while 



millions are devoured by larger fish before they 

 are large enough to propagate. It is evident, 

 then, that there is no want of capital on which to 

 set up our stock of fish. The process of propa- 

 gating is very simple and curious. The female 

 fish, in her natural element, drops a few of her 

 ova or eggs into a little place which she has 

 scooped out in the ground. The male follows, 

 and emits a quantity of milt upon the eggs, and 

 they are left to their fate, and so the pair continue 

 along, until the female has deposited all her eggs. 

 In artificial propagation, the female is taken; when 

 she is ready to spawn, and by gentle pressure in 

 the water made to drop a quantity of eggs. The 

 male is then by the same process, made to emit a 

 portion of milt into the water, so as to come in 

 contact with the eggs. The eggs are then placed 

 in hatching boxes, constructed in the form of 

 troughs or otherwise, according to the nature and 

 habits of the kind of fish, protected by wire grat- 

 ings, placed in running water of requisite temper- 

 ature, until they hatch, when they are removed to 

 a larger receptacle, and at the proper time placed 

 in the pond. Eggs of the trout and white fish, 

 after they are impregnated, properly packed, will 

 remain perfect many weeks, and bear transporta- 

 tion without injury. In this way, the Connecticut 

 lakes were stocked from Lake Ontario, and from 

 Ohio. 



How fast fishes grow, is a question upon Avhich 

 there is a difference of opinion, and as it depends 

 much on their food, and their Avater privileges, it 

 may be difficult to state definitely. Mr. Gfcmstock, 

 in the Patent Office Report for 1859, says well 

 cared for trout will attain the length of about 

 thi-ee inches the first year. In the Peabody Riv- 

 er, far up among the mountains, the greater part 

 of the trout are in August about double that 

 length, and a gentleman who pretended to know, 

 informed me that they were yearlings. Trout 

 spawn in the autumn and hatch in spring, and 

 probably grow to this size the second year. Sir. 

 Treat, of Eastport, Me., who has given attention 

 to the propagation of salmon, says they grew ten 

 or twelve inches long the first year. A trout in a 

 basin of a garden fountain is said to have grown 

 but slightly a whole season, for want of food, but 

 upon being daily well fed, more than doubled hia 

 size in a single month. For these facts, I am also 

 indebted to Mr. Comstock, to whose valuable ar- 

 ticle I would jefer the reader for other interesting 

 information on the subject. 



EXPERIMENTS IN GERMANY AND FRANCE. 



Since writing the above, I have received from 

 my friend, Luther H. Tucker, editor of that capi- 

 tal agricultural paper, the Country Gentleman, 

 some volumes of the Transactions of the New York 

 Agricultural Society. They are full of valuable 



