192 American Fisheries Society. 



of these. Since the transportation of cumbersome equip- 

 ment was out of the question, it was necessary to invent 

 some new mobile apparatus capable of being handled by a 

 small number of men. The egg planting box described in 

 this report was the result. 



The first plantings were made in a small way. Extensive 

 and repeated experiments were tried with it until, last year 

 the Department of Marine and Fisheries, being thoroughly 

 satisfied with the feasibility of the plan, a total of 22,000,- 

 000 eyed eggs were planted with it in outlaying sections of 

 the Province, far from localities covered by hatcheries. In 

 this Province when planting trout eggs where not more than 

 one hundred to five hundred eggs are deposited in one plant- 

 ing, a box 18" or 20" in length with other dimensions in 

 proportion, is used. 



Considerable improvements in the design and attach- 

 ments have been made, one of which was the elimination of 

 the hinged door on the top, and again, the fasteners for the 

 bottom shutters were replaced by a much simpler fastener. 



Under existing conditions in British Columbia, the plant- 

 ing of eyed eggs in outlying districts is the only feasible 

 method whereby many extensive and important spawning 

 grounds can be stocked. A great number of these grounds 

 are so far removed from existing hatcheries that it is quite 

 out of the question to stock them with fry. The planting of 

 eyed eggs is the only method that remains and the Harrison 

 Box has proved to be the most efficient device so far devel- 

 oped to meet all the conditions liable to occur. 



In experimental work it has been found that the best 

 results cannot be expected unless the eggs are deposited 

 under almost natural conditions, on no account must the 

 plantings be completely surrounded by small-meshed wire 

 screening. To determine the numbers of fry hatched out 

 from any given quantity of eggs planted, a narrow spring fed 

 creek which is not subject to freshets and containing a 

 clean, loose gravel bed is the most suitable. Screens may be 

 placed completely across the stream at intervals of about 20 

 feet one planting being made in each of these sections. The 

 screens must be properly placed and kept perfectly clean to 

 ensure thorough circulation of water. Conditions such as 

 these have been found to give good results and the resultant 

 fry can be accurately counted. 



When undertaking extensive seeding of natural spawn- 

 ing grounds the man in charge of the egg planting opera- 

 tions should first select portions of any stream where con- 

 ditions are as nearly as possible identical with others where 

 it has been noted that parent fish naturally prefer to deposit 



