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American Fislicrics Society IVi 



spring brooks Avhere there are ^iractieall}' no other fish to 1)0 

 found, and where the natural food of the fry in found — in fact 

 wliere the adults themselves come to pass their spawn, and in 

 tliis connection I would like to ask Mr. Eoot if the fish planted 

 by him as fingerlings propagated, reproduced. 



?.Ir. lioot : That is a question I cannot answer. I do kno^\' 

 that all the streams in Rhode Island have been thoroughly 

 stocked. There used to be from all those streams a good many 

 dams, saw mills, and everything of that kind. j\Iost of those 

 things are gone. The small industries hnxe pretty nearly all 

 gone into the trusts" and capitalists' hands. 



But, about the distribution of fingerlings : We don't put 

 out any fingerlings until October and November. Then we bu .• 

 them, and pay $25.00 a thousand for fingerlings from :] to ■'' 

 inches long, and they are weighed out to us. Now, wc put out 

 125 in 8 gallon cans, that is all we put in, and we never lose any. 

 We send a messenger with them. Of course that is some ex- 

 pense, but the state is willing to pay that for tlie benefit of the 

 fishermen, and we pay it, and put our bill in, and it is paid. 

 There is no question about it. Of course we are not here to 

 antagonize the government with their billions, but if they would 

 cut that down they would get better results on trout. I don'i 

 know anything about anyone else, — tliat is what we get. 



Mr. Bower: The reason I asked that question, was that it 

 occurred to me that if those trout reproduced they must go some- 

 where to spawn. In other words, have you got to kec]) your 

 streams stocked, by keeping yearlings all the tinu' instead of hav- 

 ing some assistance from natural re]u^oduction ? 



Mr. Eoot : That is just what we do, and what we expect to 

 have to do, because most of our streams get very low in the sum- 

 mer, and a good many of them dry up. If we ])ut them in in 

 October or November, we will get fish large enough to catch 

 without any trouble at all. I have put them into a pond — and 

 cut the ice to put them in — as late as December, and a year 

 from that following spring, taken out trout that weighed three- 

 quarters of a pound, plenty of them, it is not an uncommon oc- 

 currence. We rarelv ffet one that has been in a little over a 



