THE MODERN HATCHING HOUSE 



]5Y ,s. V. FILLKKTOX. OF ST. J'AIL. MIXX. 



We live ill the licfjiintiiig of tlu' ceiiient age; no, I will nay 

 that we are living in tlie cement age. They are building almost 

 evci'y kind of ])lant that can be built witli wood, iron, stone or 

 steel and using cement to do it. Tochiy we see stately l)uildings, 

 immense hi-idges, great elevators — all constructed of cement. 

 But the ])uri)ose of this \yA\)QV is to show what can be done with 

 cement by the fish culturist. A'arious materials have been used, 

 wood, ])ei'ha])s to a greater extent than any other, tin, sheet iron 

 and \ai-ious compositions but none that gave entire satisfaction; 

 sheet ii-on and tin for the reason of its elasticity not being stiff 

 enough ; wood for the reason that it was short lived and conse- 

 quently t'Xjjensve. 



A yv.w ago, as sujjcrintendent of fisheries for the state of 

 ^linnesota, I was confronted with a problem of replacing all the 

 wooden huildings and troughs including our ])ike-])erch battery 

 at our St. Paid station. We had been ])atcliing until it was hard 

 to tell where the original left off and the patchwork began. 1 

 had constructed some cement ])onds four years ago and found 

 they gave good satisfaction, standing the winters and sum- 

 mers, and consequently the contraction and expansion that 

 would fonie with the head and cold. I laid my plan before the 

 board and got their a])])roval to build a cement house 32xG4. 

 everything hut the roof, doors and windows to l)e cement. 



The ])lace selected was a veritable swamp, twelve feet of 

 muck and ])vAt tilled with s])rings. We made u]) our minds if a 

 building could he coustinictefl of cement on land of this descrip- 

 tion it would lie a jiretty good test of what could be done with 

 conditions more favorable. We first laid 4x10 ])bnd< side by 

 side lengthwise of the foundation walls, placing six inch cedar 

 ])osts four feet long crosswise every four feet apart. We then 

 walled u]) the sides and placed our concrete mixture, consisting 

 of two ])arts of broken stone, three ])arts of clean, sharp sand 

 and one ]y,\vi of Atlas Portland cement. This part of the wall 



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