SOME DETAILS OF SALMON CULTURE 



By W. O. Buck, 

 u. s. fisheries station, grand lake stream, maine. 



The purpose of this paper is to raise questions for dis- 

 cussion rather than to answer them. It may not, however, 

 be out of place by way of introduction to run over briefly the 

 writer's recent experience in the culture of landlocked sal- 

 mon, even though it should furnish a basis for criticism only. 



At Grand Lake Stream wild brood fish are trapped and 

 impounded as they approach the stream from about the 

 middle of September until the end of their run two months 

 later. None are touched until about ready to yield their eggs. 

 Then all on hand are examined and distributed in retaining 

 pens according to condition. The original enclosure is of 

 large extent, good depth, and has an ample flow of water, 

 so that the fish remain in it in apparent perfect condition. 

 When the fish are ready, the eggs are taken and milted by the 

 "dry method," carried to the hatchery and kept on trays till 

 eyed, the dead eggs being picked out under water about every 

 tenth day. When the eggs are eyed they are poured a few 

 times from one pan to another to whiten the unfertilized, 

 which are then picked out. The rest are returned to the 

 trays and held as before until either shipped or nearlv read\' 

 to hatch. Those retained are then distributed on coarse 

 meshed trays to the troughs in which they are to be liatched 

 and carried through the sac stage. The present season 

 12,000 were put into a trough about a foot wide and lO^/o 

 feet long, the water l)eing 5 inches deep and flowing in at 

 about 5 gallons per minute. The trough-stand is out of doors 

 and tight covers are provided projecting over tlie edge of the 

 trough so that light is almost wholly excluded. 



