22 



To the employes of the various roads over which cars have 

 worked, for prompt and courteous assistance rendei-ed our mes- 

 sengei's, and cheerful compliance with every reasonable request. 



To the press of the State for extended and fair notice of our 

 work, and valuable assistance given ns in tlie use of their 

 columns. 



And to the various tishing clubs and protective associations 

 of the State for their hearty co-operation, and substantial aid 

 extended us in our work of distribution and propagation. 



SUMMARY, 



In concluding our report, a brief sumniar}' of our work may 

 not be out of place. During the past two seasons, with the 

 assistance of the U. S. Fish Commission and our railroads, we 

 have put into the public waters of this State thousands of 

 breeding fish, not one variety of which was so planted as an 

 experiment, but all indigenous, at one time, to our waters. 

 Already the effect of these plants is noticeable in the largely in- 

 creased supply of the young of the varieties planted. And the 

 fish planted in the interior streams represent but a very small 

 proportion of the whole number, as the larger streams, along 

 which we worked, are the richer by hundreds of thousands of fish 

 rescued from places where their extinction was as certain as the 

 advancing of the season, if left there. 



The distribution of the pike perch, (wall-eyed pike), in our 

 waters has been pi-oductive of great results, and the effect of 

 former plants has been practically demonstrated the past two 

 seasons. The fry so generously donated by the U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission, has been distributed over as wide a range of territory 

 as time and facilities for transporting it safelv would permit. 

 The total plant of the two seasons was, 1889, li,400,000: 1890, 

 7,178,000; which, if oul^^ a small percentage of the fry come to 

 maturity, will give to our waters a very large and valuable 

 amount of food supply. 



The carp distribution has not been so large, yet the interest 

 in their culture has assumed proportions that will give greater 

 aggregate results than the indiscriminate experiments of the 

 earlier years of their introduction, since it is based upon an ex- 

 perience which has taught that good results only follow practi- 

 cal methods. The increase of carp in public waters has been 

 marked, and everywhere throughout the State tliey are taken 

 in fair proportion to the indigenous fish. 



The enforcement of the laws regarding fish and fishways shows 

 a remarkable degree of interest in the matter, throughout the 

 State, and it is but fair to ]iresume that a part, at least, of 

 such education of the public sentiment in tliat direction, has 

 grown out of the work of the Commission. 



