6 



of wall-eyed pike could be suecessf ully hatched and liberated into the 

 river. The eggs of this latter variety could easily be procured by 

 purchase or otherwise, and transported at a nominal cost. 



At Kankakee it is probable that equally favorable conditions 

 exist, and we have no doubt but such arrangements could be made 

 with the trustees of these institutions as would enable your Board 

 to make successful hatching i^lants at both places. However, should 

 it be deemed advisable to establish such j^lants indejiendent of these 

 institutions, there are various points on the several rivers of the 

 State which offer such advantages as to make the cost of installing 

 Ijlants small in comparison with the results to be obtained. These 

 plants would be operated but for a few months in the season, and 

 the cost for attendants would amount only to a nominal sum. 



This work would largely offset the constant drain on the natural 

 resources made by the market fishermen, and it is a matter worthy 

 of careful consideration whether or not propagation can be carried 

 on to an extent sufficient to permit an entire open season for the 

 taking of the coarse fish, with a limitation as to size only. While 

 this work is in progress, the advantages offered for pond culture 

 could be utilized, and the propagation and distribution of bass, 

 crappie and kindred varieties carried on to an extent equal to our 

 present work, and all waters given their natural proportion of the 

 game varieties, which, in turn, would thrive all the better for the in- 

 crease of the coarse fish. Much has been said by newspaper critics 

 as to the carp and buffalo driving out or destroying the line fish. To 

 any one who has made even a superficial study of the life habits of 

 the fish mentioned this would seem an unadvised statement, to say 

 the least, and an examination of any of our inland lakes subject to 

 overflow from the river would show the proportion of the two varie- 

 ties to be about as we have stated. A pond or lake devoted to black 

 bass alone would show a few large fish only, in a short time, while 

 very many more of all sizes and ages would be the result of general 

 pond culture in the same water area. 



We believe that the successful fish commissioners of the future 

 will be those who devote their time, money and energies to the 

 propagation of those fishes which will give the greate.st and quickest 

 returns in growth and increase for the cost of rearing, and that this 

 result will only be had with the coarse fish. As an illustration of 

 our deductions regarding the relative proportion of the coarse to the 

 fine fish as they are found in the waters of our State under natural 

 conditions, we will cite the catch at a single point on the Illinois 

 river, from July 1. 18U5, to December 1, 1895. The table we give 

 below shows the catch of four of the fishing firms at Havana. Illi- 

 nois, and the fish were all taken from waters near that point, in all 

 kinds of waters, with all kinds of ai^pliances. and represent as fairly 

 as possible an average of all catches. 



