236 Modern Fishculture in Fresh and Salt Water. 



The eggs from different localities vary in size. 

 Those from fish taken from Pike Lake will average 

 80,000 to the quart, while those from fish taken from 

 the Wolf River, Green Bay, Saginaw Bay or St. Clair 

 River will average 120,000 to the quart. 



The course which we pursue in collecting, fertiliz- 

 ing and hatching the eggs is as follows : We get on 

 the grounds early and have all preparations made for 

 tne fish when they come. The males come a few days 

 ahead of the females ;»but we have our nets set and cor- 

 ral a large number of males, which we keep until the 

 run of female fish comes on. They are caught in 

 pound or fyke nets. The nets are lifted morning and 

 evening, and the fish taken in live boxes and placed in 

 crates, which we have prepared for the purpose. Thus, 

 when we begin to take spawn, the fish are convenient 

 to the spawn taker. A man with a net dips the fish 

 into a tub. The spawn taker takes a ripe female from 

 the tub and spawns it into a pan containing less than 

 half a teacup of water. As soon as the female is 

 spawned the male fish is used. Only one female fish 

 is spawned into a pan — a fresh pan being provided 

 after each. One man attends to the pans. After each 

 female has been stripped and enough milt put on the 

 eggs, he shakes the pan for a moment to mix the milt 

 and eggs, and then sets it aside for some twenty min- 

 utes until the eggs become loose. When we get eight 

 or ten pans, or enough for a tub-full, they are washed 

 and separated in a tub in the following manner: We 

 procure a quantity of clay or muck, as is most con- 

 venient, which we usually sift to remove lumps and 

 gravel, and mix it in a tub of water. The eggs are 

 then placed in a tub, and a man or boy with a dipper 

 keeps them in constant motion in the tub, pouring off 



