74 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



Seventeen thousand five hundred and ninety-eight cans of fish were sent out from 

 your hatcheries during the year. The State fish car made over fifty trips. The 

 average load for the car was about 1 10 cans, so that the balance of about 11,000 

 cans went in charge of attendants in the regular train baggage cars, or were deliv- 

 ered by wagon or boat. The cans used in the distribution vary in size. The small- 

 est ones hold seven gallons of water, and the largest about fifteen gallons. From 

 50 to 300 fingerling are sent in a can, the number depending on the size of the fish 

 and the size of the can used. From 40 to 100 yearlings are sent in a can, the size 

 regulating the number. Generally not more than 20 small cans or 12 large cans are 

 sent by one attendant on a trip, as that is all one man can properly attend to. The 

 loss of fish in transportation has been less than one-half of one per cent, during the 

 past year. 



Nearly all of the railroads of the State kindly continue the practice of hauling 

 the State fish car free, and also furnish free transportation for attendants in charge 

 of fish or fish eggs in the baggage cars of their lines. 



I am pleased to report that about 800,000 fingerlings are now on hand, and that 

 applications are also at hand calling for the allotment of more than half that num- 

 ber before the first of January. 



It may be desirable to mention localities where the fishing has been improved 

 by liberal stocking. Two once famous trout streams, the Beaverkill and Willow- 

 emoc rivers in Sullivan county, are striking examples. They are large streams, 

 twenty to forty miles long, and during the past season it was very common to hear 

 of catches of from eight to twelve pounds of trout per day for a single fisherman, 

 and during at least two months of the fishing season I will venture to say these two 

 streams are fished by at least 100 fishermen per day, and all meet with more or less 

 success. Three to five years ago a day's catch of eight pounds of trout was the talk 

 of the whole section. 



In Orange county the board of supervisors made a small appropriation to pay 

 the expenses for the proper distribution of the State fish delivered to points on the 

 railroad by the State employees. Mr. John Wilkin, of Middletown, generally has 

 charge of the work, and he is very particular to see that the trout are well distrib- 

 uted in all the small tributaries of the larger streams, and the bass and pike-perch in 

 the proper waters only. His reports to me show a wonderful improvement in the 

 fishing in that county. Mr. Wilkin writes that " during the past summer pike- 

 perch were caught in some of their small lakes, weighing over three pounds ; that 

 these lakes never contained pike-perch until after he commenced planting the fry 

 received from the State, and that the trout fishing has greatly improved." 



