FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 5 1 



In August the Commission decided to rebuild the ponds at Cold Spring Harbor, 

 used for rearing young fish. They were constructed of wood and were badly 

 decayed, and eels had found their way through the supply pipe and grown to con- 

 siderable size underneath the flooring. This was found when the ponds were torn 

 out to rebuild. The ponds were well under way before the close of the fiscal year. 

 They are built of stone and cement, and are believed to be the best fingerling ponds 

 at any of the State hatcheries. They have been enlarged considerably so that 

 double the number of fingerling fish can be reared now that could be reared in the 

 old races. 



At Bath the rearing ponds were increased, rather more than doubling the 

 capacity for rearing fingerling fish, and all without adding to the water supply, 

 except a small spring which was taken in at the upper end of the property. 

 Reports on these rearing ponds and races have been made in detail to the 

 Commission, and the expenditure in connection therewith will be found in the 

 financial statement. 



There was some loss of fish this year, as there was last, at the Adirondack Hatch- 

 ery. This was owing, in part, to the high temperature of the water taken from 

 Little Clear Pond. A portion of the water supply comes from the surface and a 

 portion comes from the bottom of the lake. The water is mixed in a receiving tank 

 just above the hatchery. The output of fish fromi this hatchery could be consider- 

 ably increased if one of the pipes n-ow taking the supply from the surface at the 

 outlet could be continued up the lake parallel to the pipe now feeding from the 

 depth of the lake near its middle. 



The output of fish will probably, another year, show an increase at Caledonia, 

 Cold Spring Harbor, Pleasant Valley and Saranac, in consequence of improvements 

 now under way. 



The Rockland Hatchery can be used only for hatching fish, as no stock fish can be 

 carried there on account of the high temperature of the water, nor can rearing ponds 

 be maintained, for the same reason. This hatchery can be moved, as I reported to 

 this Commission in a monthly report, as follows : 



" Since the last meeting I have examined a number of springs in Sullivan and 

 Rockland counties, and find that eight miles from Rockland, on the line of the New 

 York, Ontario and Western Railroad, and three-quarters of a mile from the railroad, 

 there is an abundant supply of spring water of a temperature of about forty-six 

 degrees, to which may be added the water from a stream with a surface temperature 

 of fifty-seven degrees, that together will make as fine a water supply as there is 

 at any of the hatcheries now operated. The spring water will probably fill pipes to 



