*100 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



#4 Upton* 



This Journal lg the Ofllcial Organ of the Fish Cnltur- 

 Ists' Association. 



OVERLAND TRIP WITH SALMON EGGS. 



[Below -will be found an account of an overland trip 

 with one lot of California salmon eggs, kindly sent to us 

 from the Fishery Commission located on the McLeod 

 River.— Ed]. 

 Editor Forest aud Stiuiam ■— 



At lour o'clock on Tuesday afternoon, September 80th, 

 1873, all the eggs lor one shipment, to the number of 

 000,000, having been packed in three large crates, we begun 

 moving them to the wagon, which was to carry them to 

 the railroad station at Redding, California. The crates 

 containing the eggs averaged in weight about 350 pounds 

 apiece, and it was 7 a difficult job, in the burning sun, to get 

 them up the long steep to the stage road, where the wagon 

 was waiting. AVifh the help of half a dozen Indians it, 

 was accomplished at last, however, and at about five 

 o'clock I started with the eggs for Redding, California, 

 distance twenty-two miles So rough and diflieull is the 

 road that we did not teach our destination till one o'clock 

 the next morning. I had previously arranged to have two 

 hundred pounds^of ice provided at Redding^ which I dis- 

 tributed on the crates upon my arrival. The eggs were 

 consigned as follows: — 



Beth Green, Rochester, N. Y., three boxes, 200,000. 



R. G. Pike, Middlelowu, Conn., two boxes. 150,000. 



F. W. "Webber, Cold Spring Trout Ponds, Charlestown, 

 N. H., one box, 50,000. 



E. A. Bracket!, Winchester, Mass., one box, 50,000. 



C. G. Atkins, Bucksporl, Maine, one box, 50,000. 



The train left Redding at three o'clock A. M. on Wed- 

 nesday, October 1st, for Sacramento City, which I reached 

 safely at one P. M., the crates apparently in good order. 

 I left Sacramento on the Central Pacific Railroad on the 

 train going East at two P. M. the same day, the eggs being 

 in Wells, Fargo & Go's express car. The morning was 

 warm. The night had been quite cool. The next morn- 

 ing, Thursday, October 2d, at seven A. M., we readied 

 Ogden, and the crates were transferred to the express car 

 of the Union Pacific Railroad train, which connects here 

 with the Central Pacific Railroad. In the afternoon of 

 Friday I opened one of the crates, and examined the top 

 layer of eggs. They were in perfect order, and looked 

 precisely as well as when first packed. I put on more ice, 

 and left them till morning. On Saturday, October 4th, I 

 got up early aud went to the express 1 , car to examine Hie 

 crates. The night had been cool, but the express messen- 

 ger had kept a hot coal fire in the car, and it was very hot. 

 I procured a lot of ice at Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, 

 which I used at once, and telegraphed ahead to Laramie 

 for more. The day was comfortably warm. No mishaps 

 except the heating up of the car the night before. On 

 Sunday, October 5th, at one P. SI., we reached Omaha, 

 crossed the Missouri River, and left Council Bluffs at three 

 P M on Chicago, Rochester, aud Qutocy Railroad. That 

 night waB ouite cool. On Monday, October 6th, at three 

 P. r M we reached Chicago. The last night was cold and 

 favorable for the eggs. Left Chicago on the Michigan 

 Central at quarter past live P. M., with the eggs apparently 

 in good order. Up to this time 1 had kept constantly re- 

 plenishing the crates with ice. On Tuesday morning, Oc- 

 tober 6th, at four o'clock, we entered Camden on the Great 

 Western Railroad, and the Union Pacific express car, which 

 still accompanied the traiu, was sealed up by the custom 

 house officers, and I would not enter it till we left Suspen- 

 sion Bridtre that afternoon at two o'clock. The crates had 

 been well provided with ice, however, the night was lrosty, 

 and the day was cool, so 1 did not feel uneasy about the 

 eggs The car which contained thetn had a large amount 

 of gold and silver coin and bullion in it, and the inessen- 



fers had instructions to keep every one out. of the car. 

 'heir instructions were so imperative in this particular 

 that thev would not even listen to explanation, I had tor- 

 tunately provided myself with a letter from Mr, Tracy, 

 of Sacramento, one of the head managers ol Wells, fargo 

 & Go's express, and by means of it managed to get aboard 

 the express car and attend to the crates. Without the let- 

 ter there would have been no chance of getting at the eggs. 

 Even with such a letter a man insisting on entering the car 

 runs a risk of being shot by the messenger's revolver. We 

 arrived at Rochester about live P. M. on Tuesday, October 

 7th Here I left three boxes (a crate and a half) tor Selh 

 Green Tuesday night, at two A. M., the tram reached 

 Albany, with the crates In good order. 1 went to bed, sup- 

 posing that the express car would go on to Boston; but in 

 point of fact it is the custom to switch it oil at Albany. 

 On Wednesday morning, OctoberSth. at about eight o clock, 

 the train arrived in Boston; to my great surprise and dis- 

 may, I could not find the salmon eggs lor Mr. Atkins and 

 Mr. Brackett, and then learned for the first time that they 

 had been left with the car at Albany. I was the more cha- 

 grined at this because I had been so very carelui to keep 

 with them. I might almost say I had hardly let them go 

 out of my sight, and now, at the end of this long and ex- 

 ceedingly anxious journey, just as I thought my care had 

 been rewarded with success, and was at hand, there came 

 this disappointment and new anxiety. I could not get 

 track of these eggs again, nor learn for some time what 

 delayed them, and it was three days before Mr. Brackett 

 got his, and four days before Mr. Atkins received his. It 

 was very provoking, when lime was so precious, to reflect 

 that the eggs were one half as long going from Albany to 

 Winchester, two hundred miles, as from our camp to Al- 

 bany 3,200 miles. As the weather was warmer during 

 those intervening days, it is surprising that more boxes of 

 eggs were not. entirely lost. Mr. Brackett, however, saved 

 one half of his, and Mr. Atkins one tenth of his consign- 

 ment The eggs tor Mr. Pike and for the Cold Spring 

 Trout Ponds, were put off at Springfield, Mass. The lat- 

 ter arrived in good coudition, but there was a large loss in 

 the former lot. I learned subsequently from Seth Green 

 that his lot of 200,000 arrived iu excellent order, and that 

 only eleven pe.- cent, of the eggs were lost, both in trans- 

 portation and in hatching. 



To Editors. — We beg our contemporaries to pardon us 

 for declining their requests to exchange, as our list is 

 already so cumbrous as to be burdensome. 



DISEASES OF FISH. 



The following letter is worthy of the serious considera- 

 tion of our Fish Culturists. We trust that some of them 

 will be able to give Mr. Kent the information he desires. 

 Moreover we earnestly beg all those gentlemen interested 

 in this paper and in the diseases of fish to use our columns 

 freely for the dissemination of such information upon this 

 most important subject as they may be able or willing to 

 communicate. — Ed. F, & S. 



Jt BAWraonHMd., September 15th, 1871. 



Kditor Forest and Stream:— 



Though ranch has been said in your excellent paper on the general 

 snbject or Flsb Culture, 1 Have never been able to find anything touching 

 the particular branch of this snbject on which 1 find myself most in Deed 

 of information— vis: that or diseases in fish. Among the many works 

 publisbod on pisciculture 1 have met with but one— that of Mr. Stone— 

 glvuie any consideration to this topic, and this book deals only with 

 such diseases as affect the smatl fry. Some of our fish have ulcerated 

 fins, and we are at a loss both as to canse and remedy. The water is 

 pure and abundant, the ponds are kept clean, and until within a fort- 

 night the fish seemed to be perfect pictnres of health and beauty. How 

 several are affected With what appear to be ulcers at the roots of the fins. 

 I would attribute, it unhesitatingly to the character of the food— hog's 

 livers and lights— were it not. that they throve so well for nearly a year, 

 and also that the young trout, though kept, on the same kind of food, are 

 in excellent condition now. 1 have changed the food, however, hoping 

 for favorable results, aud in the meantime would like to hear through 

 your paper whether others have had this disease among their fish, and 

 what remedy, if any, they found successful. Yours truly, 



Alex. Rest. 



♦*♦> 



Ova.— The United States Fish Commission on the Mc- 

 Leod River, California, under charge of Livingston Stone, 

 Esq., is now taking about a quarter of a million of salmon 

 eggs per day, and hope with good luck to get a large 

 supply. A correspondent of the Eveniny Mnji, writing 

 September 13th, says: — On or about the 22d instant the 

 first shipment of salmon eggs, from the Salmon Breeding 

 Works here, will leave for the East. The orders from the 

 different States for these eggs have just reached our camp 

 from Washington, aud are as follows: — 



Maine - 100.000 Pennsylvania 400.000 



\ - in,, n :.':. .'!i'".: y...-: ::'a '1 -VXl n? 



V, -.::,■!,, -r ■ 'HI IV ?.i! - -'in ... '» " 



Ehode Island 100,000 Wisconsin 100,000 



Connecticut 500,000iMiimcso;a 230,000 



New York 2150,000 Iowa 250,000 



New Jersey 250,000| 



Besides, there are the States of Virginia, Indiana, 

 Illinois, and Utah and Colorado, which have not reported. 

 The first shipment will be for Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 

 and Michigan, and will be under the direction of E. 



Conklin. 



♦»* 



The Ouioi-Nan American Fish Coltukist.— Mr. W. H. 

 Brewer, in a contribution to the American hitturalist, gives 

 an interesting account of an old traveller, Peter Kabn, who 

 at the suggestion of the illustrious Linnanis came to North 

 America to make such observations and collect such seeds 

 and plants as would improve Swedish husbandry, garden- 

 ing, manufactures, art* and sciences. In Kalm's travels it 

 may be found that it was Ben. Franklin's father who was 

 the first fish cullurist of America. Kaim says, vol. 1, 

 page 239:— 



Mr. Frankliu told me that, in that part of New England where his 

 father lived two rivers fell into the sea, in one of which they caught 

 great quantities of herrings, and in the other not one. Yet the places 

 where these rivers discharged themselves into the sea were not far asun- 

 der. They had observed that when the herrings came in spring to de- 

 posit their spawn they always swam up the river where they used to 

 catch them, but never came into the other. This circumstance led Mr. 

 Franklin's father, who was settled betweeu the two rivers, to lry whether 

 it was not possible to make the herrings likewise live in the other river. 

 For that purpose he put out his nets, as they were- coming up ft u spawning, 

 aud he caught some. He took the spawn out of them and carefully car- 

 ried it across the laud into the other river, tt was natcHefl, and the con- 

 sequence was that every year afterwards they caught more herrings In 

 that river: and this is still the case. This leads one to believe that the 

 fish always like to spawn in the same place where they were hatched, 

 and from whence they first put out to sea; being, as it were, accustomed 

 to it. 



Here is another item Mr. Brewer has found in our old 

 authority. While speaking of New York, and the oysters 

 found there, Kalm says, vol. 1, page 187:— 



Lobsters are likewise plentifully caught hereabouts, pickled much in 

 the same way as oysters, and sent to several places. I was told of a re- 

 markable circumstance about these lobsters, and I have afterwurds fre- 

 quently heard it mentioned. The coast of New York had already Euro- 

 pean inhabitants lor u considerable time, yet no lobsters were to be met 

 with on that coast; and though the people fished ever so often they could 

 never find any signs of lobsters being in this part of the sea: they were 

 therefore continually brought in great well boats from New England. 

 where they are plentiful; but it happened that one of these well boats 

 broke in pieces at Hell C+ate, about ten English miles from New York, 

 aud all the lobsters in it got off. Since that time they have so multiplied 

 in this part of the sea that they are now caught in tie. greatest abniid- 



—A parliamentary return has recently been issued giving 

 the extreme limits to which salmon can ascend the Irish 

 rivers. From this we gather that in the twenty-two fishing 

 districts into which Ireland is divided, the total length of 

 river is 5,894 miles, 464 miles of which sa.mon are debarred 

 from entering by the. existence of natural obstructions 

 while 53" mtbs are cl:s3d 1 :•< artificial impediments. It 

 the return in question gives an accurate estimate of the 

 exact length of rivers to which the fish have free and easy 

 access, the country may, we think, on the whole be con- 

 gratulated on the comparatively - 'open" condition of its 

 water. Compared with England, the number of miles of 

 water unobstructed in Ireland certainly hears a favorable 

 proportion. We fear, however, on many wafers where it 

 is stated in the return there is " no obstruction," the salmon 

 have by no means an easy journey from the sea to the 

 upper waters. Mill dams and oilier obstacles to the ascent 

 of salmon, are often provided with ladders, which, tdthough 

 they occasionally (in heavy water) allow salmon to puss out, 

 freely are in many instances ill-constructed and useless, 

 and contribute ready little or nothing to the opening up of 

 the rivers.— Pall Mall Gazette. 



The finest potatoes we ever ate are the Early Rose 



variety, grown in Muskoka district of Canada. 



inml ^isforg. 



THE GRAYLING ONCE MORE. 



/"^LRADUALLY we are reaching an accurate determina- 

 ^-* tion of our species of American grayling, and our 

 readers will note with interest the progress of the develop- 

 ment. For our own part, we have been inclined to think 

 that our own and the English grayling possessed nearly the 

 same characteristics, and that they w T ere possibly identical, 

 but it seems now that they are no nearer allied than are the 

 English trout and our mlmo fontinulis — the distinguishing 

 marks of the two varieties being quite apparent, even to 

 the novice. Our opini m was formed, however, from writ- 

 ten descriptions and plates only, as wo had never seen a 

 live specimen of the English grayling. To assure our- 

 selves that this opinion was correct, we recently forwarded 

 to Francis Francis, Esq., of Loudon Field, » dorsal fin 

 taken from a full grown grayling, (in the absence of any 

 better means of determination,) and received from him an 

 autograph letter, in which he advanced the opinion that 

 the gsayling of Michigan is akin to the Arctic grayling of 

 Richardson, (see plate in Dr. Suckley's Reports,) and quite 

 different from the English variety. Of the latter there 

 seems positive proof enough, while in confirmation of the 

 first position, we may state, as we have already done, that 

 we were reliably advised by a U. S. Army Officer, some 

 months ago, of the existence in Montana of grayling like 

 those of Michigan; and as these occupy a locality inter- 

 mediate between Michigan and the Arctic belt, the identity 

 of the three is more than probable. 



Since receipt, of the letter of Mr. Francis referred to, the 

 London Field of Sept. 5th has reached us, which compares 

 the characteristic features of the fins of the English and 

 American varieties, as follows: — ■ 



The AncTic Gravmng, &c— Wo have received from 

 Mr. Halloek, the editor of Forest and Stream, (the New 

 York Field), one of the dorsal fins of the newly-discovered 

 grayling. The fin is quite unlike ours, and leaves us little 

 doubt that the Michigan grayling is nearer akin to Back's 

 Arctic grayling than to our fish, though it may not be iden- 

 tical with either. It is clearly larger iu comparison, and 

 even though dried and the colors dimmed by time, we can 

 see how brilliant, it must have been when the fish was newly 

 Caught. Five transverse lines, composed in part of the 

 most brilliant spots, and edged with crimson, make the fin 

 even now much loo remarkable to be confounded with that 

 of any grayling in this country. It has been discovered 

 since this subject was first broached that the grayling' has 

 a larger habitat than was at first supposed, and that it is 

 found in some of the lakes aud streams of Minnesota — that 

 country of lakes and streams, which, to judge from the 

 map it would almost take a lifetime, thoroughly to become 

 acquainted with, and in which the head waters of the Red 

 River rise. If this statement be accurate, then no doubt 

 the grayling will be discovered in the great Winnipeg lake, 

 when another step towards the Mackenzie river district, 

 the home of the Arctic grayling, would be gained. 



Forest and Stream is doing good service to the cause 

 of acclimatation in seconding and recording the efforts 

 made to distribute the shad, and to place, the pinnated 

 grouse in England; and generally it endeavors to raise the 

 tone of sportin America as well as to forward its interests. 

 As these are objects in which we, with all English sports- 

 men and gentlemen, warmly sympathise, we can but wish 

 that its efforts may meet with the success they deserve. 



With regard to the very graceful compliment conveyed 

 in the last clause quoted above, we can only say that, wc 

 rejoice that our humble efforts should have earned it, and 

 we may add that each weekly mail from abroad brings us 

 substantial evidence of the benefit which the endorsement 

 of so distinguished an authority carries with it, 

 -**•- 



Moke Rare Fisu.— Among the rare fish which have re- 

 cently made their appearance in Fulton Market are two 

 species of small tunny, obtained by Mr. B. G, Blackford 

 and forwarded to Prof. Baird, at Noank, for determination. 

 One of these he reports to be the coast tunny of the Medi- 

 terranean, Oi-cynus attiieratus of Mr. Gill's catalogue of 

 east coast fishes, as published in Prof. Baird's report. This 

 is best known as an inhabitant, of the Mediterranean, where 

 it goes in large schools, and is extensively used for food. 

 It appears to be a great wanderer, however, as specimens 

 have been figured and described, taken on the. coast of 

 Norway. 



This dwarf tunny, as we may call it, made its appearance 

 on the coast, of the United States in 1871, many specimens 

 having been taken in Buzzard's Buy and Vineyard Sound 

 and shipped to New Tork, where they brought, a very 

 small price, owing to the rather strong flavor of The fish. 

 It is said that five hundred were taken at one haul in a 

 pound near Gay Head. These lish usually weigh from ten 

 to fifteen or eighteen pounds. 



The other species is much shorter and stouter in its pro- 

 portions; its precise name has not been determined by the 

 Fish Commission. He thinks, however, that it is either a 

 young horse mackerel or a species described by Gnnther as 

 Tlmmm argmtf-Vittatoii. Comparison with the collection 

 in the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, will settle this 

 question, and we shall inform our readers in due time of 

 the result, of the examination. 



The horse mackerel, (Orcynus i:i>lr/am,) on our coast at- 

 tains a very great size, sometimes weighing as much as 

 1,200 pounds. A fine specimen iu the National Museum at 

 Washington, taken in one of the fish pounds at Gay Head, 

 weighed about 400 pounds. It is very seldom that, those of 

 the smaller size are seen on our coast, and our fishermen 

 are not acquainted with them as young fish. 



What was probably a third species of tunny was obtained 

 at the same lime, but was received in too bad a condition 

 to be considered fit for transmission lo the Commission. 



