308 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



<gis!( gitlfiqe. 



Tli is Journal is Hie Official Organ of the Fish Ciiltur- 

 ists' Association. 



PROF. B AIRD'S REPORT. 



| Continued.] 

 PROPAGATION "1' maini: sai.mo.n in 1872. 



More time was .allowed for satisfactory arrangements in 

 regard to the propagation of salmon than of sliao, because 

 of the much later period in iiic^ y«ai when they spawn; 

 this iii the common salmon {H. salur) not taking place uutil 

 lUo end of October <'t t lie beginning of November, ami 

 varying with the locality. 



lu compliance with the suggestion of Hie meeting at 

 Boston, I had an interview with Mr. Charles G. Atkins, at 

 Bangor, and ascertained, the probable degree of expansion 

 that he could give I.) bis operations at Iim disport, mi the 

 Penobscot liiver, wilh additional tuiids. 



The method devised by him consists in obtaining mature 

 fish as they come up tho river and are taken by the fisher- 

 men, placing them in a pen situated in a large pond of 

 about ISO acres, and keeping them there until the season of 

 reproduction, and then securing the spawn, and, after im- 

 pregnating it, hatching it in a suitable hatching house. 



The only method of obtaining salmon in sufficient num- 

 bers was to offier the full market price to the fishermen for 

 all they may deliver alive to the hatching establishment, 

 About six hundred fish were thus Obtained during the Sum- 

 mer. But little mortality occurred amongthe.se fish, and, 

 on the 28lh of October, Mr. Atkins and his assistants com- 

 menced taking the spawn, securing about 1, SOU, 000 eggs. 

 These were brought forward in the hatching house at 

 liucksport until February. During that mouth and March 

 they were distributed to other hatching houses in different 

 parts of the country in order there to be fully developed. 



The experiment in regard to the liucksport sulmou hatch- 

 ing establishment was initiated lu New York on Ihe 17lh 

 of April, 1872, by an agreement of .several parties to con- 

 tribute luuds to a given amount, the division of the spawn 

 to be made iu the same ratio. The subscriptions, were as 

 follows: — 



E. XI. Slilwell andH. O. Stanley, Jr.. for the Suite, of .Maine $500 



E. A. Bracken, for the Sum- ul .Mtis-m Imsctti l,oini 



i. It. Harden, lor ilie Stn f Rhode l -land .ic<> 



\V. .St. Hudson, for the Mule of Connecticut 1,0,10 



\V. Will, fur Poipiounoc l-'i-h Company SOU 



These gentlemen kindly consenting, I supplied, from the 

 funds at my disposal, the means to greatly enlarge (he scale 

 of operations, aud received a pto rata share of the eggs. 

 The full history of the eutire enterprise connected with 

 the taking of the eggs in 1872, and their distribution in 

 1873, will be found in Mr. Atkiu's report, beginning page 

 220 of the present volume.* 



PROPAGATION OP T11E BRIXE SALMON IN 1S72. 



The possible contingency of failure in Mr. Atkiu's ex- 

 periment induced me to look to other sources for an addi- 

 lioual supply of eggs; but I wag unable to make any ar- 

 rangement iu America for that purpose. Inconsequence 

 of the scarcity of fish, it was impossible to organize upon 

 oilier salmon rivers of Maine Ihe experiment that Mr. At- 

 kins bad begun on the Penobscot; and the regulations of 

 ihe Dominion authorities iu regard to gravid salmon and 

 their eggs are such as to preclude the idea of looking 

 across the borders for assistauce. 



The Canadian government has, it 19 true, a hatching 

 establishment at Newcastle, ou the north side of Lake On- 

 tario, near Toronto, and has occasionally allowed a sur- 

 plus, left after it has supplied its own wants, to be sold to 

 parlies in the United States. The charge, however, being 

 $40 a thousand (iu gold), was considered excessive, and the 

 only alternative left was to look to Europe, where the 

 streams emptying into the North Atlantic abound in pre- 

 cisely the same species. Under these circumstances, and 

 alter much consideration, I decided to obtain what 1 want- 

 ed from the Khiue, the fish of that river being famous for 

 their excellence and size. I accordingly applied to the 

 secretary of Deutsche Viaclterd-Yarisiii at Berlin, Inquiring 

 whether any eggs could be procured from the government 

 lish breeding establishment at Iliiiugeu. To my gratifica- 

 tion, J, WHS informed Ibat, ou tne representation of the 

 Vereilt to the German government, it has been decided that 

 250,000 eggs should be presented to the United States at 

 the proper time, all ready and packed for transmission, 

 provided I would agree to have them transported to a point 

 of shipment under the care of an experienced operator. 

 To this, of course, 1 gladly agreed, and named Mr. Ru- 

 dolph llessel, of Offenburg, an eminent fish culturist and 

 highly esteemed correspondent, from whom I had already 

 derived much valuable information, to take charge of that 

 duty. Articles by this gentleman upon the salmon of the 

 Danube liiver (Sulmo liuelw), the breeding of the cyprinoid 

 fishes, Arc, will be found iu the appendix lo his report. f 



The following letters on this subject were received from 

 the authorities in Germany:— 



tTJUKBUtKOS.] 



BUBBAU ueiiltiltur.-eilL i'l-i llfl:l::i-\ hiuuii, I 



UlilU.IN, .lUSl! 11, ItfBS. f 



In consequence uf yom letter of the 16th of May, uddressed to Piof. 

 1'eiers, of this city, in rcteiciiee to the acquisition of suhnoii teggs lor 

 jour tjoveriiuieui, we applied to the superintendent of We Mi celtuie 

 establishment ut lluniugeu, and have received his reply, oi muioU we in- 

 close a copy. 



l'lucuigyoii thus iu posses-lion of the facts in the case, we ben that you 

 wul [avorua as speedily us possible with u reply us to wuelber jour 

 Government i= reudy to assume Ihe Cost ur the liuuspuliuliuli of «60,0o0 



Kuiiuim egea. Manaud. 



in: Secsc'tai F. B.uuu, Wustnugton. 



LT11A.NS1.ATIO.N.] 



IIcninoen, June 7, I87i j . 

 On receipt or your letter I placed myself immediately iiicomniuuicn- 

 liou with Ihe circle president, in reference lu the conditions under which 

 toe establish 



utiuuid he ri 

 •several mi 

 lor Ueruian 



more than s 

 stu'y 



eil 



e enjs 



LUi0UB.' r '.■. - rue iialiuou eygs ore Imowktl, m Hie iir-t'pL'ce, 

 lyaluuc. the e-,Uliln-hmcnt could not pledge ii.-elf lo supply 

 -.(l.OLiU ut must, and this only on tne condition that the Ueces- 

 e exercised iu their truuspoiiutiou. It is au iudispeusaole 



hat Ihe cge- „l,al[ oc taken trout here by a special messenger 



lu Havre or cberboui^, su that they uniy be secured u»alnst hentiugdur- 

 in),' the journey. Arrangements must also be made lor their prceurva- 

 liou on ihe steamer iu a uniformly cool place, and for their reception in 

 New York by un expert in such matterd. The double pockiUg of u 

 cpiarter of a riiilliou of salmon egge will recjuire at least thirty boxus, 



i North Am 



ndli 



Artillclal Culture, 



t'l'he Salmon of the Danube, or the Hueiio iSuimo tutcho}, and its In- 

 trodttetion to American Waters, p. nil: also Method uf Treating Adhj- 



;-,ive K^5 of teuuiu 1 i^hes iu Aitiliciul i J iopaj;iliou, 



euch wt minus about llflecu pounds; ..,, that the whole will wdijli uearly 



live liuiidli'd |n. iu. .if, un in ; lipi :i i u i ,e [l.le - j . ■ 1 1 , 



Hjack. Di,,.:>ut. 



IlKlll; MAXAIID. 



[TIIAK.-I.ATHIK.1 

 lAieiJKIAt. Kl-ll HltKKDINit iNsTn UTION. | 



UlSINOKN. NKAI1 St l.ul I-, Al.-A.h. Ac-;,: ;:), IST;! i 



[losnitAm.K Siu-I have been a.-U.-d bv the i'.ure.ui of t he Cicrmaii 

 Fisherv A-sociniii.n tn wrile ilircctlv to out in reference to the ltlilnc 



dreilt balers per lu.ndrt 



l'r 



t placed ut my dlsposul, 



Ha/ck, Director 



As ;i still larger number of eggs was considered desirable, 

 at the suggest ion of Mr. Hess.-l, 1 applied to Oberblirger- 

 mcis'er Schuster, Of Freiburg; and ordered from him half 

 a million eggs, which he agreed lo furnish ai ihe very rea- 

 sonable price of two tinders per thousand (Un ir actual cost 

 amounted to $1 07 currency per 1,000), guaranteeing than 

 to be taken from large liealtlry Rail, These were also placed 

 in charge of Mr, llessel for .ship men I, who finally agreed 

 to accompany the two seis of eggs to Mew Vork for the 

 greater certainty of their reception in good condition. 



As is well known, the best period tor uanspurting sal- 

 mon eggs is When they are about hall hutched, or when 

 the eyes are visible through the envelope. They are Ihcn 

 put up in damp moss ill shallow boxes, and inclosed in 

 other dampened receptacles. In this condition they may 

 be kept out of water tor a long time, ludeed, the eggs tire 

 not infrequently hatched oiit in the moss itself, a kept 

 long enough, without being placed in water al all. Mr. 

 Norris gives an insiunce Of this kind in regard to some 

 eggs which had been shipped from the Wilniot establish- 

 ment at Ontario, a portion of them, that had beeu thrown 

 aside with the damp muss having subsequently hatched, 

 and Ibis has since been confirmed by ihe experience of the 

 commission. 



Owing to the fact that the water at. the Hiiningon estab- 

 lishment was warmer than that al Freiburg, ihe eggs pre- 

 seuted by Ihe German government were developed first, 

 those at Freiburg requiting some further time, so that it 

 involved considerable effort to combine the two sets so as 

 lo prepare them for shipment to the United States at the 

 same lime. 



Mr. llessel, in accordance with the agreement, took 

 charge of the eggs at llilniugen, as also those at Freiburg, 

 ami brought Uiem lo Bremen, where they were to be 

 shipped ou board one of the steamers of the North Ger- 

 man Lloyd's. Unfortunately several circumstances con- 

 curred to" render it doubtful to Mr. liesstl whether these 

 eggs would come sulely through, lu the first place, the 

 weather was exceptionally warm throughout Germany, no 

 cold weather beiug experienced up to the middle of Janu- 

 ary, so mat the eggs were developed in their shel.s much 

 loo last for their welfare, it was impossible to retard these 

 by Hie application of ice, as the stock iu Bremen was very 

 low, and supplies were only lo be had at au enormous ex- 

 pense. 



Again, lire steamer upon which Ihe eggs were first placed 

 broke down, and was obliged to return to port. Mr. iles- 

 sel's packages were thus delayed and exposed to the con- 

 tinuous iieat for another week. The consequence was that 

 ou his arrival in New Vork, to his great distress he louutl 

 that the eggs in large part had beeu prematurely hatched, 

 aud the gases resulting from their putrefaction had de- 

 stroyed many more of the eggs. 



Application had been previously made to the Secretary 

 of the Treasury to laud the packages containing the sal- 

 mon eggs without delay, and every laeility was ottered by 

 the inspector of customs and olhei authorities. The boxes, 

 sixty iu number, occupying nearly ciuo cubic feet of space, 

 were transferred lo the hatching-houses of Ur. Slack, near 

 iiioomsbury, M. .)., and the coiuents immediately assorted, 

 out of the"i. r iU,0UU eggs only four or live thousand were 

 sound, 'these were successfully hatched out, and ulti- 

 mately Introduced in.o ihe Jluscouelcong, a tributary of 

 the lA'lawure, and on which liloouisbury is situated. 



Alueh help was rendered in this experiment by the au- 

 thorities ol the .North German Lloyd's, who gave up a 

 special house ou deck tor the accommodation ol the eggs, 

 and assisted iu various olher wa\s, especially by advancing 

 all the tuuds needed lor the expenses iu Germany and al- 

 lowing the settlement of the account in New Vork. 1 had 

 ihe assistance, also, in the reception and transfer of the 

 eggs, of Dr. Wm. M. Hudson, h»h Commissioner of Con- 

 necticut, and of Mr. Selh Green, of New Vork, the whole 

 patiy, with the exception of Dr. Hudson, proceeding to 

 iiioomsbury with Dr. Slack, for Ihe purpose of giving the 

 eggs the best attention. I have no doubt that with a Win- 

 ter of average severity, which would not carry the eggs 

 forward so rapidly as happened in this very exceptional in- 

 stance, the transfer ol salmon eggs can be made from Eu- 

 rope without the slightest uncertainty as to their safe ar- 

 rival, i'erhaps a somewhat different method of packing 

 would be required, and the iuclosure of the eggs in smaller 

 boxes would lead lo promote their aaCety. lu the extreme 

 probability that hereafter there may be ohtaiued from Am- 

 erican waters all the eggs that can be properly handled, I 

 thiuk it will be unnecessary to repeat the experiment. 



The eutire cost of the enterprise, including the purchase 

 of the Freiburg eggs, the freights, the traveling expenses 

 and salary of Mr. llessel, and every other outlay, amounted 

 to I$1,!.I0U 83, or lo about %& tfcjj per 1,000. 



'iiic value of this donation of eggs from the German 

 government is not to be estimated by its worth in money, 

 out is to be appreciated as an evidence of kind feeling on 

 its part toward the United Stales, especially as there is a 



very great demand for salmon eirtrs throughout Europe, 

 and as Ihe supply received from ]luuiugen'"is entirely in- 

 sufficient to meet the calls from GerinaDV alone. 



SALMON IN* MARYLAND. 



Ueek Pahk, Md., December lu, 1871. 

 EniToit B\)RHST and Stkkam: — 



T hear that Mr. FnrgiiMm.le Blocking lu« streams around here with 

 salmon. 1 will find out the number of lish and the names of the streams 



i he 



T Hat 



lold 1- 



peered soon.. 



mtw ■ 



Salmon in Tuxas.— Our frequsnt contributor, Fred. 

 Mather, fistj., has arrived safely at Austin, Texas, in charge 

 of the salmon sent there under his charge by the United 

 States Fishery Commission, for ihe purpose 'of slocking 

 Ihe Colorado River. The Austin Uttttt Gazette of Decem- 

 ber 1 J : 1 1 says: — 



"We are truly erlail lo see our river being slocked wilh 

 such an excellent quality Of fish, Will are perfectly satis- 

 fied. We thick with the two importations we have had 

 tot' shad and California salmon) that our market will be 

 supplied with lish of this character inside of two years. 

 CI. Mather informed U8 that he had considerable trouble 

 in getting the salmon here alive, it being necessary to 

 change their water every few hours, and the particular 

 kind of water be desired beiinr hard to tret, especially in 

 the Indian Territory. Be stalled with 10,000, nnd arrived 

 here with 10,000. One thousand, according to instructions, 

 were left at Hempstead with Mr. L. S. Daniels fertile 

 Brazos ftivi r. Some necessarily died, but those he brouuht 

 here were all well. He informs us lhat ho intendeifto 

 take some of these lish to San Antonio, but as lie hail bn-n 

 so long on the road, and they not having had the necessary 

 frequent change of water, he was afraid to attempt lo take 

 any I his trip across the country hysiage or wngem. He 

 will probably be on again lo slock some of the streams 

 tributary to the Colorado, ami also the San Antonio liiver 

 ami older slreatns in that portion of the Stale. Texas has 

 some as beautiful streams for fish as any State in the 

 Union." 



We notice in the same paper that the city council of 

 Austin passed an ordinance on Ihe 10th of December, pro- 

 hibiling Ihe taking of any lish in the Colorado within the 

 cily limits at any time except wilh hook and line. This 

 looks as though the Tcxans went in earnest in suslainitig 

 ihe efforts of the United Slates Fishery Commissiou. 



— Iu illustration of what may be done in the way of 

 multiplying food fishes in new localities, we refer to tho 

 results of experiments made in Tasmania in connection 

 with the English trout and English porch. In four succes- 

 sive years prior to 1801 attempts were made to introduce 

 these fishes into Tasmania from England, but it was not 

 until December, 18fil, that a fiflh attempt succeeded. A 

 certain number of live fish having been brought out and 

 placed in ponds expressly built for them by Mr. Allport, 

 others were obtained in the following year, from which l lie 

 immense supply now so extensively distributed through- 

 out Tasmania and Australia has been derived. The pres- 

 ent abundance may be estimated from the fact that, in 

 Lake Weutlouree, at Eallarat, no less than nine tons wire 

 caught during the last, season. One fish, three years old, 

 weighed three and a half pounds; another, taken in 1374, 

 weighed four pounds. The parent fish were brought from 

 England to Tasmania, and afterward from the latter couu- 

 irylo Victoria. Five small fishes represent the ancestry 

 of the fish referred to as existing in the last mentioned 

 country. 



— A contributor to the Popular Science Monthly, speaking 

 of the oyster, says that for a creature of lowly rank in the 

 scale of animate beiug, it is wonderful what a literature 

 attaches lo the oyster. Through the roll of ages it lias 

 been a factor of prime importance in convivial instincts, 

 the moralities and the industries of men. It has honorable 

 men i ion in classic song and story. When imperial Rome 

 had her many inilliou' populace and her almost fabulous 

 wealth, the oyster figured prominently in Ihe more than 

 lavish luxury of that extravagant city. Do our oyster 

 growers know how ancient their calling is? About '<i,400 

 years ago one Sergius Grata, it man of a practical mind, 

 tnrued Lake Averuus into an oyster bed, and through his 

 culture of that bivalve the Lucrin oysters, as they wire 

 called, became in reputation the "Saddle Rocks" of Rome. 

 And what a splendid market he had! His practical geuiliS 

 carried the new industry of oyster planting to great per- 

 fection; and such was his reputation that the Rotiiaus had 

 a saying that, should the oysters stop growing in Lucrin 

 Lake, Sergius would make litem grow "on the lops of ihe 

 houses. Averuus has at last succumbed lo Ihe mutations 

 of lime, and is today a miserable hole of volcanic mud. 

 {(now offers a good opportunity to test the great mun's 

 abilities; but Sergius Grata himself "dried up" some lime 

 ago. 



FrsinvAYR ok rnis Presumi-scot. — The cases of appeals 

 on the Presumpscot River, in Maine, have all been decided 

 iu favor of the plans submitted by the Commissioners of 

 Fisheries. Most of the plans were spiral lishways, in imi- 

 tation of that invented by Commissioner Pike of Con- 

 necticut. 



♦•♦ 



Salmon BnEEDiNO at Buctcsroirr. — The season at 

 liucksport has been very successful. Over 500 of Ihe 

 breeding salmon have been recaptured, leaviug less than 

 fifty lo be accounted for. The number of eggs obtained is 

 3,039,000, being 700,000 mor e than last ye ar. 



— SLxteen States now have Fishery Commissions engaged 

 in replenishing depleted waters and protecting the fish. 

 Three have been added during the present year, namely— 

 Ohio, Iowa, and Minnesota. The others include the six 

 New England Slates, New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Michigan, Virginia, Alabama, and California. 

 ♦»♦- 



— We are indebted to Mr. E. M. Stillwell for a most in- 

 teresting report ou the fisheries of Maine. We shall re- 

 view it at an early day. 



