Jcly St, 1881. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



45)5 



S§k Sjtltnr** 



QUE EDIBLE FISHES. 



[Head before Hie American Fisbcultural Association,] 

 T AST YEAH, BUS of our moat useful and practical raeniberB, 

 J-* Mr, G-, B, Lamphear. presented to the notice of this meeting 

 carefully prepared attUsfics relating to the total pounds of each 

 kind of fish received in the whqWle markets of this citv. Those 

 tables, the result of a great deal of onrefnl investigation, were 

 perhaps the ttivt of the kind over brought to voir.- notice. I need 

 not suggest to you nil the deductions which arose from these fig- 

 ures, 1 may cite, however, the followim,-. ft is only by tne.h exact 

 figures that we. can arrive at positive determinations in regard to 

 the abundance or a scarcity of any particular fish. Nov., this 

 abuudauceor scarcity may bo genera! or local. New York citv, 

 with capacious maw devours an incalculable quantity. I use the 



word i 



impossible to count the fish 

 markets draw to tbernsolve 

 fish, then, be scarce in onr 

 necessarily from another a 





ilitv. this 



v that our 

 tity of fish. If 

 nt. of fish is supplied 

 a of productive water 

 la then, by means of easy ti asportation, always Yielding a certain 

 quantity of fish. Say I hat cod are scarce off K/ooh 11,, oh the 

 demand for cod brings in fish from Gloucester, from Maine, Take 

 striped bass. It may not be found at one season lu the North 

 River, but. the supply may come from the Delaware or from the 

 Cheasapeake. It, is, then, the gross quantity of fish re«eivod iu 

 New York winch tells us absolutely whether a. fish is generallv 

 scarce or plenty. Now, with such tables as have, been made by 

 Mr. Laniphear, to he supplemented later by other compilations 

 which the United States Fish Census will shortly have ready, I 

 believe we will get to the great bottom facts in regard to fish, 

 whether caught on our coast or iu our inland waters or lakes. If 

 we do get these figures as accurately as human investigations can 

 make them, we shall then hotter' determine what, kind offish, 

 being scarcer, may present themselves to our i-pecial care as worthy 

 of culture. 



It would he very presumptuous on my part, not having the 

 whole series of figures, to advance any judgment ou this subject. 

 I may, however, be very certain that in some special localities sea 

 fish are scarcer thau they were in former years Professor Baird 

 informs us ou the best, authority— and I 'may sav that no one is 

 more careful and accurate than our most distinguished follow. 

 member, tho United States Fish Counmsstono— that hallibut, 

 once plenty, are becoming scarcer every day. Formerly it was 

 caught near shore iu large quantities ; to'-day long and expensive 

 trips have to bo made to secure it. Spanish mackerel is also 

 another most prominent case of the absence of a fish, most par- 

 ticularly in the waters adjacent, to thi* city. Although it. doeH not 

 come within the province of this brief paper to enter into details 

 accounting for the absence of the Spanish mackerel in. New York 

 waters, I can only state that it is believed to arise mainly from the 

 dumping of the city refuse in our bay. 



Now, as to that great staple Hah which forms the bulk of our 

 fish food, cod, pei haps its absence in certain localities will befouud 

 to he quite positive, though such want of fish iu one area may be 

 niade^ up by catches in other quarters. The object, then, of such 

 specific investigations derivable from the examination and com- 

 parison of this vast series of Iish tables, which will be submitted 

 to tho United States Fish Commissioner, will bo to eliminate these 

 facts: Well, fish of a certaiu kiud have been plenty or scarce. 

 There is every reason to suppose, iu looking at this vast subject 

 iu a general way, that, constancy being a rule of nature, the quan- 

 tity of the sea firth will not vary a great deal when an average of 

 years is taken. It is unsafe to corner nature. The year 1880 may 

 have been a bad year for tish, which we will call B, and a good one 

 for another fish, which we will call C. But had we beeu ahlo to 

 study the decade from 1870 to 1880, we might have found in cer- 

 tain yeaie E was ploiitv and V „,■;-,:■■:';. and »o the general average 

 of B and O were about the same. But now. though we might 

 arrive at this deduction, that is no reason why wo should not, ir we 

 could, try and make B and plenty all the year round. B is 

 scarce off New York Bay and continues getting scarcer, aud fairly 

 plenty off Cape Cod. To get the Iish B from Cape Cod may be 

 easy enough, but still B will cost a fraction more to bring it to 

 New Ybrjj market. These are then some of the great problems 

 whicli the Fish > ensus will solve ; it will give us exact, determina- 

 tions, aud, having some fined basis to work upon, we will no longer 

 bain the dark. 



alight I he allowed to state that, public opinion, ei 

 opinion in regard to such matters, in worth very little? W 

 all iucliued to take too narrow views of such objects as surround 

 us. Our own horizon is necessarily limited. A fisherman, a single 

 dealer, may from tiis owu personal experience declare that tish are 

 scarce, and so they may be. The fisherman may lave had bad 

 luck or the dealer few consignments. Theso individual experi- 

 ences are perfectly correct, hut their general deductions m y he 

 absolutely incorrect. Then again, popular opinion in regard to 

 Iish is prone to error. Providing fish remain iu the same quan- 

 tity, are there not incalculably mure mouths to eat them? Itis 

 not possible to imagine that, while fifty vears ago there was one 

 fish and more for every New Yorker (say iu 1831), iu 1881 there is 

 not one-half of a fish lor each person, and that the extra person 

 must be satisfied with the bones f All this means that the Iish 

 being the same in iho sea, even with increased fishing, there are 

 more fish wanted. The tish is then a fixed quantity, the methods 

 and men necessary to get more fish augment, hut the number of 

 people who want to eat, tish, mu-t eatti-h, increases faster than 

 the other t >o. There might be then a time arrived at— we do not. 

 preteud to fix the date — w hen the one fish would have to go round 

 among three, five, ton people. It the example of the wants of 

 a single large centre of population maybe precised, does not the. 

 same rule of supply aud demand hold good for the .*hole country? 



Now comes in that which this Association are doing their utmost 

 to advance, and that, is tish culture. We have then, say, that 

 fixed quantity, tho normal number of fish, and that constantly 

 increasing hunger of manv mole mouths to eat this normal nuiii- 

 bei. Is the first to remain a rigid quantity ? The American Fish- 

 cultural Association believe that this need not be fixed, bnt that 

 there are possibilities of increasing the number of fish. Now, not 

 so many years ago, all the ends of this association were limited to 

 trout culture. We have expanded somewhat siuce then, and with 

 us the science aud detail of fiji culture has wonderfully broadened. 

 We are not now bound within the comparative narrow limits ol a 

 Btream to grow our fishes. Our pond has widened out until it has 

 become almost an ocean, or if not an ocean, any long expanse of 

 sea coast on which the sea breaks. What has been the great pro- 

 gress in these last, two or three years has been made in the direc- 

 tion of the propagation of sea fish, and it is in this direction that 

 the United States Fish Commission is advancing, aud it is to this 

 that the attention of the members of this association is called We 

 began with tho ornamental, wc have come down, or come up to the 

 absolute!! practical, nuornate but useful. From what so many of 

 our good: aud intelligent newspaper friends will iuaiit on calling 

 " speckled beauties," we must now come to tho descriptive of the 

 commonplace cod. We want the hand-omest flowers in tho fish 

 bouquet— touseadouhtl'ul metaphor— butweninstiiot forget those 

 other vegetables, the potatoes aud the turnips. From the horti- 

 culturist we may dcriv- boi h i cet... ure tn the , y and smut times If; 

 the taste, and even the humble kitchen gardener may learn a 

 lesson from him. It is these trout, a -handsome show "of which 

 Mr. Blackford will present to-morrow, which has made ub pro- 

 ficient, as I have been endeavoring to explain, in other larger and 

 be ter ways. 



li men I were to tell you that I believe, from something like an 

 actual count, errors excepted, that last year 411,442,900 pounds of 

 f.eah fish of all kinds were received in New York, worth ¥3,339,827. 

 and that these represented &:i,:i7S,8lia individual fish— halibut of 

 150 pounds, or smelt, eight going to a pound, being all " ' 

 Let ub hope that by fish culture our children may 6ee these num- 



bers very greatly increased, not only by tho introduction of new 

 fishes, which stupid prejudice now'turns away from, but of the 

 actual propagation of more fish. 



T 



REPOBT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA COMMISSION. 



HE Fish CommrsBton of Pennsylvania has given us a most 

 valuable report for tho years 18711-90. Especially valuable 



,,f the State, 

 of Prof. E. D. Cope, of 



examination of models 



tight, i 



ita appendix containing descriptions ol 

 with numerous plates, under the direelk 

 the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences. 



The report opens with an account Of a 

 of fishways for the purpose of adopting 

 to rind that the McDonald way was not am 

 tisoment in a local paper for plans and prop! 

 competitors whose plans however good they 

 to fishotilturista at large. The bid of Mr. David Mitchell was the 

 lowest, and was accepted; the plan was by C. E. Whitney aud the 

 report says: "It is, simply an opening in the dam one" hundred 

 and twenty-five feet wide at the face of the dam— the dam itself 

 turning two L's up stream and converging to within forf.v feet of 

 each other, and being parallel at, that width for about forty feet. 

 ' llet, however, the water is shoaled bv a platform to the 



the 



ppe 



depth of nvef-et, which platform 

 feet, where its level is about four feet abo 

 bottom of the river. This plan was chosen 1 

 tn the form of a bleak in the dam, and breal 

 the most successful tishwavs known up to tl 



The number of fisheries in full operation Dei, 

 on the Susquehanna dining the season of 1880 

 From Columbia to Turkey HUl (first five mil 

 From Turkey Hill to Maryland Slate line, twent 

 100 scoop-ne'ts in the same distance. From State' 

 Grace, nineteen miles, 100. Fiom Port Dop 

 Bay 250. Total 498. The catch of shad with 



bout forty 



■th, rocky 



nearest 



vo been 



■ he fi 



r to In 



the Columbia 

 s as follows : 



, forty-eight. 

 nles, 100, and 



it to Havre de 

 Chesapeake 

 St fry " 



to Turkey Hill, numbered, iu 1879, 32,(00 ; and t 

 1880, 47,000. 



The State has two hatching houses, one in the eaat at Marietta, 

 Lancaster County, in charge of John P Crevehng, and a western 

 one at Corry, in care of Seth Weeks, both nf which have an excel- 

 lent water supply. The report gives the results of salmon plant- 

 ing in tho rivers, which is not very encouraging, although many 

 have been taken in the Delaware." The wbitefish of Lake Erie, 

 while of great value, has not been propagated on account of the 

 small district which lies upon the lake. Of grass bass (crappie). 

 I'omoxis annularis, manv have been planted. This is the "straw- 

 berry bass" of New York,' and the late Prof. Kirtland called it, "the 

 fish for the million." We have long wondered at the neglect of 

 this fish by fiahculturiate, and congratulate the Pennsylvania Com- 

 missioners ou their good taste in introducing it, into their waters. 

 The shad have decreased iu the rivers ou account of insurmount- 

 able daniB, although they are found below in Maryland in great 

 numbers. No shad have beeu hatched since 1875," bnt last year 

 they planted 750,000, a gift from Prof. Baird. Rainbow trout 

 (.Sortmo irkk i) have beeu introduced aud are growing, and many 

 brook trout have been hatched and distributed. 



An appendix gives a list of the fishing streams of tho State, ar- 

 ranged by counties alphabetically, giving the name of the stream, 

 where it heads aud empties, its "length, width and depth, its tem- 

 perature, as " cold, very cold, temperate," etc., the names of its 

 edible fish, its pollution by sawdust or tanneries, aud general re- 

 marks npon its character. 



The ichthyological portion of tho work is a valuable addition to 

 the literature of our Pennsylvania fishes, aud being doue by Prof. 

 Cope gives it the stamp of authority. We only wish he had giveu 

 us some better plates of fishes, although many of them are excel- 

 lent. His figure nf a quiimat salmon is very bad ; so is the rain- 

 bow trout. The lake trout (/?. nnmaycush), taken from De Kay, 

 has teeth like an alligator, but the climax of the horrible is at- 

 tained iu the cnt of a grayling, after Klippart. The fish has an 

 irregular outline instead of a graceful form, a wild, savage look 

 instead of the "gentle golden-eyed grayling," and, worst of all, 

 great hard scales rise up on the dorsal fiii ! The hard, ungraceful 

 lines spoken of characterize all drawings made by Klippart. 



We do not wish to be too soverc on Mr. Klippart, but will refer 

 to his figure of the whitelish, opposite page 104, the pike-perch 

 opp. p. 120, the black bass and 8. ranodengf on next page for con- 

 firmation of what we say. Next to Genio C. Scott's aud Frank 

 Forester's drawings of fishes they are the worst we ever saw • and 

 as Mr. Klippart was an ichthyologist and the two others were not, 

 we are not disposed to receive bis caricatures as representations of 

 our fishes, some or whom are very handsome. 



In the text Prof. Cope gives ns short descriptions of the muco- 

 dermal, digestive, respiratory, circulatory and ossens systems. Iu 

 his nrratigemeut he includes the Tfleostel of previous authors and 

 a considerable part of the Gattodei of Agassiz and others m the 

 sub class Artirutpirri, giving his reasons for so doing. Two in- 

 dices, one of popular aud the other of scientific names, add value 

 to 1 be list. 



The enterprise of the Commission iu thus giving a list, with 

 description and plates of the fishes of their State, makes this re- 

 port one of especial value to many besides those merely interested 

 in fish culture. 



CROSS-BBED FISH. 



TT is a singular fact that when a fish or reptile is found by the 

 -*- average man and that species is new to him. he immediately 

 assumes two things. First, that it is as new and strange to all the 

 world sb it is to himself, for he supposes that he has seen all the 

 creatures of the earth in the menageries ; and second, that if, is a, 

 cross between some two li-hes or reptiles whicli be does know. 

 His first supposition is wrong nine times in ten, or even more, and 

 his second oue is never right. It may be possible, as we believe It 

 also probable, that some of the eyprinoid fishes, the little soft 

 tinned inhabitants of the creeks of which fifty species are called 

 "minnows" in the vernacular, do actually hybridize. They 

 b umi all summer and in a. narrow stream, and as they are closely 

 all od in structure it is possible that the milt of one species often 

 r<a hes and fertilizes the eggs of others. But iu larger waters 

 tlis does not so readily happen. Animals must be closely allied 

 iu structure to interbreed, and you might pour tho milt of a perch, 

 or any other hard finned fish, over the eggs of a sucker, or any 

 soft finned fish, by the gallon, without effect. The seed falls on 

 barren ground, or barren to that kiud of seed. Nor do the per- 

 coids readily interhreBd, partly because they spawn at different 

 times, and partly because they choose different places to deposit 

 their spawn. Possibly the perch aud black bass might be crossed 

 Vy man, but it does not happen in nature for the reasons given 

 above. We recently found the following in the Gape Ann Adver- 

 tiser : 



Rumor says th.«t many years ago a New Hampshire Governor 

 put a mackerel in' o Lake Winmpisaukee. A fish has appeared 

 there which is supposed to be a cross between that, and some of 

 the natives. It resembles the mackerel in some features. It is a 

 very handsome fish, of a blueish white appearance, the body being 

 divided with minule diamonds by parallel black lines running at 

 acute angles. For eating it is very delicate. 



Being skeptical on uatural crosses, and wishing to kuow what it 

 might mean, we inclosed the slip to, Mr. Saui'l Webber, of the 

 New Hampshire Fish Commission, and received the folio wing re- 

 ply = 



MiNCHESTElt, July 10. 



Mr. PowerB and I have both concluded that the "cross-breed," 

 referred to above, was either a Schoodic salmon, or a young Cai i- 

 fornia salmon. 



Wo put Schoodic salmon in Merry Meeting Pond, in New Dur- 

 ham in 1878 and 1879, and placed California salmon, in Smith's 

 Poud. in Wolfsborough, in 1879. 



Both of these waters are feeders of W nnipeaankee, and we ex- 

 pected aud intended that tbesefish should work down into the latter, 

 and my impression is that the fish referred to is either the one or 

 the other. 



Many large Salmon have been seen here tho past week, aud 

 although two have been killed going over the fails below the dam. 

 owing to very low water, we think many have gone up, and will be 

 heard Irom at Plymouth soon. 



Mr. Powers has taken one of 22 pounds at the. hatchery. 



Savi'i, Wi.ebeb. 



PEAKING WHITEFISH IN CONFINEMENT — Nortbville, 

 Mich., July 11.— 1 have ou hand a half dozen young wbitefish of 

 last spring's hatching that have attained lengths" varying from two 

 aud one-quarter to three aud one-quarter inches and are otherwise 

 well developed iu tact, ;u e pel feet whitelish in miniature. This 

 IB the number remaining from about, two dozen that were placed 

 in a tank at the time ol the disappearance of the egg sac, and fed 

 suite then on fine particles of liver and kidney. Those who know 

 by experience how difficult it is to raiae these fish on any snbsiilu. 

 Hon for then uatural food, will say at ouce that the percentage 

 brought forward, even to their pieseut ske. is quite high, and that 

 their growth has beeu very ranid. My assistant, Mi r . S. Bov<v, 

 w bo has fed them from the first, savs he has taken no special paiuo 

 other than to diffuse the food into the water frequently aiid in 

 liberal qiiaulities, siphoning the subsiding particles from "the bot- 

 tom of the tank, thus keeping the water sweet mid clear. The fish 

 uow eat very freely, aud we confidently expect to raise them to 

 maturity. With a larger tank and "a greater water supply it is 

 • pule probable thai filtv per cent, can be raised in this wav. — FlUNK 

 N. G&MtK. 



FISH POISONS.— Wiegelt, 

 twenty grammes die in a few 

 grammes chlorine per litre, a 

 nearly the limit of the amount 

 chemical means, is undoubted! 



solutions of soda containing 9 

 tanked Hoda per litre of water 

 ed. At lei 



that trout weighing five to 

 ntes iu water containing 0.005 

 sven 0.0002 gramme, which is 

 hloriuo that cau be detected by 



t the; 



per l.iir,,, 

 interests 



running stream. Sulphuric acid was more fatal by far 

 ichlorie acid, but tho tish soon recover from the" bad 

 ion tbey are removed from the contaminated water. 

 larged with carbonic anhydride, neutral salts (ci]iure 

 id sodium chloride), with a concentration of three parts 

 have no injurious influence. These observations are of 

 in considering the relations of certain manufacturing 

 nd fish culture. 



CARP, AND HOW TO GET THEM.— The prospect, for a large 

 supply of young carp this fall is at present good. The fish have 

 spawned freely in the National pouds at Washington, aDd if no ac- 

 cident happens there will be a liberal distribution of young. Thoso 

 wishing fry of two to three inches long this fall had" better apply 

 now. Write to Prof. S. F. Baird, Washington, I). C, for blanks, 

 or obtain them from this office. The blanks are to bo filled out 

 and mailed to tho member of Congress from your district asking 

 him to indorse the application and send it to Prof. Baird. 



The application will then bo tiled, and at tho proper time notice 

 will be given you as to what further action to take. As far as pos- 

 sible the fish will be sent to some ceutral point for distribution, 

 aud the applicant will he notified when, where aud to whom to ap- 

 ply. Those, however, who prefer to go or send a messenger to 

 Washington for the fish can do so, or they can be sent by express 

 al tut-' >■:■. pea-0 ol lis ;.■■! ,c, ::,;,;.:, ;, - c r;„ I ,. ,.■ ■ _■-.- ■ , ,u c-.le„l ,-i , tier 

 by him or supplied at cost price by the Fish Commission. 



CA1U> IN TENNESSEE. -From several sources have come most 

 favorable accounts of the carp distributed in this State within the 

 last two years, but the most gratifying results were related to me 

 yesterday by the Judge of our County Court, J. C. Ferris. Ho 

 said: 



"I have just had a talk with Frank Green about his pond, situated 

 ou the White's Creek Turnpike, aud from him I learn that the twenty 

 pairs of carp deposited in it by him two years ago have grown to 

 the great weight of from three to three and a half pounds each, 

 that they have spawned, and the ova hatched into mi rinds of fry; 

 which are now strong enough to swim about, and when thev con- 

 gregate blacken the waters by tboir enormous uunibers. At this 

 rate in two years more there will be a sufficiency of fish in this one 

 poud to supplvthe whole country, besides an ample supply for Mr. 

 Green's family. 



Tho-o in the Asylum Pond have also grown a great deal, and 

 Bpawned this year for the first time. A gentleman from Robertson 

 County describes bis success in carp culture as far beyond his most 

 sanguine expectations.— J. D. H. 



A r asta)i/te, Tenn., Juli/ 11. 



FIXTURES. 



September 1, at Pittsburgh, Pa. Close of entries Pennsylvania Field 

 Trials. First Annual Derby. I. R. staylon, Secretary, Pittsburgh, 



.September 13 aud 14, at Pittsburgh, Pa. Collie Trials, held under 

 Hie auspices of llii pennsvlvdnln Male ytrrlculuirnl Society. Entiles 



close September tl. Flourlc.; •,,,.• , c i, see: si >,-.■. . H.,n i-.i ,'tnc i'-i 



Octooer 1, at Sew York ei y. Close of entries .'^stcru field Trials. 

 Trials commence on TruiiiMhe-ivii,,, Pay. .t.-ieno I'e.iuz, Secretary p 



0. BOX «4, New York City. 



October 4, 5, n ana 1, at st, Louis, Mo. si. Louts Kennel Club Third 

 Annual Bench Show Charles Lincoln, Superintendent. 

 November '>s, Loutstnna siare field Trials. Erin lis close November 



1. Edward Octeli, xecreinry. New Orleans, La. 



November—, a.i or. a ml .1 unction, Tenn., National American Kennel 

 Club's Field Trials. Jos. U. Dew, Seei et ary, Columbia, Tenn. 



THE LEONBERG DOGS. 



HEAB THE OTHEB SinE. 



St. Jobjj's, Newfoundland, July 8. 

 Editor Forest and Stream. : 



I have observed, in your issue of Juno 2, certain depreciatory 

 statements in reference to the Leonberg dog. In Fouest ash 

 Stueam for March 17, a letter from one of your correspondents 

 appeared, in which the writer indulged iu similar remarks of a 

 disparaging character regarding this breed of dogs. As a reply to 

 both writers I beg to submit the following account of the Iicon- 

 berg dog, by Kssig himself, which was sent, to mo in 1878 by Bert 

 T. A. Berkruzen, by whom the dog" were introduced into this 

 island. As Essig's aecount is a statement of facts and not met e 

 vague assertions, it seems to me to refute completely the charge 

 made by the writers referred to : 



"I beg to statu that tho breed I have reared since 1816 is the 

 result of a successful crossing of the Newfoundland dog with the 

 original dogs of the St. Bernard Mount, which latter! have since 

 improved by the great Wolf Dog from the Pyranees, whence the 

 first, Bernardino dogs originated. The Leonberg is the largest 

 race of long-hatred dogs who unite sagacity with size and beauty. 

 Most of the leading European papers have favorably noticed my 

 dogs, aud given illustrations and descriptions which prove the 

 utility of the race. For the first honorable mention of them I am 

 indebted to his late majesty, King William of Wurtemberg. In 

 1855, a gentleman of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) wrote to mo: 'I 

 have received a kind of dog from you which I have been wanting 

 for years bnt could never meet with. Two years ago I traveled to 

 Italy, and crossed purposely over the St. B'eruard"" Mount to pro- 

 cure a dog thence, but found upon inspection tlmt tbe actual re- 

 nowned race did no longer exist, there, but were replaced by a 

 commoner short-haired animal. The same I found to be the case 

 at the convent of Mount Simplon, which I likewise visited. Sub- 

 jf.pieni.ly I obtain,,'.! a Newfoundland dog from the Zoologiea 

 1 cant Berlin, which did uot answer my expeotations eitho 1 

 but now 1 am suited, aud you may rest assured that proper care 

 and attention will be given to the dog.' The Rev. Deliijuiso, Prior 



