FOREST AND STREAM, 
51 
§uHttp. 
ABSTRACT OF THE TENTH XNNU 
REPORT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS 
COMMISSIONERS ON INLAND FISHER¬ 
IES. 
T HIS voluminous Report opens with, a description of 
the operations of the fishways during the past year, 
the action of which have, upon the whole, been satisfactory, 
certainly as regards all other fish but shad. The fishway 
at Holyoke was, last spring, put under the care of Charles 
D. Griswold, of South Hadley, who closed it twice a day 
for the purpose of noting what was In it. A great num¬ 
ber of silver eels, lnmper eels, and suckers weut through to 
the river above; also, quite a number of black bass, striped 
bass, chubs, perch, bream, and a variety of smaller fry 
made their way through. On the 5th of July, Mr. Gris¬ 
wold found two yearling shad near the upper end of the 
way, and subsequently quite a number of these fish passed 
over. On July 6th, among the number of yearlings was 
found one mature shad, measuriug nineteen inches, and 
weighing about four pounds. These facts are important; 
first, as showing that it was the yearling male shad, bred 
above, that led the way and probably -attracted the others; 
secondly, these fish, having passed freely over, the ques¬ 
tion whether the Holyoke fishway is a suitable one for the 
passage of shad is settled. All efforts hereafter will be 
directed to putting fish above the dam, and such improve¬ 
ments as can he made around the foot of the way. 
It having been found that the Lawrence fishway was so 
located that, although other fish passed up freely, the shad 
Would congregate in the pool below the dam, an alteration 
was made, and new works constructed leading to the pool. 
Fishways have been built in the Neponset River, hut, with 
the exception of the individual exertions of Mr. Estey, no 
efforts have been made to restock the river; nor have the 
towns bordering on the river ever appointed fish wardens 
to look after the fishways. It was suggested to change the 
location of the fishway in the Taunton River, but the Com¬ 
missioners considered that it was unnecessary to go to the 
expense of building a new fishway, unless assurance was 
given that parties interested will stock the waters above 
Wiih shad or salmon. The California salmon would prob¬ 
ably do well in this river, and the spawn and fry *f both 
these species of fish can be had on application to the Com¬ 
missioners. The fishway at Turner’s Falls is completed 
for the passage of salmon. 
The Aj.ewife.— Owing to over fishing in previous years 
there has been a scarcity of tills fish, and the Commission¬ 
ers consider the practice in some towns of annually selling 
at auction the right to take these fish to parties whose in¬ 
terest terminates with the season, as one of doubtful policy. 
Shad. —On IheMerrimac River there were taken during 
the season 1,433 shad, from whom were procured 6,670,000 
eggs; hatched and turned in above Lowell, 825,000. A 
quantity (not stated) were delivered to Mr. Estey for Ne- 
ponsil River; the balance turned in at North Andover. 
The establishment at this place during the past season ap¬ 
pears uot to have been carried on with the usual care. Or¬ 
ders were given Mr. Hardy to have all the spawn and 
young fish not required elsewhere carried above the Law¬ 
rence dam, while the report shows that less than one-sixth 
of the whole number taken were thus deposited. In 1871- 
2 nearly eight million young shad were turned into the 
Merritnac. The catch last season is reported to be the lar¬ 
gest in twenty-five years, and at Newbury port they were 
sailed and barrelled as iu olden times. The shad opera¬ 
tions on the Connecticut River are summarized in a letter 
to the Commissioners from Mr. Jos. W. Milner, giving the 
following figures:— 
Connecticut River, above dam, from Smith's Ferry to 
Mount Vernon, Yt., 1,205,000; at fishery, 580,000; total, 
1,785,000. Streams in New England other than Connecti¬ 
cut River, 320,000; Started for Germany, 400,000; rivers 
in United States other than New England, 530,000; total 
from Connecticut River, 3,035,000. 
The Commissioners again recommend a law requiring 
net. fishermen to report the number and variety of fish ta¬ 
ken by them and the market value. The statistics which 
would be thus obtained would be very valuable. 
Trout.— The Commissioners make the following sug¬ 
gestions as to the cultivation of brook trout, which they 
alaim would not exceed iu expense that of fencing an acre 
if land:— 
“At the foot of the stream, or where the owner’s right 
;erminates, should be constructed a dam sufficient, to in¬ 
sure a depth of not less than six feet of water, and the 
iverflow carefully screened; above this a number of small 
lams should he made, the distance between them being de- 
•ermined by the fall of the stream; not being so near as to 
low back upon each other, but far enough aoart to allow 
t portion of the stream to remain unchanged. * Nor should 
hey be so high as to materially change the temperature of 
be water. Small fishways or shutes should be built over 
bese dams to enable the fish to pass and repass. 
“Around the dams, right and left, trenches should he 
node for the purpose of raising young fish and conducting 
he overflow in time of freshets. The trenches for the 
'ottng fish, should be gated so as to give, at all times, an 
;ven flow of water. It is desirable that the water falling 
iver the dams should be broken and aerated as much as 
mssible. At the head of one of the trenches may he built 
.small hatching-house; or wooden troughs with covers 
OUlllbe used instead of the house. The south sides of 
he ponds and the stream, if it is open to the rays of the 
un, should he planted with willows, and portions of the 
tream covered with plank or slabs for the fish to hide tin¬ 
ier. During spawning season the fishways may be screened, 
tie fish caught and stripped, and the eggs impregnated by 
l ie dry method.” 
Salmon.— About 250,000 young salmon {Salmo solar) 
rere distributed in the headwaters of the Merritnac under 
ae direction of Commissioner Wodleigli, of Laconia. 
**oung salmon are reported very plenty in the upper wa¬ 
ters of the Merrimac, and more or less continue to be caught 
in the mackerel seines in Massachusetts Bay, and forward¬ 
ed to Boston and New York markets. A large number of 
salmon spawn will be received in January from Bueks- 
port, and still more may be expected in October from Cali¬ 
fornia. 
Land-Locked Salmon. —The Commissioners have, as 
yet, been unable to procure a supply of the spawn of this 
valuable fish; but now that the hatching-housc has been 
removed to Grand Lake stream and placed in charge of 
Mr. Chas. G. Atkins, who has succeeded in obtaining 
900,000 spawn, the portion coming to Massachusetts will 
be sufficient to supply the demand. Tbe Commissioners 
have asked for the control of one or more ponds in which 
a number of these fish can be placed, so that in time they 
may not he obliged to go out of the State for their spawn. 
California Salmon. —Eighty thousand spawn of these 
fish were presented to the Slate by Prof. Baird. Something 
over 75,000 of them batched, producing very healthy young 
fish, which will be read)' for distribution about the 1st of 
January. 
The Commissioners have made a full investigation into 
the condition of the fisheries in North River, In Plymouth 
county, and its tributaries. Formerly, shad and ale-wives 
abounded in this river. Of these the shad have become 
almost extinct; and although alewives still annually as¬ 
cend the stream in considerable numbers, they have 
ceased to be of any special pecuniary benefit to the bor¬ 
dering towns. No river in the Commonwealth is better 
adapted to become a good shad and salmon stream; and 
the value of such a fishery would greatly exceed that of 
any supply of alewives, however abundant. With this 
view they recommend the passage of an act prohibiting 
fishing in.North River for the term of five years; and in 
tile hope that the Legislature will adopt this recommenda¬ 
tion, they have already placed in the river 25,000 Califor¬ 
nia salmon, to which they propose to add an equal or lar¬ 
ger number annually until it is thoroughly stocked. The 
supply of shad already in the river will be sufficient to 
stock it with that species of fish, if allowed to propagate 
undisturbed for the period named. 
The Report contains a voluminous appendix, in which 
is included a valuable “Sketch of the Progress of Fish Cul¬ 
ture in New England,” by Theodore Lyman. 
Hatching Yellow Perch. —I find the following record 
of one of my early experiments in fish hatching, made in 
the city of Albany, N. Y r ., in the spring ot 1868, just be¬ 
fore I bought tile farm at Honeoye Falls and commenced 
fish breeding ns a business. 
April 20th, 1868, while fishing a few miles below Alba¬ 
ny, took and impregnated 10,000 spawn of the yellow 
perch {Perm Jluvescens). This fish is known in the South 
as “ringed perch,’’ “raccoon perch,” and "banded perch.” 
The spawn comes in a long ribbon, or rather a cylindrie 
one, double like a stocking leg, but with numerous wrin¬ 
kles; the eggs are seen as bright spots the size of a pin 
head scattered through this mucous mass. The spawn 
was partly pressed and partly pulled from the fish ami put 
into the old wash basin used as a boat bailer with water, 
and the milt from several males put with it. Took it to 
Albany in my dinner pail, and remembering that the aqua¬ 
rium at the State Geological Rooms was empty, 1 asked 
permission to use it for hatching, which request was kind¬ 
ly granted by Prof. Hall, Curator of the State Cabinet. 
Noticed life the third day; about 100 dead—all dead by 
May 1st, don’t know wby. 
I found that this fish hung its spawn over twigs under 
water, and have found it often hung in the gill nets I was 
then using, nave often seen it hanging high and dry at 
least a foot out of water, where it was laid at a higher 
stage of the river. My spawn was hung on a twig near 
where the water entered the tauk to insure a circulation. 
May 2d, took about 20,000 and put in same place, raised 
the curtain, but the sun did not strike the eggs; life in 
over two days. Some one let down the curtains and pushed 
down the strainer on the waste pipe; about two-thuds of the 
eggs went down the waste pipe, (it was in three bunch¬ 
es,) half the remainder dead, probably from handling, as I 
was informed that somebody lifted them out. The em¬ 
bryos are in constant motion in the egg—a regular beating 
movement like clock work. In ten days from impregna¬ 
tion 1,000 hatched from the 3,000 left, notwithstanding tbe 
eggs were often disturbed by visitors, Six days after batch¬ 
ing, the sac was absorbed, and I fed them clotted blood 
everyday. My notes say: “In twenty days they had all 
disappeared down the waste pipe, but had not yet lost the 
embryonic fin.” I regard the latter statement as a little 
doubtful; for though I looked at them with all the light 1 
then had, I now look hack on it a9 only a faint glimmer, 
and myself as a very green specimeu of a fish culturist, 
and I was not at that time very familiar with “embryonic- 
fins.” 
I have not seen the young of this fish since, but remem¬ 
ber that they swam when batched, and that the sac was a 
bright dot that did not protrude much from their little 
transparent bodies. I hope to repeat this at the Centennial 
tbia summer, and think I can now see with more light. My 
kind piscicuitural friend, please bring me fish eggs of any 
kind, from sharks to sticklebacks, is the earnest request of 
Fred Mather, 
to have nearly exhausted the supply. Trout were so scarce 
that the most experienced fishermen frequently labored a 
whole day faithfully with hook and line without catching 
more than oue or two fish, and sometimes not any. In 
1873 a few of those tailing an Interest in such matters took 
upon themselves the task or restocking our lake by trans¬ 
porting the young fish from the State Hatching House at 
Caledonia. After raising by subscription funds sufficient 
to defray expenses of transportation, we procured and 
placed in our lake about one hundred thousand salmon 
trout fry. Again, in 1874, we deposited in our lake one 
hundred and fifty thousand trout and twenty thousand 
white fish. Id 1875 we secured about seventy thousand 
trout, making a total of three hundred and twenty thousand 
young salmon trout, and twenty thousand white fish in 
three yoars L Now for the results. In the spring and sum¬ 
mer of 1875 the fishing in Canandaigua Lake was such as 
had never been known before. It was not remarkable to 
make a catch, of eight to twelve trout in a few hours, and 
some were fortunate enough to take even more. The lar¬ 
gest catcli of any one person in a single day was twenty- 
one fine salmon trout, taken with hook and line by trolling. 
This very decided increase, taken in connection with the 
fact that very many of the fish were uniform in size, makes 
us believe that there were of those placed in tbe lake in 
1872 and 1873, (there were about twenty thousand trout put 
in in 1872 by other parties), and that a greater portion of 
tbe fish wo put in are yet to come on as sizeable fish for 
catching. Consequently, we expect the number of trout 
caught this coming season will exceed the number taken 
last season. We design putting in another lot of the young 
fish this winter, as the results are so very satisfactory as to 
convince the most skeptical, and all those who have fished 
in Canandaigua Lake for the past few years, were last sea¬ 
son thoroughly convinced of the efficiency and practica¬ 
bility of the artificial propagation of fish, and that our 
barren waterB may be restocked to any extent by this pro¬ 
cess. We give you these results to let you know that the 
efforts of the Fish Commissioners and Superintendent of 
the State of New York are appreciated in this locality. 
Very respectfully, yours, G. A. Finley. 
Geo. B. Chapin. , 
Laroy Benham. 
FISH CULTURE NOTES AND ANSWERS. 
BT FRED MATHER. 
Stocking Canandaigua Lake— We noticed last week 
that the slocking of this lake had been successfully accom¬ 
plished. The following letter, addressed to Mr. Seth 
Green, Superintendent of theN. Y. Fishery Commission, by 
three well-known gentlemen is so important as placing the 
matter beyond a question, that at the risk of some repeti¬ 
tion we priut it in full 
Dear Sir:— 
Three or four years ago Canandaigua Lake, like many 
others in this State, seemed to be pearly depopulated of 
fish, especially salmon trout. The very free use of seines, 
gill nets, and all other appliances for catching fish seemed 
"Small Bait. —A seal was recently caught in the Dela¬ 
ware river, at Trenton, N. J.MissF. W. Webber, of the 
Cold Spring Trout Ponds, says- “The eggs from trout fod 
on curd alone produced young, of which not more than a 
third were perfect fish, but were monstrosities with double 
heads, or curved spines, and were subject to "blue swell¬ 
ing'’-....A French scientist has invented a new bait: 
A bottle is lowered into the water and lighted by electricity, 
it attracts the fish from some distance and they follow it 
into the net.A “golden trout” is reported found in 
California, but lacks confirmation. Prof. Gill has not yet de¬ 
scribed this auriferous salmo.The six-pound Maine 
trout has been stolen from the ponds of B. B. Porter, Oak¬ 
land, N. .T.Genio C. Scott calls the whiteflsh a 
“sucker-mouthed, succulent delicacy,” and still they retail 
for only twelve and a half cents per pound, and have never 
struck back.The Grand Rapids and Indiana Rail¬ 
road has issued a pamphlet entitled “Northern Michigan 
and its Summer Resorts,” which gives description of the 
grayling and its habitat. 
Answers to Inquirers—Dr. M. V.— We have no spawn 
or fry to sell, and will have none; there are others still fur¬ 
nishing it who will be glad to fill your orders. Glad to 
know that your experiments have been so successful that 
you are continuing them. 
M. .J.—Prof. G. Brown Goode has charge of the exhibi¬ 
tion of the UuUed States Fish Commission, which will ex¬ 
hibit models of boats and clothing used, plaster casts of 
fishes, all the products of the fisheries, as skins, oil, teeth, 
bone, shells, coral, sponge, preparations of flesh aud roes, 
as dried, salted, smoked, pickled, canned, etc., oils, sper¬ 
maceti, gelatine, isinglass, glue, manures, etc. All the im¬ 
plements used in capture of fish by civilized and savage 
men, as bows, arrows, speaTS, harpoons, lines, hooks, 
floats, sinkers, reels, rods, artificial flies and baits, nets of 
all kinds, traps, weirs, etc., models of smoke and salting 
houses, plans of piscicuitural establishments, hatching ap¬ 
paratus, fishways, and everything pertaining thereto. Ad¬ 
dress Prof. 8. F. Baird, AVashington, D. U. If you have 
anything of interest in this department, either ancient or 
modern, send it. The food fishes will be displayed by Mr. 
Eugene G. Blackford, of Fulton Market, N. Y., in refrigera¬ 
tors. This is also part of the display of the U. 8. Com¬ 
missioner. The Agricultural Bureau will exhibit live fish 
in both salt and fresh waters, and want specimens of wild 
and cultivated fish; also, reptiles aud crustecea, and all the 
small fresh water forms that are either food for, or enemies 
of young fish. These will be shown either alive or iu al¬ 
cohol. Mr. Mather will have charge of this, and we will 
state the plans more fully when they are perfected. 
M. O.—Smelt are fouud in fresh’water, notably in Lake 
Winnepiseogee. They spawn about tbe last of April in 
that locality, and their period of hatching is about two 
weeks. We believe that Dr. Fletcher, of New Hamp¬ 
shire, has hatched them. They are called "frost-fish" iu 
some parts, we have heard. 
PatLA.— Seth Green is Superintendent of N. Y. Fish 
Commission, and his address is Rochester, N. Y. 
Ind.— You should get your trout eggs before March; get 
your bass as early as possible so that they know the pond 
before spawning; they spawn in May and June. 
—The report which appeared in the Boston Journal a 
few days since, to the effect that the Maine Fish Commis¬ 
sion had been abolished, the act to take effect Feb. 15th, 
1877, was incorrect, and has been contradicted by that 
paper. 
—Tbe Legislature of Wisconsin has appropriated $10,050 
for the propagation of fish, and the Milwaukee Wisconsin 
thinks that the Northwest can be made the fishing ground 
of the country. 
—Twenty-two States have undertaken the propag ation 
of food fish, and Kentucky aud Georgia wit! soon bring 
the number up to twenty-four. 
