FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 185 



tion some very important improvements have been made. The stripping 

 house for pike perch was formerly supplied with water through two- inch 

 pipes limning a distance of 1,200 feet from a small dam on Frederick creek. 

 In the extremely cold winters these pipes were often split, and much of 

 the water to be conveyed was lost. It was difficult to secure sufficient 

 water to keep the brood fish alive in the tanks at the stripping house. A 

 boiler and pump were purchased to furnish a new water supply. This 

 apparatus with the necessary accompaniment of boiler house, pipe, etc., 

 was installed on Frederick creek near the stripping house at a cost of less 

 than S400. With a less outlay than was involved in repairs to the old 

 pipes, the new water supply was greatly increased, easily maintained and 

 rendered the practical work of stripping fish easy of accomplishment and 

 far more successful than ever before. As a result of this increase of facili- 

 ties Foreman Scriba was able to furnish 75,000,000 of pike-perch fry for 

 distribution, the greatest output in the history of the station. 



There has always been at Constantia the danger of a breakdown in the 

 water supply pipe to the hatchery from the pond on Frederick creek. 

 Sticks and other foreign substances have occasionally reduced the flow of 

 water to such an extent as to threaten the efficiency of the work. Because 

 it is impossible to overhaul the pipes under the hatchery, the difficulty of 

 maintaining the water supply was much increased. For this reason the 

 boiler and pump were moved in the fall from the stripping house to the 

 hatchery and installed in a little boiler house attached to the hatchery 

 building, and also communicating with the coal house. The principal 

 object in moving this plant was to prevent any possible destruction of eggs 

 and fry in the hatchery through interruption of the water flow from the 

 pond. Another very important aim was to heat the hatchery, which has 

 never been properly done heretofore. It was not an uncommon thing in 

 my experience to find sheets of ice on many parts of the hatchery floor at a 

 little distance from the stoves used for heating. During the winter of 1906, 

 even when the temperature has been as low as 20 degrees below zero, the 

 hatching room has been comfortably warm in all portions, and this has 

 been accomplished with no more expense for fuel than was involved when 

 the stoves were in action. 



Foreman Scriba was instructed to build ponds for the propagation of 



