230 TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Oai^ Orchard I^afy: 



A trip was made to Medina, N. Y., on September 21st to examine the 

 waters of Oak Orchard lake and to report upon steps desirable for stocking 

 that body of water. 



Visi) Cultural P>oo^s 



Many letters are received by the Commission requesting information 

 about books and papers on fish culture. In replying no attempt is made to 

 furnish a catalogue of the voluminous literature on the subject, but atten- 

 tion is usually directed to the Manual of Fish Culture, published in 1900 by 

 the U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, Washington, D. C. (now styled 

 the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries). This manual is now to be obtained chiefly 

 through members of the U. S. Congress and Senate to whom most of the 

 copies were assigned for distribution. Reference is given also to Livingston 

 Stone's classical work " Domesticated Trout; How to Breed and Grow 

 Them," to Fred Mather's " Modern Fish Culture," published by Forest & 

 Stream Publishing Co., 346 Broadway, New York city, to Hugo Mulertt's 

 " The Gold Fish and its Culture," published in Brooklyn, N. Y., and to " Fish 

 Hatching and Fish Catching," by Robert B. Roosevelt and Seth Green. 



One of the essential conditions of successful fish culture is a proper 

 supply of pure water. It is becoming more difficult year by year to secure 

 this requisite and a vigorous enforcement of existing laws, as well as the 

 enactment of new and more stringent regulations, will be urgently 

 demanded if the fish supply is to be maintained. 



Clearer definitions of the names and terms employed in the fish law 

 are greatly needed, in order to prevent unintentional as well as willful vio- 

 lations. An illustrated pamphlet or small book containing descriptions and 

 figures of the important fishes of the State would prove a great aid in edu- 

 cating the people and explaining the laws. A thorough investigation of 

 the animal and plant life of the waters is much needed as a basis for practical 

 work. The lakes and rivers of many parts of our State are about as little 

 known, so far as their fish life is concerned, as the interior waters of Alaska. 

 From 1842 until 1903 no general account of New York fishes was published 

 and the last report on the subject has no illustrations. 



