362 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 



to fish culture. In fact any car that is used solely for fish transportation 

 is an improvement over the old system of shipment in ordinary baggage 

 cars, the journey sometimes extending across the continent. 



The average State car, however, is not equipped with a great many 

 modern devices for the care of fish and eggs, and is, therefore, less effective 

 than the best types. In some cases a State owns only one car, and then 

 it is sure to be urgently needed in several places at the same time. Acci- 

 dents are not uncommon resulting in more or less serious damage to the 

 car, and causing delay in the yard for repairs. 



Free transportation is not always available, although the railroads, 

 with few exceptions, are very generous in aiding the distribution of fish by 

 this courtesy. Just what effect, if any, the recent legislation upon rates 

 and passes may have on fish cultural progress is -oroblematic at present. 



Improper and Impure Food 



In these strenuous times, when the annual yield of fish for stocking the 

 waters of a single State, like the Federal appropriations for the support of 

 government, is rapidly approaching the billion mark, the fish food problem 

 has become a difficult one. Nature does not usually furnish the amount 

 of nourishment required in small space for such hungry hordes. Live min- 

 nows, insects, crustaceans and mollusks are excellent so far as they go; 

 but few localities away from the sea shore and the big lakes provide an 

 important percent of the food consumed by the fish under culture. 



Flesh of various domestic animals, ground cereals and preserved fish 

 eggs constitute the bulk of the supply at nearly all fish cultural establish- 

 ments, and the cost of food at a single station within my own knowledge 

 often reaches $200 per month. It is therefore not to be wondered at that 

 voung fish sometimes get food which cannot pass through the digestive 

 tract without causing inflammation of a serious nature. As a matter of 

 fact many trout are killed in the feeding troughs and ponds in spite of 

 the best care. 



Occasionally food of some kind, and especially liver, will spoil or 

 become stale, and if fed to the fish trouble will follow. It often happens 

 that young trout, even after they have entirely absorbed the yolk sac, will 



