FOREST AND STREAM. 



HATCHING APPARATUS AND THE 

 HATCHING HOUSE. 



X 



BY ICHTHYOS. — NUMBER TWO. 



E may say that the advantages of the tray over the 

 trough system are too plain to require an extended 

 comparison of merits. In the experience of all piscicul- 

 turists it is plain that the trough is an unwieldy and an un- 

 cleanly apparatus for hatching; for it always becomes foul 

 from the deposit of dirt — at a time, too, when the accumu- 

 lation cannot be removed, when the fish, after being 

 hatched, fall directly upon it. Any system, the grille or 

 the wire tray, is preferable, which can be lifted out .if need 

 be, and the diseased eggs removed that they may not con- 

 taminate the healthy ones. The advantages of the tray 

 over the trough are clearly set forth in Dr . Slack's experi- 

 ments in the different methods of hatching. He says: — 

 "It is impossible for any dirt to settle upon the glass and 

 destroy the vitality of the egg. The eggs are always in 

 full view; not only can their development be watched — a 

 matter of great interest to every true fish culturist — but 

 any dead or dying ones can at once be detected and re- 

 moved." As a further value of the tray over the trough, 

 the number of 'rods in each grille being known to contain 

 one hundred eggs, the number of spawn on hand can be 

 estimated, and when the eggs are to be packed for shipping 

 the uncertain method of measuring and the tedious one of 

 counting can be avoided. The young fishes when hatched 

 fall through the interstices of the tubes into the water be- 

 neath, and by withdrawing the cork can be drawn into a 

 pan of water and removed to the nursery trough. If no 

 trough is at hand ready for use they may be retained in 

 the pan until the trough is thoroughly cleansed and a little 

 sand thrown into the bottom, where they may be kept un- 

 til ready for the pond. If the tray is intended to be used 

 ' as a nursery, which it can be without detriment to the 

 'young fish, the orifice of the spout should be covered with 

 : fine gauze to prevent their escape after the absorption of 

 •the yolk sac— an event quite likely to occur. As a further 

 ; corroboration of the superiority of the tray system and the 

 use of glass rods or grills, the Pennsylvania Commissioners 

 of Fisheries, who have been employing the troughs with" 

 ■gravel bottoms, propose to abandon the old method and 

 substitute the grille system, which is almost exclusively 

 ijused in Europe on account of advantages which have 

 f been urged. It will be found, in the more extended expe- 

 dience of American fish culturists, that there is a point of 

 success in the practice of the art, which may be realized 

 /jjooner by the use of durable, even if more expensive, ap- 

 paratus, than by the use of the cheaper, which is often at- 

 tended with waste and loss — much to the detriment of the 

 profit side of this industry. Niggardly parsimony oftener 

 iJian all else conspires to defeat men in any industry; for 

 r hey will attempt possibilities with impossible and cheap 

 iigencies, and as a matter of course failure is the legitimate 

 "result. 



.■, ■^'■''':^ / ^rr:mmmmm 



OPERATION. 



The cut represents the hatching apparatus in working or 



ler. A is a supply trough of filtered water; BBB are trays; 



0, clamps for holding down the trays to prevent floating; 



,P, trough with compartments; E, boxes within trough into 



which trays are set; FFJFF, trays; G, H and K, troughs 



tor small fry; LLL, trays containing eggs in process of 



matching, from which diseased eggs are being removed by 



me ladies, who are employed as assistants in the hatching 



louse: M, trough through which a stream of water runs, 



nto which the trays are placed where the current of water 



veeps the eggs in motion, that the assistants maybe the 



petter able to observe the diseased eggs; 1ST, discharge pipe; 



.p, tank; R, discharge, over which is placed a wire* screen 



|":o prevent the fry from passing out. 



; The inventor of the hatching apparatus as shown in 

 ;the plate, is one of the most eminently successful 'ipiscicul- 

 Hunsts m the Northwest, and his hatching house at Clarks- 

 ton, Oakland county, Mich., is a model establishment for 

 ■my man to consult who is about to engage in fish farming 

 i; In describing his hatching and trays a portion of an edi- 

 torial is copied from the Detroit Free Press, which says — 



''Tim hatchery of N. W\ Clark, at Clarkston, is a frame 

 building 24 by GO feet, one story high, quite well lighted, 

 and comfortable, by a plentiful use of sawdust packed in 

 between the siding. Lying below the level of the little 

 lalve, a constant supply of running water is obtained, and 

 ti-om the hillside, at the rear, clear, cold spring water 'of a 

 {temperature of 40°. 



The hatching apparatus, although an object of much 



stucty and several years' experimenting by Mr. Clark is 



quite simple Troughs fifty feet in length lead on an in- 



"S^ 11 th 5 building, being a foot or more square and 



gtevated four feet from the floor. Each trough is subdi- 



E^ 1 ? thirty-three water-tight "compartments. Into 



2En« M t & com P artments is Placed a square wooden box, 



&™r^ a ^st- 



ale tour tiays, of wooden frames, like a picture frame, 



seven by twelve inches in size, with a bottom of the finest 

 brass, 'dairy' wire. Upon these trays is placed the spawn, 

 thickly spread over in a sine-le layer, as being best, although 

 a double thickness would do no harm. It requires sixty- 

 four whitefish eggs to cover the surface of a square inch, 

 and, therefore, it is computed each tray holds at least 5,000 

 eggs, or 20,000 in a box. The box properly loaded is placed 

 in its compartment, and the topmost tray covered with a 

 piece of tin perforated with minute holes, wbich serve a 

 double purpose, excluding the light, sifting the sediment, 

 and admitting the water evenly over the trays below with- 

 out any bubbling or commotion. The water, too, by an 

 ingenious arrangement of barriers, has to go down through 

 all the trays, finding its way up between the outside of the 

 box and a division of the next compartment. The water 

 thus pursues its devious ways through the long trough 'up 

 the outside and down the middle' of the boxes and trays 

 like the unending 'ns' of a schoolboy's copy." 



It is proper to say, for the benefit of all whom it may 

 concern, that the design representing the above described 

 apparatus is taken from Prof. Baird's report "On Fresh 

 Water Fishes," and that Mr. Clark's method of hatching is 

 secured to him by letters patent. 



PLAN OF HATCHING HOUSE 32x64 FEET. 



Plate 6 represents a hatching house wherein is desig- 

 nated the arrangement of troughs and trays for hatching. 

 The dimensions of a building suitable for conducting °a 

 large business should be at least 32 by 64 feet— a plain one- 

 story edifice witli posts; if built of timber, 14 feet, or if a 

 "balloon frame" is chosen, studding 2 by 4, 14 feet. It 

 need not be expensively constructed. The studs maybe 

 set three feet apart with .cross pieces toed in, say three 

 rows between sill and plate, upon which the boarding and 

 battens of the outside may be nailed. The boarding should 

 be one foot wide and planed, while the battens°may be 

 three-inch strips with beveled edges. The roof should be 

 well shingled, the inside lined with rough or matched 

 boards, planed, and the interspace filled with sawdust or 

 tan-bark. The outside should be well painted with some 

 of the many tints of mineral paint. The building should 

 be well lighted with windows, placed high up, and provided 

 with blinds to graduate the light in order to admit as much 

 or little as may be desired. The floor should be constructed 

 in such a manner as that dropping water may pass directly 

 through. The floor may be made of 1 by 2 inch pieces 

 laid on the edge, the upper corners rounded off, supported 

 by posts 10 by 6. The care of a hatching house is disagree- 

 able, and doubly so if it is both damp and cold, therefore 

 a stove should be used in the coldest weather. Doors 

 should be so arranged as to accommodate ingress and 

 egress, that no more steps may be taken than are really nec- 

 essary. In all well-regulated hatching houses a good office 

 should be attached, possibly in the form of an L to the 

 main structure. In glancing into the hatching house the 

 reader will observe it has a skeleton-like appearance, but 

 the chief design is answered in the perspective view of the 

 interior, in the illustration, by showing the arrangement of 

 the Coste trays in pairs on each side of the building, where 

 they abut against the wall by twos that the grills may be 

 more readily examined by assistants, while the centre is 

 occupied by a long trough, which is calculated to be used 

 in large hatcheries as a nursery trough for hatchlings until 

 the yolk sack is absorbed. As the trays are all placed in 

 situ within the building ready for use, we will give a de- 

 tailed description of the water, how supplied, how ar- 

 ranged and how filtered. The water in all cases' used for 

 hatching purposes should be uniformly 40° to 45° Fahr. 

 If from a spring or stream, it should be conducted to the 

 hatching house filtering box through an iron pipe; for such 

 a pipe will last one a life-time, and will not leak or decay. 

 Lead is objectionable, for in certain cases the water will 

 become affected. Terra cotta is unreliable, for it easily 

 crumbles by the action of frost. The supply pipe is to the 

 hatching house what the main artery is to the human sys- 

 tem, for but a temporary derangement may cause the loss 

 of much of the spawn in process of hatching. The upper 

 or spring end of the pipe should project well into the 

 spring in order that the supply may be the purest. A per- 

 forated tin or zinc filter, with minute holes, must be well 

 fitted over the end. Avoid bored pump logs, for they are 

 the worst lores ever invented for conveying water. A pipe 

 two inches in diameter will supply sufficient water for the 

 hatching of 200,000 spawn if trays are used. If troughs 

 are used nearly one-third more water will be required. In- 

 ternally connected with the arrangement of the water sup- 

 ply is the proper filtering of it for use in hatching. It has 

 been found in the experience of all fish culturists that the 

 utmost purity of the water is indispensable. It has been 

 demonstrated; that the purest water to the eye and taste 



bears along with it in its current microscopic matter which, 

 if not strained or filtered, becomes deleterious to the hatch- 

 ing spawn. Mr. Livingstone Stone, one of the most inde- 

 fatigable of the UniteoTStates Deputy Fish Commissioners, 

 who has been intrusted with the collection and hatching of 

 the ova of the Sahno quinnat of the rivers of the Pacific 

 coast, and who established a hatching house on the Mc- 

 Cloud River, a tributary of the Pit, a clear mountain 

 stream, where, in describing his filtering apparatus, he says: 

 "The filtering arrangement was quite perfect. It con- 

 sisted of what the miners call a sand-box, which is merely 

 on empty box to catch the heaviest of the sediment, and 

 of two filtering tanks proper. The water, after leaving the 

 sand-box, passed through ten filters of sand and gravel and 

 eight common filters of flannel. 



"All this provision for cleansing the water did not, how- 

 ever, prevent a fine fungoid growth from coming down 

 with the water on the eggs, which, when it was first discov- 

 ered, had got such a start that its results must have been 

 disastrous had it not been for the ingenuity of my first as- 

 sistant, Mr. John Gr. Woodbury, of San Francisco. Mr. 

 Woodbury, on having his attention directed to the condi- 

 tion of the eggs, suggested the very bold course of wash- 

 ing off the fungus 

 with sand and wa- 

 ter. The plan adopt- 

 ed was to put a few 

 hundred eggs into 

 a pail partly filled 

 with water, and 

 having a handful 

 of fine river sand 

 at the bottom, hold 

 the pail of eggs 

 and sand under a 

 stream of water, 

 and the agitated 

 and whirling sand 

 was brouglit into 

 contact with the 

 whirling eggs so 

 constantly and rap- 

 idly and yet so 

 gently that in a few 

 minutes the fun- 

 gus was entirely 

 cleansed from the 

 eggs, while the eggs 

 were not injured in 

 the least." 



The treatment of 

 Mr. Woodbury was 

 truly bold and he- 

 roic, but as its suc- 

 cess was so marked 

 it may serve as a 

 remedy to be used 

 by others in like 

 cases and under 

 like circumstances. 

 It is quite probable 

 that many failures 

 occur from the bestowal of too little care in filtering the 

 water, which is certainly the best preventive of parasites 

 and fungoid growths— the deadliest enemies to pisciculture. 

 The filtering box should be located at the spring end of the 

 building, the water entering near the centre of the box 

 passes through strainers, the first of which should be made 

 of hair or grass cloth, after which it should be strained 

 through coarse, and finally through fine flannel. A set of 

 these should be placed at each, end of the pipe. The best 

 method of fastening the strainers is to bend them over the 

 ends of the pipe in the manner that a drumhead is fastened 

 to the shell; there they will remain until renewal is neces- 

 sary. From the filtering box the water is conducted along 

 each side of the building in elevated troughs, which are 

 supplied with stop-cocks for each set of trays, and the 

 water in passing down through the different series of trays, 

 when leaving the lowest is received into a funnel, from 

 which it passes into a pipe, as has also been noticed, that 

 leads into a gutter under the supply troughs, from, whence 

 it goes into the race which supplies the ponds. The flow 

 of water is regulated according to the wants of the trays 

 by a stop-cock at the entrance of the supply pipe. Much 

 care should be exercised with a view of maintaining an 

 equable flow that there shall not result a disproportion be- 

 tween demand and supply. Some hatching houses become 

 more disagreeably sloppy than they need be from ignoring 

 a few simple rules in constructing and graduating properly 

 the troughs and trays; the latter should always be leveled 

 that the spawn may be alike submerged, and the former 

 set with an inclination that will give an equable flow of 

 water from the head to the foot of the trough. The troughs 

 or trays, whichever are used, should be covered. Half-inch 

 boards, made to fit closely, will protect the spawn from 

 their numerous and natural enemies. Hats are persistent 

 seekers for eggs, and if the trays are without covers they 

 will destroy thousands. Arsenic and strychnine act 

 promptly in the removal of these pests, and with the exer- 

 cise of great care in their use there is no danger of injury 

 to other animals. For the use of this kind of thieves art 

 has given fish culturists effectual remedies, dead shots, that 

 are infallible; but those thieves which are endowed with 

 reason, and who have acquired such perfection, yea such 

 tact and proficiency in steeling trout, that they almost elude 

 the watchman on duty, they baffle all human instrumen- 

 talities except bloodhounds, which, if properly trained, 

 will scent these vile creatures to their very lairs. Use them 

 and your profit will show a margin that is the legitimate 



outgrowth of honest toil. 



DEAD SHAD IN LAKE ONTARIO. 



Little Falls, N. Y., Sept. 28th, 1875. 

 Editor Forest .and Stream:— 



I notice in your issue of the 23d inst, an article on the probable cause 

 of death of shad in Lake Ontario. While at Henderson Bay last June I 

 noticed quite a number of shad about six inches in length floating on 

 the surface, and was informed by Prince Stevens, an old lake captain 

 and capital oarsman, that the fishermen, in hauling their nets, found 

 large numbers of these shad among the white fish, and that they were 

 dead when removed from the neis and thrown back into the water 



Tours truly, W. H. H. Lintner. 



[This may account for the fish being seen dead on the 

 surface of the water, hut not for the cause of their death 

 unless it was from being gilied in the nets,— Ep.] 



