BOW haw Ss. his COMMISSION PLANTS SiAD. 361 
ends of the car will be found a steam-boil- 
er, a steam-pump, an air-pump for aerat- 
ing the water mechanically (but shad 
fry are too delicate to allow the use of 
this), lockers for the dishes, cooking uten- 
sils and an abundance of et cetera. Then 
there is a little office for the captain. Un- 
der the car is a 600 gallon tank for stor- 
age of water. The pump forces the water 
from this into a somewhat smaller tank in- 
side the car, from which it flows by its own 
weight into the tanks containing the fish. 
Beside all this there is a hatching equip- 
ment so that eggs may be taken aboard 
and hatched en route. All these adapta- 
tions make possible the transportation of 
all kinds and sizes of fish. The illustration 
shows the interior, with the sleeping 
berths closed, some of the uncovered com- 
partments containing the cans (which may 
be imagined full of shad fry), the leg- 
less chairs in place, and the hatching jars 
Me ackeroundadie the leita 9 Mire. cars 
themselves are the most modern product 
of railway carriage construction, from air- 
brakes and combination couplers to signal 
whistles and paper wheels. 
When sufficient numbers of fry have 
hatched to make a car load they are taken 
aboard at the last moment consistent with 
punctuality before the starting of the train 
mnich: isto. pull the car. “Whe fry. are 
held in 10-gallon metal tanks tinned on the 
inside. They look quite like mulk-cans. 
The number of fry allotted to each can 
is often as high as 30,000, which will 
indicate their small size. They may be seen 
by looking down on them in the can, 
provided there be a good light, when they 
suggest to some the larvae of mosquito, 
the “wriggles” or “wiggle-tails’” of ver- 
nacular speech. They swim nervously and 
aimlessly about in the cans as if wonder- 
ing what they are there for. They must 
Teceive constant attention during the jour- 
ney. Their attendants do not need to 
worry about their food, for by a happy pro- 
vision of nature they come into the world 
provided with a supply sufficient to last 
Beweral days. sWinis they carry about 
itd wLrhlenn sin) a sac. the syolik-sac. 
which may be seen as a swelling on the 
under side of the body just back of the 
head. Relative to the proportions of the 
little fish this sac is really of huge size 
and looks like a heavy burden for such 
small fry to support. But it grows con- 
stantly lighter, being absorbed into the 
body without the trouble of being eaten, 
until after 4 or 5 days it can hardly be 
seen without a lens. 
_ But while nature takes the responsibil- 
ity in the matter of food, the fry have to 
be cared for assiduously in other respects. 
A dipperful of water is taken from each 
can and the fry in it are examined. By the 
use of a long glass tube inserted in the can 
to the bottom a sample of the fry from all 
depths is obtained much after the fashion 
of testing butter with a butter trier. In 
this way the crew of the car can keep a 
close watch of the condition of the fish. 
If they are weak or dying they swim feebly 
and spasmodically and allow themselves to 
sink in the water. Among so large a num- 
ber, from one cause or another, some will 
succumb, but unless something unusual oc- 
curs this loss is insignificant. 
A certain amountof freshwateris carried 
but the chief dependence is upon aeration 
of the water that already contains the fry. 
This is accomplished by siphoning away 
a part of it into a large pail, aerating with 
a dipper and returning through a large 
funnel. The siphon is a short piece of rub- 
ber tube of large diameter. The shad fry 
would pass through the siphon with the 
Wah Ompneveit abs: Hie wend ob the 
tube is provided with a fine cheese-cloth 
casing which strains the water. The si- 
phon is started in the approved manner— 
the most convenient and natural one imag- 
inable—by suction with the mouth, which 
sometimes results in a strangling dose of 
water in case the mouth lingers a fraction 
of a second too long at the end of the tube. 
The aeration consists merely in taking a 
dipperful of the water, raising it high 
above the pail and pouring it back from 
this height, a process several times re- 
peated. This and the resulting agitation 
of the water mixes it with air whereby the 
water is purified—tiiterally given an airing. 
The temperature is carefully noted and if 
rising too rapidly ice is used. Likewise if 
the water becomes too cold it must 
be warmed, but this does not often happen 
on shad trips. In general the tempera- 
ture is not allowed to fall below 55° Fahr- 
enheit, nor rise above 65°. 
By these means the water is kept clean 
and life-sustaining, while the car is tear- 
ing along toward the streams in which 
these little shad are to find their home un- 
til instinct bids them seek the ocean. The 
load may number 2 or 3 million fry which 
are to be divided into perhaps half a dozen 
plants. Often the stream in which a 
plant is to be placed is crossed by the rail- 
road over which the train is running. In 
this case arrangements are usually made 
with the conductor to stop his train at this 
crossing for the few moments necessary to 
deposit the fry. As there are in most cases 
a number of cans of fry for each plant and 
as the train must not be delayed longer 
than absolutely necessary, the crew, dur- 
ing the last few moments before arrival at 
the stream, engage themselves in “doubling 
up” or combining the contents of all the 
cans for this plant into one or two cans. 
This crowds perhaps several hundred thou- 
sand fry into one can, but for such a very 
short time that it works no injury to them. 
RE tn eh eS A re me 

