Jttrs 8, 1853.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



S71 



J$wlfmlinre. 



E AMERICAN F1SHCULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 



FBOCBHDIN&S ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 

 [conttntted]. 

 R. PHILLIPS— This most, interesting paper by Prof. Ry- 

 der -will be read with much interest. The changes of 

 r in the oyster has long attracted the attention of oyster- 

 i, bat no valid causes have, heretofore been given for them. 

 a is this aed by Mr. Carley, in Fulton 



black. I u the South' they have a dark oya- 

 vviiieh they c?„U the mulatto oyster. Prof, Ryder has thor- 

 Uyinvea > nhjeet of color, and has exploded the 



B green color is caused by copper. There is no 

 al more easily found than copper, where it exists, and a 

 m different te^ts are in the hands of every housekeeper, 

 ch would show i - ii an instant. Prof. Leidy took 



nnaass, which was said to give 

 green color, and proved that it was of vegetable origin 

 jund that it is a vegetable organism which enters 

 ■ird to their artificial culture Prof. Ryder 

 eves that if the water is kept pure by flowing currents 

 r the young they can be reared. In his experiments they 

 T survived Six days, but his arrangements were incomplete. 

 Ms can be done we can replenish" our ovster beds at our 

 isure. 



'.n. Hewlett— Some oysters that a,re planted in the fall are 

 white. Some are green when we get them, but if they do 

 -~" the color comes right. It depends greatly on what the 



ir feeds on. 

 _ :e. Phillips— The question of breeding is the most, impor- 

 tant one. It is now reduced nearly to the point that the nsh- 

 oultui ists have reached. Prof. Ryder has distinguished the 

 male from the female, has taken the ova and fertilized it and 

 developed it until the unfortunate sixth day. He has not, vet 

 oarried them beyond that, but no doubt will accomplish it an- 

 other season. 



The President— We would like to hear from Col. McDon- 

 ald on the breeding of shad, and their relations to water tem- 

 peratures. 



Col. McDonald — The reasons why fishes return to the 



aters where they are bred are not well established. We 



we had many theories on the subject, some claiming that 



_aey are guided by memory and others by scent. It is more 



» likely that they are governed by temperatures, and the 

 ^question of the relation of temperature to the migrations of 

 Babes ig so important that several European governments, 

 ■ particularly Eq gland and Sweden, are engaged in investi- 

 I gating it and its particular relations to the migration of the 

 I herrinr. A difference of three degrees is often very important 

 I and may exclude a fish from our coast. The duration of the 

 I river life of shad is determined by temperature. The young 

 I leave the rivers on the arrival of a certain temperature and 

 I not at a certain time. Adult shad enter rivers at a tempera- 

 jtui'O of between sixty and seventy degrees. On the St. 

 1 John's River, Fla., the height, of the season is in December, 

 I yet observations at Jacksonville show that the shad do not 

 "enter the rivers until the temperature reaches 70 deg., and. 

 what is an anomoly, they enter when the temperature is fall- 

 ing, while on all other rivers with which we are familiar they 

 enter when it is risin : r . Shad do not run out of Chesapeake 

 Bay on 5 J deg., and let the temperature of Long Island Sound 

 he 55 and the shad will probably remain there. I have a 

 table of the temperatures at Old Point which gives the 

 temperature of the bay on the land side between the gulf and 

 the shore. I found the outside temperature below 50. The 

 Chesapeake is wanner then than the rivers. After warm 

 rains come down the rivers they are warmer than the bay, 

 between 60 ana 05, and the main run of shad begins and 'is 

 between these figures, Tables Bhow that fluctuations of 

 catch and temperature are similar until the latter reaches 80 

 deg., when the catch ceases. Food follows temperature and 

 fish follow food. 

 The President — How about the salmon? 

 Col. McDonald— There is little doubt but the Balmon are 

 affected by temperature. We have put out the California 

 salmon all alona,' our coast, and they have lived and gone to 

 sea. May it not be that the temperature forbids their return; 

 The Atlantic salmon, S, s<dar, enters rivers on a falling temper- 

 . a the temperature of our rivers suits both the salmon 

 and the shad, in their seasons, but our Atlantic streams are 

 Staging downwarni waters in July and August when the 

 Calif ornia so Imon wish to ascend. On their own coast the 

 Bhort moun lain streams are then cool from melting snows 

 and they ascend. I know of but one exception to this state of 

 affairs on the Atlantic coast. That is the Alabama River, 

 which carries water colder than the bay into which it emp- 

 ties, and if we are to have the California salmon in any river 

 of our Atlantic coast that is the river. 



The PflEsmENT — Such observations, founded as they are on 

 the careful records of the United States Fish Commission, are 

 of the greatest value. The migrations of salmon have been 

 matched with interest in all countries which possess them. 

 Mr. Atkins, in Maine, and Mr. Wflmot, in Canada, have 

 attached tags to them in order to identify them on their 

 retu> n. This has also been done in Scotland, with interesting 

 results. 



Mb. Wilmot — I feel it a duty to except to Col, McDonald's 

 theory of the migration of salmon because the salmon is the 

 highest migratory fish of the world, and by highest I mean 

 the most intelligent. I have never heard this theory before, 

 but it does not seem to be a correct one.. Shad do not breed 

 in New Brunswick, and I have not had as much experience 

 with them as with salmon, but believe that they are moved 

 merely by instinct, while the salmon are intelligent, or at 

 least have stronger instincts. There is much difference in the 

 strength of instinct. The horse has a stronger instinct than 

 the ass. I am not prepared to enter into an extended argu- 

 ment on this subject, but will call, attention to the. fact that 

 Mr. Livingston Stone says that the temperature is lower in 

 California* than in the rivers of the East, at the time when 

 the eggs are gathered. He kept a daily record of the tem- 

 perature and found it lowei than our Canada dyers-, because 

 of the melting snows in midsummer. I do not tliuiK that the 

 temperature has much bo do with the movements of salmon. 

 Col. McD' inajjj— I don't think that wo disagree. If a sal- 

 mon can choose between a temperature of sixty-five and sev- 

 io doubt it will do it and avoid the warmer one, 

 Mb. Wilmot— Not if it is a native of it. 

 Col. McDonald— It is a well-known and established fact 

 movements ol : > ted by temperature, U 



Mains when the water is at a low tem- 

 perature you will find no cod, not because thBJ are cosmo- 

 politan m their habits and move from place to place by 

 caprice, but because of the temperature. When cod are there 

 a tall m the thermometer of two or three degrees will send 

 them off. The California salmon spawns when can - 

 warm. Its. own waters are warm, al-- :Lug colder 



ones, which it finds on . - - not ' >u the Atlan- 



tic. On our coast it lives in a temperature of sixty, and when 

 it seeks to enter rivers it finds them up to eighty, and there- 

 fore they will not go in. They find no suitable waters to 

 spawn in on our coast. 

 Db. Hudson— We have put 300,000 California salmon fiy in 

 J. the Merrimac River. They were ready for distribution in 

 ward found hundreds of them three inches 

 length. They went down, and we have not seen them 

 ;e. This shows that they found food and grew, but whether 

 y fail to hud food at sea or not, or if they do not rind suita- 



ble waters for spawning I dont know, but incline to think 

 that Col. McDonald is correct. 



Mb. Wilmot— I may be laughed at for the statement, but 

 "will say that the Califoraian salmon may possibly become At- 

 lantic salmon, and that I have always thought so, and that 

 the Eastern salmon taken West would become the Californian 

 salmon. 



Mb. Evabts— I agree with Mr. Wilmot. The salmon will 

 change its color and the color of its flesh. 



Mb. Matheb— It is impossible. Of course food and water 

 will change color, but the quinnat or Californian salmon is a 

 different nan, haB a different structure, the most marked of 

 which is more rays in the anal fin, at least six or seven more. 

 And food and water would not change this in fifty genera- 

 tions of them unless hybridized. They are as different as our 

 brook and lake tronte, which retain their distinct peculiarities 

 in the same lake for years. The. differences are not merely in 

 color but in structure, as shown in the skeletons. Any one 

 can see it in the teeth of the two trouts. Color counts for but 

 very little in ichthyology, and a quinnat salmon differs from 

 the S, safer as much as the horse and the ass. 



Mb. Blackford— There is no doubt of that. A Californian 

 salmon could not change so as to be mistaken for an Atlantic 

 one by an expert. 



Mb. Wilmot then read extracts from his forthcoming report 

 on the decrease of salmon in the maritime Provinces of the 

 Dominion, but as it had not been published he took the paper 

 with him. 



The Secretary then read a paper from Prof. G-. Brown 

 Goode on "The Swordfish," which will be begun in our next. 



F1SHCULTURE IN TEXAS. 



PREVIOUS to any efforts at fishculture by the State of 

 Texas, Professor Baird, the United States Commissioner 

 of Fisheries, sent several shipments of both shad and Califor- 

 nia salmon mto the State. We have been at some pains to 

 gather the following facts concerning subsequent operations, 

 and place them on record. 



On March 81. 1881, the regular session of the seventeenth 

 Legislature of Texas passed au act appropriating five thousand 

 dollars annually (for two years) "for the. propagation, preser- 

 vation and distribution of fish," and aut lorizing the Governor 

 to appoint a Fish Commissioner. Under this act Mr. J. H. 

 Dinktns was appointed. In June, 1881, Mr. Dinkins sent to 

 Washington and received from the U. S. Fish Commissioner 

 three hundred thousand shad fry. One hundred and fifty 

 thousand were taken through to Austin. Eighty thousand of 

 these were deposited in the Colorado R ver at Austin, and the 

 remainder (70,000) were deposited in the San Marcus, Guada- 

 lupe, and San Antonio rivers; in what proportion is not 

 known. One hundred and fifty thousand were deposited in 

 the Sabine River: these fish were in a dying condition when 

 turned into the Sabine. 



In December, 18S1, Mr. Dinkins was accidentally killed by 

 being run over by a sleeping car at Walker's station, on the 

 G. H. & S. A. R. R. 



Governor Roberts appointed Mr. R. R. Robertson Fish Com- 

 missioner on Dec. 27, ISSl. In January, 18SJ, some two thou- 

 sand carp were distributed by the State Commissioner. 



Mr. Robertson has constructed on Barton's Creek, near 

 Austin, three carp ponds, covering three and a half acres. 

 One pond of one-half acre was started with fifty scale carp on 

 April 5, 1882. Some of these carp were twenty-seven inches 

 long when put in the pond. The fish spawned soon after they 

 were placed in the hatching pond, and on May 5 the small fry 

 were run into another pond by means of siphons. Although 

 all the breeding fish were scale carp, fully one-third of the 

 small fry are mirror carp. 



In April Mr. Robertson received from the U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission four thousand California rainbow trout. Three thou- 

 sand of these were placed in the Comal Springs, near New 

 Braunfels; temperature of water in the springs, 70 deg. F. 

 One thousand were placed in Barton Springs, near Austin. 

 Though these lish -were not more than five-eighths of an inch 

 long when turned loose, they soon appeared to be at home, 

 and on January 1 were very lively and growing well 



On May 16 Mr. Ellis, of the U. *S. Fish Commission, depos- 

 ited in the Colorado River, at Austin, one million shad and 

 three million herring fry. On the 17th Mr. Ellis started back 

 to Washington, canying with him a motley lot of fish, as 

 samples, from the Colorado River— catfish, suckers, buffalo, 

 perch, "gaspergoo," trout (bass), alligator and needle gars, 

 turtles, etc.— as a contribution from the. Fish Commissioner of 

 Texas to Prof. Baird Mr. Ellis also carried with him to 

 Washington about a dozen young carp of this spring's spawn- 

 ing, some of which were two inches long, and were not a 

 month old. 



THE NEW TRANSPORTATION CAR.— The new railroad 

 car of the United States Fish Commission, built for transport- 

 ing fry, or for hatching them on the way, is partially com- 

 pleted', and left Washington for the Nariticoke River, Dela- 

 ware, on the 1st inst., with one million shad fry. The ar- 

 rangements for circulating the water are not yet completed. 

 When all is finished we will give a description of it. The sea- 

 son for shad eggs has been the worst ever known. 



Vhe Menndi* 



FIXTURES. 



BENCH SHOWS. 



June 6, 7, 8 and 9.— Cleveland, O., First Annual Bench Show of the 

 Cleveland Bench Show Association. Charles Lincoln, Superintendent; 

 C. M, Muiihall, Secretary. 



Western Pennsylvania Poultry Society's Bench Show Derby Pitts- 

 ourgh, Pa., for English setters whelped on or after March 1, 3882. 

 Entries close December 1, 1H82. 1. R. Stayton, Secretary, Allegheny 



FIELD TRIALS. 



September 4.— National American Kennel Club Field Trials on Prairie 

 Chickens, Fairmont, Minn. Entries for the Derby close July 1, for the 

 All-aged. Sept. 4. Jos. H. Dew, Columbia, Tenn., Seeretarv. 



November 17- -Eastern Field Trials Club Field Trials on "Quail, near 

 High Point. N. C. Entries for the Derby close July 1. For the All- 

 Aged and Members' Stake, November 1. F. N. HaU, P. O. Box 884, 



■ r 4— National American Kennel Club Field Trials on Quail, 

 Grand junction, Tenn. D. Bryson, Memphis, Tenn., Secretary. 



ENGLISH SHOWS AND CLUBS. 



THERE are some spicy letters by "Sprint" in the Live Stock 

 JowmaZ, from which we take the following, which is 

 "mostly about the Kennel Club." 



Many a time of late have I blushed to be thought one of 

 you. Yes! and "my hair has stood on end with horror" on 

 the bare recollection of the fact that for well into the teens 

 of years have I mixed freely amongst dog shows and their 

 lwibitv.es. and never, until recently, was I aware the danger 

 incurred in so doingi because of the general moral rottenness 

 and actual dishonesty by which our canine exhibitions, then- 

 promoters, committees, and judges, and exhibitors too, are 

 surrounded. At least the ordinary observer would think 

 such actually the case, were he to form his opinion from 

 certain articles which have, within the past few months, 

 appeared in the columns of the various newspapers devoted 

 to the "fancy." That I have moved in such a circle for so 

 long, and at the same time kept my innocence and honesty 

 intact, cannot for a moment be supposed, especially when 

 one has not forgotten that "copy head" we were wont to 

 write in small hand at school, which was something to the 



effect that "evil communications corrupt good manners." 

 Well, let us hope I may prove that exception which is under- 

 stood to be a part and parcel of every rude. 



I shall write of dog shows and their recent movements 

 with a full conviction that I have received no contaminations 

 from them, and that it is very hard their suarotmdings 

 should be condemned in the wholesale maimer they 

 have been, merely because of the presence of one 

 rotwo "black sheep." As I before hinted, my con- 

 nection with matters canine has been an unbroken one 

 for many years, and during the period I have attended shows 

 in all parts of the country, and associated with and become 

 known to a large majority of exhibitors. This was before the 

 establishment of the Kennel Club, and hud I been certain my 

 hobby would prove more than a transient one, I should doubt- 

 less have been one of the original members of that body. But 

 such was not to be the case, and I do not know whether at 

 the present moment the general public, or even my humble 

 3elf, would be one iota the better for my membership, taking 

 into consideration the sum required to be expended in sub- 

 scriptions, no inconsiderable one, up to the present time. Per- 

 haps as this money has been spent in some other way it may 

 have benefited the nation at large. There is nothing like 

 "turning money over," not m your pocket, as is the custom in 

 Home parts of the country when you hear "cuckoo ! cuckoo!" 

 cried, but in the ordinary course of business. 



Some two or three years ago it was the custom to find fault 

 with and vilify certain of our dog show judges, but they, 

 happy and contented enough in their innocence, could afford 

 to look on and laugh. They took no more notice of the 

 bitter growlings and' false denunciations of disappointed ex- 

 hibitors, than does the moon at the nocturnal bowlings of 

 some wakeful dog. Ding, dongl for a time did these grumb- 

 ling ones pitch into the judges; but they tired at last, for it 

 was very much like "kicking against pricks." This was not 

 found to be, in the long run, a pleasant diversion, so gradually 

 it grew into desuetude, and some other mode of giving vent 

 to one's overburdened feeling had to be resorted to. The peD 

 tickled the fingers and could not be let alone. The judges 

 were found to be impervious to calumny; the Kennel Club, 

 the self-elected guardian over doggy matters, perhaps might 

 not be so. We wiil spend some time and expend some ink in 

 giving it a. "dust." And so the 'cry went round and the Ken- 

 nel Club was to be the next victim of cacoctlies scribendi. I 

 do not propose here defending the actions of this club in any 

 way. because I know quite as well as anyone else that it has 

 but itself to blame for the damaging critiques upon its man- 

 agement and transactions which have from time to time ap- 

 peared. The great error the club first fell into was its total 

 failure as a representative body. This was marked even at 

 its early commencement, and with the increasing popularity 

 of dog shows, became more so as the ramifications of the 

 latter extended. 



Composed, as the Kennel Club is, of a body of men occupy 

 ing a high and leading position in the social scale, it a ppears 

 to me to govern that portion of the doggy world over which 

 it presides with as high a hand as one would expect to find 

 the House of Lords do with regard to the country were the 

 Commons House absent. But, unlike the "Upper House" 

 would do, the Kennel Club makes some pretense of consult- 

 ing the ordinary exhibitor, and even went to some trouble and 

 expense to get his opinion on matters of considerable import- 

 ance. This was many months ago, but the result of these 

 opinions we have not had yet. Were they merely obtained 

 as a sop? It appears as though this might be so, "for at the 

 time the questions were issued there was sore grumbling at 

 the institution of the registration fee. It might be that, as 

 the club, in a degree enforced the payment of a shilling fee for 

 christening, so they would, under the plea of giving a return 

 for his money, let the exhibitor have the pretense of a vote 

 in the formation of certain rales of the club. So far the lat- 

 ter has proved but a shadowy creation, and time alone will 

 show whether the substance was ever in fact. 



I suppose the suggestion of an attempt to remodel the 

 Kennel Club will scarcely find a supporter within the walls of 

 29a, Pall Mall. Its members must not forget that dog shows 

 are much more a national institution now than they were 

 when their club was first formed. Tens of thousands of 

 people annually visit and take an interest in them. They are 

 open to the p'ublic, they are supported by the public, they 

 usurp some public money, and, more or less, are public 

 property. Such being undoubtedly the case, their governing 

 power should be a public body, and not a strictly private and 

 exclusive one. There can be no resemblance between the 

 Jockey Club and the Kennel Club, because the former, more 

 or less a private coterie, has to do with what is much more of 

 a private nature than are dog shows. Horse-racing is a 

 pastime which cannot be followed by the million, and the 

 rules applying thereto are strictly conservative in their work- 

 ings. \V hen the members of the Kennel Club constitute 

 themselves as dictators to the dog show world, and in exten- 

 uation thereof say they occupy a similar position in canine 

 matters as the Jockey Club does in equine ones, they quite 

 overlook the difference there is between the two "schools." 



The Kennel Club, to become the power it would wish to be, 

 will have to be modified in many ivays, as in these clays of 

 freedom and personal liberty the million will never consent to 

 a dictatorship, especially when they have not the slightest 

 voice in the election of the dictator. It were well that our 

 dog shows had some governing body upon whom to look for 

 advice and a general code of rules, but it is not well that this 

 body should be a self-elected one, and composed of gentlemen 

 who are possessed of little in common with the general pub- 

 lic, and whose sympathies he elsewhere. My ideal Kennel 

 Club must be altogether representative, and elected by a ma- 

 jority of those who have an interest in cognate matters. 

 Until such a club as this is formed there will always be discus- 

 sion and paper warfare, and a general inclination to, as the 

 saying goes, "grumble the cat's tail out of joint." 



[In his second paper, after a column of advice to the Kennel 

 Club, he continues:] 



During the past few years there has been, and even now is, 

 throughout the country a perfect rage for clubs. Every vil- 

 lage almost must have its Conservative or Liberal club, or 

 both, and even each variety of cam's familiaris must be so 

 honored, or their respective admirers are deemed very remiss. 

 Now, what good are these clubs doing* We have a Fox-ter- 

 rier Club, a Dandie Dinmont Club, one for St. Bernards, 

 another for Collies, still another for Dachshimds, and there 

 may be a score of others for anything I know to the contrary. 

 Then there is the Northern Counties Canine Association, and' 

 last, though perhaps not the least, though the youngest, the 

 British Kennel Association— at least, 1 believe that is its name- 

 Now, I say what good are all these clubs doing or going to do? 

 Their promoters say improve the breed of the respective 

 variety of dogs in which each is interested. Shows would do 

 and did do this without the formation of the clubs. The 

 writer has been a member of some of these clubs, and after 

 obtaining a fan insight into their working coidd not conscien- 

 tiously remain so, by reason of their exclusiveness. Of course 

 some are more so than others, but to put it shortlv, excluding 

 of course the last named ones, they are composed of a few 

 breeders and exhibitors who draw up certain scales of points 

 and generally dictate or attempt to dictate to other breeders, 

 not being members of then - club, what such a dog shoxdd be. 

 Giving the members of these clubs every credit for disinter- 

 estedness, it does seem to outsiders that the desire is to put 

 forward their own dog, or strain, or variety to the exclusion 

 of others. As the oldest and most wealthy of minor clubs, 

 and one of all others which is comprised of * honorable men, I 

 will specially mention the Fox-terrier Club. What do we see? 

 A small gathering ot not more than forty members, I believe, 

 probably fewer, laying down the law and over-riding the 

 opinions of ten times that number of fanciers of the sama 



