May 1, 1881 J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



269 



JlKNRY lUVTNU \S US A.XGLEK.— The English Fkhli)(/ 



7, says Ui;U. Mr. Henry Irving, the actor, isau enthusi- 

 astic angler, and an accomplished artist with Hie tly-rod; 

 and it is no secret that he owes much of his .success on (file 

 stage to those quiet days on the front stream, when the study 

 Of Shakespeare and the killing of trout alternately occupied 

 his attention. Another great exponent of Shakespeare on 

 the stage, the late Mr, Phelps, spent mostoii Iris spare tune in 

 fly-fishing tor trout in the Darenth, at Famingham. 



Fish PfiO'.CECTlO'N in New Jersey.- The Governor has 

 appointed Mr. Henrj Keenan, of No. 1 to Mill street, Pater- 

 son, N. J., the Fish Warden of Greenwood Fake, in place 

 of Elhis Simile, whose term has expired, Mr. Keenau isnlsu 

 the Fish Warden qf. the F&SSaiG CJQlinty Fisli and Game Pro- 

 tective Society, and is said, to he an energetic man as well as 

 an enthusiastic angler. 



A ITEKxiApnuoDirE Shad.— Mr. E. G. Blackford reports 

 that (here was a shad iu Fulton Market recently which was 

 a true hermaphrodiie, containing on one side an ovary and 

 on the other a spermary. or roe and milt as they are called. 

 The tjsh was sent to Professor Baird, who pronounces it to 

 be a well-developed case of hermaphroditism. 



National Rod and Reel Association. -There will be 

 a meeting of the Association at the Metropolitan Hotel, on 

 , Tuesday TMu.v 6, at 5 o'clock P. Al. Arrangements for the 

 next tournament will he discussed and the date fixed. Mem- 

 bers may remit the annual dues (pi) to the secretary, Fred 

 Mather, Cold Spring Harbor. New York. 



Sturgeon Hooks,— Delaware City, Del., April 22,—Fdi- 

 tor Fhresi and Stream: Will "Vemx"." or some other reader, 

 please sive exact size of books used for catching sturgeon 

 with bait and line. I wish to try it on the Delaware, as no 

 one has ever fished for them here with line and hooks. — C. 

 Von Ctjlin. 



^Mlfcnlture. 



THE NEW YORK FISH COMMISSION. 



■VTTE have received the thirteenth report of the New York 

 VV Fishery Commission, being a biennial report, trans- 

 mitted to the Legislature Feb. 1, 1884 It is a very valuable 

 one, in fact the best of the series, and shows that the Commis- 

 sion is an active and progressive one, It comprises 131 octavo 

 pages, and is filled with readable matter and embelhshed with 

 several new cuts. The fi ontispiece shows the new hatchery 

 at Caledonia, which is a substantial building. The report 

 covers so much ground and is so well written in every part 

 that it is difficult to condense it or to select extracts. 



Smcc the establishment of the Commission in 18(59, there has 

 been planted from the Caledonia station, 55,534,800 voung 

 shad, 12,519,000 lake trout, 0,909,200 brook trout, 1,499.01)0 

 rainbow trout, 45,-SOO hybrid trout, 2.000 Kennebeck salmon, 

 678.000 California salmon. 18,000 land-locked salmon, 2,480,000 

 whitelish, 900.000 frost fish, 84.920 black bass, 3, 004 pike-perch, 

 2,655 yellow perch, 5,825 bullheads, 155,000 sturgeon, 93,000 

 eels, and 610 German carp. 



From Cold Spring Harbor, in 1883, there was planted 62,000 

 brook trout, 600,000 whitetish, 26,200 rainbow trout, 85,000 

 land-locked salmon and 295.000 Penobscot salmon, the latter 

 on account of the U. S. Fish Commission. In the work at 

 Cold Spring Harbor the Commissioners have received valuable 

 aid from the IT. S. Commission, of which Commissioner Spencer 

 F. Baird is the efficient head. Commissioner Baird has fur- 

 nished this station with most of its spawn. He has also given 

 it useful apparatus, and last year, during the hatching season, 

 paid the salary of the superintendent. All the fish hatched 

 at the station were deposited in New York waters. 



The production of shad , owing to the total barring of the 

 lower Hudson by nets, and thus preventing spawn-bearing 

 fish from ascending to shoal water, has latterly much dimin- 

 ished. The Commission recommend that, in order to allow 

 the fish to have a little show for their free passage up the 

 river, a law be passed requiring that all nets be taken up each 

 Saturday night, remaining up until Monday morning, which 

 would in a measure increase the facilities for hatching this 

 most valuable food fish. An interesting description of the 

 hatching and work of the Commission is given under this 

 head. Ten millions of fry should be floated yearly to keep up 

 the market supply, and unless some means are taken by the 

 Legislature whereby more fish may be secured for stripping, 

 shad must cease to be an article of food for the many and 

 take rank among those costly fish which are classed as 

 luxuries. 



Next in importance to the shad supply in the Hudsou the 

 Commission places the maintenance of the stock of salmon 

 trout in the inland lakes. But for the stocking of the Com- 

 mission during the past ten years, these waters would have 

 been practically barren of this valuable fish, which for size 

 and quality can claim rank next to the salmon. The salmon 

 trout is a fish which has a fondness for deep, pure and cold 

 water. Indeed, he will live in no other, and though his food 

 is 1 mainly fish, it is cleanly, and where it exists in abundance 

 the growth is rapid. After the second year the progress is at 

 a rate equaled by no other fresh-water fish of his quality. He 

 is caught with sufficient facility by fair methods for reasonable 

 market supply, bears transportation well and retains his 

 quality, under proper conditions, a fan- time after his capture. 

 Whilethe chief supply for the markets of the State come frorn 

 the great Northwestern lakes, the liberal stocking of the lakes 

 in New York will, in the absence of netting, soon provide an 

 available stock from inland sources of a superior quality of 

 fish. The supply of spawn this year - is sufficient to enable the 

 Commission to distribute double the amount of fry of previous 

 years. A gratifying indication of the advance in public senti- 

 ment regarding fishculture is shown by the fact that, where a 

 few years ago it was found difficult to place the fish, and the 

 State was forced to bear the expense of transportation, now 

 the only difficultv is to supply the demands. The efforts of the 

 Commission to increase the supply of this fish have, in some of 

 the larger waters, been retarded by violators of the law who, 

 with spears or other greedy devices, destroy myriads of the 

 salmon trout when rich with spawn and ready to contribute 

 a thousandfold to the stock. Such action cannot be too greatly 

 deprecated nor too severely punished. The Commission will 

 hereafter refuse to stock any waters where the public senti- 

 ment is not honest or brave enough to protect the fish from 

 these selfish and greedy murderers. 



Of brook trout, the report says: "This peerless beauty, 

 with his gold-flecked sides, his game qualities and his delicious 

 flesh, ranks foremost among the fresh-water fish. This prince 

 among the finny tribes deserves more than passing mention. 

 Like all great luxuries, he is costly. He cannot be produced 

 in overstock by nature, for he is the object of constant pur- 

 suit trom the time he becomes a flngerling till he succumbs to 

 the fisherman's fine. Nor a prolific spawnerlike the hard- 

 rayed fish, careless of his seed after it has been cast in the 

 waters, and not scrupling to satisfy his appetite by the con- 

 sumption of his own kind when other food is not at hand, the 

 stock, in places accessible to his captors, cannot be kept up by 

 natural means, and but for the art of pisciculture many 

 waters in which he formerly existed in abundance would 



know him no longer. The process of hatching and rea ring 

 fish of the trout family is slower and more costly than that Of 

 other fishes. The stock Osh must be kept and fed the year 

 around in order to obtain the spawn. The fry, too, after 

 batching, must bo fed, after the absorption of the yolk sac, till 

 thev arc deposited in the waters they are thereafter to inhabit 

 The rearing of brook and salmon trout forms the larger share 

 of the expenses of the Caledonia hatchery. The law granting 

 the appropriation for hatching brook tiout was passed in 

 1S:.\ and au average of 1,000,000 fry have been hatched and 

 distributed annually since, The result has been eminently 

 successful." 



to were Salmo fario. With this correction we quote the 

 report as follows: "Last year there were hatched at Cale- 

 donia and at Cold Spring a few thousand saibling— the brook 

 trout of Germany. These are the same kind of fish known in 

 England as the Salmo fario— a fish in its structure more nearly 

 resembling the salmon than it. does our brook trout. The 

 scientists now call the latter charr, to distinguish it from its 

 English and California rival. Some English writers hold that 

 the Sahno fario is the better fish. Then' judgment, however, 

 is based upon comparison with American fish that Dave been 

 placed in English waters, where, on account of the sluggish 

 flow and the higher temperature, they could not reach their 

 best development. If there is a better fish than the brook 

 trout of the American Atlantic coast, in its native waters, it is 

 vet to be found hi depths to which the angler's hook has not 

 penetrated. The quality of any fish is largely affected by the 

 quality of the water it inhabits, and there is no water in the 

 world'that can excel in coolness and purity the pure crystal 

 currents that flow oceanward from North American moun- 

 tains. 



The saibling at Caledonia have done well, but are not yet 

 old enough to show of what service they may become in our 

 waters. It is probable that the latter, being better than the 

 water whence the stock came, the fish will be better than 

 those in their native streams. Thus far they have shown a 

 tendencv to rapid and vigorous growth. Those at Cold Spring 

 Harbor,'f i om causes explained in the report of Superintendent 

 Mather, have not done as well. The spawn were a compli- 

 mentary gift to Mr. Mather from Mr. F. von Behr, of Berlin, 

 whose writings in Europe, republished in English translations 

 here, have been so valuable an addition to the literature of 

 fishculture. 



The rainbow trout have skowm remarkable vitality and 

 fecundity. At Caledonia, they grow more rapidly than our 

 native brook trout in the same water. The stream that sup- 

 plies this hatchery is stronglv impreanated with lime. We 

 have observed that at Cold Spring Harbor, where a few thou- 

 sand were hatched last year, from spawn obtained at Cale- 

 donia, that the growth in the soft water of Long Island was" 

 much more rapid than in the hard water of Caledonia creek ; 

 the rate of growth in six months at Cold Spring being quite 

 equal to one year's growth at Caledonia. There is a differ- 

 ence also in the growth of our native brook trout at the two 

 places; the fish developing more rapidly in the soft water 

 than in the hard ; but the. difference in the case of the brook 

 trout is not as great as in the rainbow species. This tends to 

 show that the latter will thrive much the best in soft water. 



A good deal is to be learned yet respecting temperature and 

 other local conditions affecting fish. Till the past year not 

 enough had been done in stocking with rainbow trout to war- 

 rant "a judgment of them ultimate success in waters on the 

 Atlantic side. Their time of spawning occurring at a different 

 season from that of the native, brook trout, it would not seem 

 to be policy to plant them in waters inhabited by that fish. 

 The protective seasons woidd need to be different, and inhab- 

 iting the same waters one kind might be taken often when the 

 other was fished for, and thus unintended violations would be 

 liable to occur. An obstacle to their ready success in our 

 waters presents itself in the circumstance that at the season 

 the fry are ready to plant, ah other fish are greedily feeding, 

 and consequently a considerable share of the fry are liable to 

 be nipped in the bud. This, however, may be avoided by pro- 

 viding places where the f ly can be free frorn the presence of 

 predatory enemies till they are able to look after their own 

 safety. 



From the circumstance that they have not been readily 

 found always, in the second year, where the plants have been 

 made, it has been surmised" that they are a migratory fish- 

 working their way, as soon as they attain any considerable 

 growth, down stream toward the ocean. Then- disappear- 

 ance, however, may be accounted for by the other cause- 

 stated. Further experiments will be necessary to solve all the 

 problems connected with their establishment in Eastern 

 waters; but the promise continues to be that they will prove 

 themselves a fish of great value in stocking large streams 

 whose temperature is too high for brook trout. As to the 

 quality of this fish, the Commissioners reiterate their judg- 

 ment expressed in their last report, that under the same con- 

 ditions of water and food, they will be found not inferior to 

 the native brook trout. 



The hybridizing of trout is much practiced at Caledonia and 

 is claimed to produce good results. It is of doubtful, utility, 

 however, as it has been tried for years in Germany, and has 

 not met with much favor. It will produce a larger fish than 

 the brook trout by crossing it with the lake trout, but its hab- 

 its are uncertain. 



Land-locked salmon have done well in Adirondack waters, 

 notably in Woodkull Lake, anil the planting will be continued. 

 The eggs come from the U. S. hatchery at Grand Lake Stream, 

 Maine. This fish has been distributed with success by the 

 Commission in Woodhull Lake, Blood River, South Lake, and 

 in the waters of the Fulton chain. Of the first deposit in 

 Woodhull Lake, the larger number, wherftheir spawning sea- 

 son arrived, true to instinct, took advantage of the open gates 

 to descend and spawn in the beds of the stream below. Of 

 these a number went still further down the stream to a smaller 

 lake several miles below, passing on their way through two 

 intervening lakes and their connecting streams. It is thought 

 that fish from this stock will eventually workthrough to Lake 

 Ontario. The fish in Woodhull Lake in 18S3 ranged from t wo 

 to four pounds, a remarkable size for four years old. In the 

 Fulton lakes they will thrive and eventually become very 

 abundant. 



No part of the work of the Commissioners has given more 

 thoroughly satisfactory results than the distribution of black 

 bass. This Osh was originally unknown to waters other than 

 those directly connected with the great lakes; now they are 

 perhaps the most numerous and widely distributed of game 

 fish. The Erie Canal was the first medium of communication 

 between .uake Erie ; the stock farm of the bass, to the interior- 

 streams. The business of increasing and multiplying their 

 race has been attended to by the fish themselves. A dozen 

 pairs of mature fish, protected from netting, is sufficient to 

 lay the foundation of an imperishable colony. The "Western 

 wide waters" at Rochester is the source of the State's supply. 

 There are two distinct varieties of this prince of finny fellows, 

 the small-mouth, who claims the lead in quality and who 

 affects rock bottom, and the large-mouth, by whom a mucky 

 or grassy bottom is preferred. To the skillful angler a rise to 

 a fly by a black bass of any weight is not exceeded by any 

 other sport. 



The pike-perch, known to many as the wall-eyed perch, is, 

 like the bass, a voracious but clean feeder. He takes his food 

 alive, and consequently does not partake of tainted sub- 

 stances. He is a game fish, too, as many an angler knows who 

 has had the pleasure of hooking him. As a table fish he is one 

 of the best in. fresh water. He is a rapid and hearty breeder, 

 and needs no artificial help to sustain bis stock. 



The summary' of work regarding the food and breeding 



i oi sol < the sei propagation 



of the. oyster, by Prof, 11. J, IF i ceedingly valuable 



E.aper, and is must rated w ith cuts of the apparatus devised by 

 im in his experiments in breeding oysters in the. Fulton 

 Market laboratory. W e would refer those interested to the 

 repnrt itself. 



The 8alt-Water; work at Cold Spring Harbor promises to be of 

 the greatest value, while much good work in the fresh-water 

 department has been done, The superintendent, in his report 

 to the Commissioners, Bays: 



"I have a firm belief in the value of this station for any 

 work at present done in lishculturc, except shad, which re- 

 quires river and not spring water, and as for the salt-water 

 department the possibilities 'are beyond my calculation 



•'The facilities for oyster breeding are exceptionally fine, 

 and the place has been examined by f'rof. 11. .). Rice, whose 

 valuable experiments in hatching 'oysters are well known, 

 and he is of the opinion that the grounds are well adapted to 

 oysture culture, should the Commission wash to undertake it. 

 The oyster industry here is a large one and seed is scarce. 



''There seems practically no limit to what may be done in the 

 cultivation of salt-water, fishes, except the. supply of 

 The water we have of proper density and very pure, in an un- 

 limited quantity. Give, us the eggs and we will turn out the 

 fish." 



The appendices contain encouraging letters to Supt. Green, 

 of the Caledonia hatchery, and the recoid of distributions, 

 which, if they were in the form of tables, would show to 

 better ad vantage, the distribution of carp by the IT. S. Fish 

 Commission in the State, through State. Commissioner Black- 

 ford, and an account of the salmon breeding establishment in 

 Maine, followed by an article on salmon, by Waiter M. 

 Brackett. 



We regard the report as not only the best one issued by this 

 Commission, but as superior to that of any State, report winch 

 we have yet seen, if shows advancement in every depart- 

 ment and is instructive and theref ore readable on every page. 



AMERICAN FISHCULTURAL ASSOCIATOIN. 



THE thirteenth annual meeting of the American Fishcultu- 

 ral Association will be held in the lecture hall of the 

 National Museum, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 

 May 13, 14 and 15. 



The Hon. Theodore Lyman of Massachusetts will deliver 

 an address before the Association, and a number of important 

 papers will be presented by prominent fishcultmists and fish- 

 ery experts. It is requested that members of the Association 

 desirous of presenting communications will forward titles of 

 then- papers at once to R. Edward Earl], chairman of the Com- 

 mittee on .Programme, Smithsonian Institution, in order that 

 the full programme may be announced in advance. 



At the time of the meeting the shad fisheries of the Potomac 

 will be at their height, and the central station of the U. S. 

 Fish Commission, in Washington, will be in full operation, 

 exhibiting on a large scale the methods and apparatus now in 

 use for hatching and distributing shad. Tire regents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution have placed at the disposal of the 

 Association the lecture hall of the National Museum, and Pro- 

 fessor Baird has tendered the use of one of the Fish Commission 

 steamers for an excursion to the large fishing shores of the 

 Potomac. Those in attendance at the meeting will thus have 

 an opportunity to observe the methods of collecting shad eggs, 

 and transporting them to the hatching station. 



The new fisheries section of the National Museum will be 

 opened to the public during the progress of the meeting, and 

 the Association will have the opportunity of examining the 

 collections so successfully exhibited by our Government at 

 the International Fisheries Exhibitions of Berlin and London. 



The United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries has 

 invited the Commissioners of the several States to meet in con- 

 ference with him the day following the adjournment of the 

 meeting. 



This circular is sent to many pei'sons not members of the 

 Association, who are known to be interested in fishculture, in 

 the hope that the occasion will induce them to attend the 

 meeting and assist in advancing tne great interests which the 

 American Fishcultural Association was organized to promote. 



The Local Executive Committee will esteem it a favor if 

 you will at your earliest convenience inform them whether 

 or not you will be able to attend. 



Marshall McDonald, 

 Chairman of Local Executive Committee. 



Programme. — First Day— Morning Session, 10 to 13:30.— 

 Annual address by the president; secretary's report of last 

 meeting; proposals for membership; reading and discussion 

 of papers; recess. Afternoon session, 1:30 to 3:30 — Election of 

 officers for the ensuing year; reading and discussion of papers ; 

 visit so Government carp ponds. Evening session, 8 — Address 

 by the Hon. Theodore Lyman, of Massachusetts. 



Second Day— Morning' Session, 10 to 12:30.— Proposals for 

 membership; reading and discussion of papers; election of 

 members by acclamation; recess. Afternoon session, 1:30 to 

 3:30— Report of Treasurer of the Association; reading a^nd dis- 

 cussion of papers; visit to Central Hatching Station of United 

 States F:.sh Commission. In the evening, the Association will 

 be invited to attend the formal opening of fisheries section of 

 the United States National Museum. 



Third Day — Morning Session, 10 to 12:30. —Reading and dis- 

 cussion of papers; adjournment. In the afternoon, the mem- 

 bers of the Association will be invited to visit several of the 

 larger fishing stations of the Potomac; one of the Fish Com- 

 mission steamers being placed at their disposal for the 

 purpose. 



A circular has been issued to Commissioners of Fisheries, in 

 which Prof. Spencer F. Baird says: "The Local Executive 

 Committee is making a special effort to secure a very general 

 attendance from all sections of the country on that occasion, 

 and the meeting promises to be one of unusual interest. Since 

 many of the State Fish Commissioners are members of the 

 Association, this seems an opportune time to call a meeting of 

 the Commissioners for the purpose of conference on matters 

 connected with fishculture. It has been decided to hold this 

 conference May 10, the day following the adjournment of the 

 Fishcultural Association. 'Permit' me to express the hope that 

 you will find it convenient to attend the meeting." 



FISHCULTURE IN COLORADO. 



A FEW days ago I again visited the State fish hatchery, 

 about eight miles down the Platte River from this city, 

 and will report briefly to Forest and Stream past progress 

 and present condition of the establishment. The hatching 

 house, water supply and situation have been before described, 

 but it may be well' to state briefly the work thus far accom- 

 plished. 'Dec. 28, 1881, the tirst trout spawn were received, 

 100,000, from Plymouth. Mass. About a week later there 

 came another 100,000, and at the end of another week a third 

 lot of the same number. Of these 300,000, 99>g per cent, were 

 successfully hatched. This result was determined by actual 

 count of the spoiled eggs withdrawn, and is not guess work. 

 About 385,000 of the young fry were, in the months of April. 

 May and June, distributed to various streams of the State. 

 In "the fall of the same year specimens of them were fre- 

 quently taken with the fly of from six to eight inches in 

 length. The few thousands retained at the hatchery, having 

 been well fed and cared for, were considerably larger, and 

 many of them cast spawn in the ditches where confined. 



The next year's spawn was not received until after the 1st 

 of January, 1883, when 150,000 came from Plymouth, Mass. 

 They were laid down and hatched about as weH as the year 

 before. Is is proper to state that all the spawn received from 

 Plymouth was "eyed," had been carefully picked over before 

 shipment, and was in first-class condition, whfeh accounts 



