—" = 
Sert, 11, 1884.) 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
127 
§izu or RANGHLHY TrRout.—Bethel, Maine,—Aditor 
Forest und Sreeam: Your correspondent ‘Knickerbocker’ 
in your issue of Aug, 21, makes a Statement that 4 boy 
causht a 24-pound red-spotted troat in 1872, and since then 
others have caught 15, 12 and 114-pounders, Ave the larger 
weights taken in our Rangeley lakes? 'Thig statement would 
sive & very wroh® impression among those unacquainted 
with our waters, but those best acquainted here would know 
that it was simply ridiculous. No Salmo fontinulis has ever 
been iaken in any of the Rangeley lakes weighing over 114 
pounds. A fish of that weight was caught in 1880, by 
Stevens H, Morse, of Upton, Me., a guide to a gentleman of 
Boston at the time, and the trout was mounted in Boston and 
sent to Prof. Baird, Washington, D. C., and is now in his 
peering there, in the Smithsonian Institute. I would not 
like to have this mistake go ou record as truth. —J. G, Rion. 
THE Conny IsuAnd Rop anp Gun Cuus, of Brooklyn, 
ofters fishing prizes for September and October, for the 
largest weaktish and striped bass from the creek and bay. 
“Groner L. Ayers (Secretary, 109 Flatbush Avenue). 
ishculture. 
THE NEW YORK FISH COMMISSION. 
O* Thursday, Aug. 27, a meeting of the New York Fishery 
Commission, was held at the rooms of the President, 17 
Nassau street, New York, Messrs. Roosevelt, Sherman and 
Blackford being’ present. The question of ways and means 
came up, andit haying been found that the expenditures for 
poeane, the salt-water work in order at Cold Spring Harbor 
ad exceeded the estimates, a reportfrom Supt, Fred Mather 
was read, in which he showed that the unexpected difficulty 
of meeting springs and quicksands had caused the excess, In 
speaking of the work accomplished this season, Mr. Matherre- 
‘ports that the hatchery has supplied and has had planted in 
New York waters, whitefish 1,000,000, salmon 450,000, land- 
locked salmon 12,000, brook trout 20,000, Huropean trout 40,- 
pat rainbow trout 50,000 and shad 77,000—a total of 1,629,000 
5. ‘ 
The appropriation of $15,000 for the year ending Aug. 31, 
1885, was divided as follows: $10,500 for the use of the Cale- 
donia station, $3,500 for thestation at Cold Spring Harbor, and 
21,000 for shad hatching. In connection with this Commis- 
sioner Sherman said that unless a larger appropriation could 
be secured next year the Commission would be obliged to les- 
sen the work. The sum of 515,000 wag not sufficient, at least 
#20,000 being necessary, : 
The loeation of a hatchery in the eastern Adirondacks, au- 
thorized by the Legislature last winter, was placed in the 
hands of Gen, R, U, Sherman, who will begin an examination 
of the country soon. 
Respecting the oyster investigation, which was placed in the 
hands of Commissioner Blackford, with a special appropria- 
tion for conducting the same, he said that he had commenced 
wark and had employed Prof. Rice to investizate as to their 
artificial propagation. He considered Cold Spring as an oyster 
center, and it was there that the work would be carried on. 
Commissioner Blackford also said that he felt confident that 
the codfish could be hatched successfully at Cold Spring, 
age the salt water was of the same density asin the East 
diver. 
The Long Islander gives the follawing: On Thursday Com- 
missioners Eugene G, Blackford of Brooklyn, Gen. Richard U. 
Sherman of New Hartford, in company with Prof. Rice ana 
Superintendent Mather of Cold Spring, visited the hatchery 
and in response to a kind invitation, the Long Islander repre- 
sentative was present on the occasion. Upon arrival by the 
morning train the visitors proceeded immediately to the 
hatchery where everything was inspected carefully and the 
sentiments of all were voiced by Mr. Mather when he declared 
thatthere was not another spot in the world where equal facil- 
ities were afforded for the purposes of hatching salt and fresh- 
water fish onthe samme premises, A bountiful stream of tresh- 
water only 300 feet distant from the sea, and yet 5\ or 60 feet 
aboye the sea level affords an unequalled chance for a con- 
tinued supply of fresh water unvarying in temperature and 
quality. The handsomely graded slope and occasional pla- 
tea afford an unequalled chance for laying out the buildings 
s0 as to secure a supply of water on each floor and the best of 
atrangements for the out-of-door tanks and ponds for the 
Keeping of the larger fish. In addition to this supply from. 
the stream above, an abundant supply can be abtained 
from a short distance below the surface of the ground, a dis- 
tance easily reached in digging the ponds, over aly portion of 
the territory occupied by the commission, In addition to 
this the largo mill ponds south of the hatchery are accessible, 
and the owners, the Messrs. Townsend and Wm. BH, Jones, 
generously offered every assistance. The temperature of all 
this water ig just right, they are natural trout waters. As 
previously stated the salt water in an endless supply is near at 
hand, within 300 teet of the works. 
The building at present provided for the Eee AOL of 
fresh-water fish contains 52 troughs capable of hatching out 
50,000 trout or 52,000 salmon to each trough, There is in ad- 
dition to these troughs facilities for hatching ont four millions 
of whitefish. Highty thousand of shad haye been hatched 
during the past year in these waters, a fish that were never 
hatched before except in their natural spawning places. Many 
of these fish were placed in the waters of the Nissequogue at 
Smithtown. 
A Ryder’s hot, air engine, capable of pumping 1,000 gallon of 
water an hour to a height of fifty feet, has been provided for 
the purposes of the salt-water hatchery, and provision has 
been made in this department for hatching out twenty mil- 
lions of cod, seventy-five millions of Spanish mackerel, and 
an squal number of tomcod. The pure salt Water of a proper 
density to be had so handily is asnure guarantes of success in 
this emterprise. The work will first be undertaken with the 
Hittletomcod, then this will be followed with the cod hatching, 
the spawn heing obtained from December to March. In Jute 
the Spanish mackerel begin to spawn in Chesapeake Bay, and 
the eges.of these will be obtained, Itis a question whether 
bluefish are a desirable fish to cultivate. Their despicable 
shari-like habits cause them to destroy more food than they 
are worth. Hyen when they are gorged they will take the 
bite from the mouths of other fish, New smaller fish can liye 
beside them, 
Prof, Rice has been engaged here during the summer season 
looking up the matter of the cultivation of oysters, and he has 
already spawned some six or seyen millions of eggs, so small 
that they cannot be seen without the aid of the microscope. 
The little creatures only move about for about twenty-four 
hours atter birth, when they locate, so that provision must be 
made for detaching them easily by providing a soft or smooth 
substance upon which they may temporarily locate; cloth, 
wood, pottery and shells are used for the purpose. Whenthey 
have reached the age of one year and are about the size of 
silver dollars, they are then ready to ship as seed oysters to all 
parts of the State were salt water exists. Thorough re- 
searches are bemg made by the Professor as to the best 
methods of cultivation of the oyster and as to the best means 
of preventing the growth of his natural eneniies, such as the 
starfish. Preparatory to this work, circulars have been sent 
out to eyery oyster grower in the State, giving 160 questions 
to be answered. ' %,* 
‘ter visiting thi 
itchery the company were treated to an. | 
excellent dinner, with some choice dishes of the products of 
the sea, seryed by the kind hostess Mrs. Mather, in a style to 
be envied even by the fair ladies of Huntington, as excellent 
cooks as most of them are. The walls of the cozy dwelling of 
Mr, Mather were adorned with some very fine picttres im oil, 
many of them piseatorial scenes and all the products of Mrs. 
Mather’s skillful brush, Mr. Mather’s technical library and 
collections of the curiosities of the sea, including curious anato- 
ini¢al specimens of the denizens of the deep, betioken the 
enthusiasm and diligence of their owner in this his chosen 
profession in which he is a leader. 
THE SHELLFISHERIES OF CONNECTICUT. 
[A paper read before the American Fisheultural Association. | 
BY DR. WILLIAM M. HUDSON, 
(Concluded from Page 111,] 
PLAN of taxation was also recommended in accordance 
with the requirements of the original law, and the result 
was the passage of an act providing for the taxation of oyster 
grounds, a coyp of which is here inserted. 
CHAPTER CXXY. 
AN AC’ PROVIDING FOR THE TAXATION OF OYSTHR GROUNDs. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in 
General Assembly convened: 
Suction 1. All owners of shellfish grounds lying within the 
exclusive jurisdiction of the State, shall, on or before the first 
day of November, annually, deliver to the Commissioners of 
Shellfisheries a statement under oath specifying the number 
of lots owned by them, the location and number of acres in 
each lot cultivated, and the value thereof per acre, the num- 
ber of acres in each lot uneultivated, and the value thereof 
per acre; and printed blanks for such statements shall be pre- 
pared by the Commissioners and furnished to such owners 
upen application to them or at their office; and upon the 
failure of any owner to deliver such sworn statement to said 
Commissioners at their office within the time above specified, 
said Commissioners shall make up such statement. from the 
best information they may obtain, and shall add for such 
default ten per cent. to the valuation so made. 
Suc. 2. All statements so made or delivered shall be alpha- 
betically arranged, and said Commissioners shall equalize, if 
necessary, and determine the value of all the property so re- 
turned and described in said statements, which property shall 
be liable to taxation at the yaluation so determined, including 
the ten per cent, for default as aforesaid; and said Commis- 
sioners are authorized and etapowered to declare and lay a 
tax thereon, annually, at the rate of one per cent. upon such 
valuation, which shall be payable at the office of said Com- 
missioners onand after the firsts Mondayin May annually; 
and said tax shall be a lien upon the grounds so taxed from 
the time itis so laid by said Commissioners until paid, and 
shall be in lieu of all other taxes on said grounds. 
Sec. 5. If any tax so laid shall not be paid on or before the 
first Monday in July, the said Commissioners shall make and 
issue their warrant for the collection thereof, with interest 
thereon, at one per cent. per month from the day such tax be- 
came due and payable until paid, together with the expenses 
of such collection, which warrant shall authorize any reputable 
person named therein, to seize such grounds and any oysters 
or other shellfish thereon, or any other property of the owner 
or owners thereof not exempt from execution, and to sell the 
same, or so much thereof as he may find necessary, at such 
time and place, and insuch manner, and by such person as 
said Commissioners may direct, whereupon such sale shall be 
so made, and such warrant shall be immediately returned 
to said Commissioners by such person with all his doings in- 
dorsed thereon, and he shall pay over to said Commissioners 
the money received upon said sale, and they shall apply the 
same to the payment of such tax and all the expenses 
thereon, including the expenses of such sale, returning any 
balance that may remain to such owner or owners; and all 
moneys received by said Commissioners in payment of taxes 
and interest thereon shall be accounted tor and paid to the 
State treasurer for the benefit of the State, within thirty days 
from its receipt. Said Commissioners shall each, in addition 
to the bond now required by law, give a bond with surety in 
the sum of one thousand dollars to the State, conditioned 
for the performance of the duties Imposed upon them by this 
act, 
See, 4. <All other shellfish grounds lying within the waters 
of this State shall be taken in the same manner in all respects 
as real estate in the several towns within the meridian lines of 
which such shellfish grounds are situated, and no other tax 
or rental shall be laid or collected on said grounds, or the fran- 
chise of any person therin. 
Sec. f. All expenses necessarily incurred in carrying out 
the provisions of this act shall be audited by the Comptroller 
and paid by Treasurer of the State. 
Approved, April 26, 1882. 
It providesthati all owners of shellfish grounds shall on or 
before the first day of November, annually, deliver to the 
Commissioners a sworn statement of their property, the num- 
ber of acres cultivated, the number uncultivated, and their 
estimate of the value of each. In case of a failure to make a 
statement, the Commissioners are empowered to make one 
from the best information they can obtain, and add ten per 
cent. for the defanlt. The Commissioners are authorized to 
“equalize if necessary, and determine the value of all the 
property so returned and described,” and to lay a tax ot one 
per cent. thereon, and said taxis alien upon the grounds so 
taxed from the time itis so laid by the Commissioners until 
paid, If the taxis not paid by the first day of July, the Com- 
missioners are required to make and issue their warrant for 
the collection thereof, with interest at one percent. per month 
from the time the tax became due until paid. The Cormis- 
sioners are further empowered to enforce such warrant by the 
seizure of any taxable property which the party in default 
muy owl. 
Under thislaw the Commissioners collected in 1388, $5,681.47, 
the entire tax laid. Of course there are difficulties in estimat- 
ing the value of oyster grounds, and the Commissioners were 
obliged in many cases to equalize and determine the yalue of 
the grouncs returned. The general plan of valuation adopted 
was the following; The Commissioners assumed that the very 
best grounds should be assessed at a given figure, and then 
all were aE with reference to their proportionate value 
compared with the best. This subject is one requiring careful 
consideration, and the system may doubtless be improved by 
further experience, As no appeal can be taken from the 
assessments of the Commissioners, they have themselves acted 
as a board of relief for the present year. In other words, 
after the valuations of the grounds had been fixed aceording 
to the best information obtainable by the Commissioners, 
appointments were made of certain days on which they would 
be present with the lists at each of the principal towns along 
the shore, and listen to any parties who might wish to present 
reasons why the assessment of their grounds should be reduced. 
This proyed to be a yery popular move, and when the assess- 
ment was finally fixed, the only one seriously dissatisfied 
with the result was the one owning the aa uel acreage of 
oyster grounds in the State. The oystermen of this State are 
divided into two principal classes, namely, those who own 
and cultivate grounds of their own, and those who gain a sub- 
sistence by work upon the natural or public beds. ‘The former 
are generally men of some means, and work with steamers, 
the latter are poor men, who use sailing vessels, The public 
beds have been raked so constantly for a number of year, 
that very few large oysters can be found upon them, Most of 
the “stuff,” as it is called, taken from them is used for the 
planting of other beds more or less remote. 
A few years ago a serious controversy arose as to the effect | 
of steamer work upon the natural beds. The steamer owners 
claimed that their work tended to improve the bed by pre- 
paring the bottom for a better set of the spat in the breeding 
season, The owhers of sailing vessels, on the contrary, 
claimed that the heavy dredges of the steamers plowed up 
the ground to such an extent as to ruin ib. The result of the 
discussion of the subject was that in 1881 the Legislature 
passed an act forbidding the use of steamers upon any of the 
natural beas of the State, and that law still remains in effect 
to-day. While most of the natural beds are in comparatively 
shallow waters, the cultivators of oysters do not deem it safe 
to plant oystersin less than twenty-four feet of water, and 
many of their productive beds are in water from thirty to 
sixty feet deep, They claim that in less than twenty-four 
feet. of water the crop is liable to be destroyed by heavy 
storms, the oysters being either covered up and smothered. 
with mud or sand, or washed ashore by the action of the 
waves. 
The hydrographic work of the engineer of the Commission is 
soaccurate that confidence has been given to cultivators to 
take up claims in deep water, with a certainty that if they 
secure yaluable ground and their stakes and buoys are re- 
moyed or carried away by storms or steamboats, they can be 
phate The system adopted in this respect is the following: 
én an_applitant has secured a grant of a plot of ground 
from the Commissioners, on an appointed day, the engineer 
with assistant proceeds to the locality with the applicant, and 
having fixed the precise situation with their instruments, the 
buoys are placed im position, and a record is made of the spot 
Which is transferred to the books of the office, each buoy be- 
ing numbered. [f at any future time, the buoys are mis- 
placed, all that is needed to correct the error is to consult the 
number of buoys in the records, and they can be replaced 
without difficulty, The amount of ground lying within the 
exclusive jurisdiction of the State returned to the Commis; 
sioners for taxation, in 1882, was ‘74,980 acres. of which 18,008 
acres were described as cultivated and 61,922 as uncultivated. 
In 1882 the returns were 9,007 acres cultivated and 46,316 m- 
cultivated. The gain therefore for 1883 was 4,001 acres culti- 
vated and 15,606 uncultivated. New applications are constantly 
pene made, and more acres are aunually put under cultivya- 
ion. 
The usual method of planting new ground is to gtrew about 
three hundred bushels of oyster shells and thirty bushels of 
spawning oysters to each acre, In some cases where the new 
ground isin the vicinity of a natural bed or other ground on 
which are spawning oysters, a good set is obtained without 
the deposit of any mature oysters. The time of planting is 
from June 15 to Sept. 1, the deeper the water the later is the 
“set,” and the cultivators goyerh themselves accordingly in 
their work. the great requisite being that the “‘cultch” shall 
be clean and fresh at the time of the floating spat, All kinds 
of business have their drawbacks, and the cultivation of oys- 
ters isno exception. In Connecticut the two principal enemies 
of the oyster cultivators are the starfish (Asterias rubens), and 
oyster thieves of the human species. The oyster growers some- 
times say that it is questionable which is the greater pest, the 
“five fingers” or the ‘‘ten fingers.” The starfish are much 
more destructive in some years than others, and during the 
ame season inflict great injury upun the beds in one portions 
of the State, while in others they do not appear at all, or in 
such insignificant numbers as to do no appreciable harm. Un- 
til recently the only remedy has been to remoye the oysters 
an( starfish together, the starfish being destroyed, and the oys- 
ters either sold or removed to some locality where no starfish 
were tobe found. Mr. J. F. Homan, of New Haven, in this 
State, has invented a dredge which, it is claimed, willremove 
the starfish without taking the oysters. Its construction is 
based upon the fact that the starfish is of lighter specific gravity 
than the oyster. The bag of the dredge is located about six 
inches behind the bar or rake, and a few inches higher. 
The practical effect is that the oyster and starfish being 
stirred up together, the oysters drop back to the ground and 
the starfish fall into the open mouth of the bag, When this 
pest makes its appearance upon the oyster grounds, great 
vigilance is needed to prevent the loss of the crop. The own- 
ers of private beds watch their grounds carefully, with a view 
to prompt action in case of necessity, but the public beds 
being open to every one, no one takes special pains to remove, 
the starfish, and it has been claimed that some of the oyster— 
men have thrown them overboard after being taken, A strin- 
gent Jaw to prevent this was passed at the last session of 
the Legislature, and the owners of private grounds introduced 
an act to enable the Commissioners to remoye starfish from 
the public beds at the expense of the State, but as some of the 
sections of the bill were deemed objectionable, the act was 
defeated 
Another effort will be made next year to accomplish the 
same end, and uncomplicated with other measures, will prob- 
ably be successful. The whole area of ground in the exclu- 
sive jurisdiction of the State is about 800,000 acres. Of this 
about 45,0U0 acres were designated by the town committees 
before the appomtment of the Commission. The aggregate 
area designated by the Commission during the last three years 
has been 38,548 acres, making in all 85,548 acres under their 
supervision. In addition to this, applications for 15,714 acres 
are now awaiting action, and this number will be increased as 
fast as parties discover what they consider to be advantageous 
locations. The oyster cultivators seem to be generally thriv- 
ing, are eager to acquire larger areas of suitable grounds, and 
new steamers and sailing vessels are constantly being added 
tothe fleet. New purchasers are coming into the field, more 
capital is being invested, and under the fostering care of the 
State the industry bids fair, at no distant day, to be one of 
the largest and most important in the entire commonwealth, 
Linuz. Winstow: .I would like toask i, at the last session of 
the Connecticut State Legislature, any act was passed which 
would facilitate the detection and punishment of theft from 
the oyster beds. As I understand the law, as it existed a year 
or so ago, a designation of a natural oyster bed could not be 
made. Therefore, when the thief wanted an oyster he as- 
sumed all beds to be natural, and took what he wanted, He 
did not care whether it was a natural bed or not. The burden 
of the proof did not rest upon him, but upon the owner of the 
area. Any bed was assumed to be natural until the owner 
could prove to the contrary. Such a state of affairs surely 
militates very seriously against the owner. It has seemed to 
me that, afier an area has once been designated, the owner 
should not be called upon to prove that it was not a natural 
bed. I would like to know if amy measures have been 
adopted looking toward a remedy for that evil. 
Dr. WittiAM M, Hupson: Such a bill was introduced in 
the Legislature, but owing to the unfortunate fact that our 
oystermen in the western part of the State were in opposition 
to those in the eastern part, the bill fell to the ground. Harn- 
est efforts have been made by our State Fish Commission to 
bring about that bill, and yet the only act passed in reference 
to the oyster interest was one that simply prevented, under 
heayy penalties, any of the oyster dredges from throwing 
back into the water any starfish they might catch. But the 
attempt to pass an effectual bill failed on account of this op- 
position between the east and west sections of the State, I 
think that possibly during the next twelve months a suitable 
bill will be passed. ' 
Lizut, WInsLow: Another question occurs to me. After 
haying once adopted the system of propriety ownership, the 
greatest difficulty was experienced in detecting a theft. You 
cannot prevent 4 man from traveling over the ground, and 
although you can readily see his appliances, dredges, etc,, for 
taking the oyster, you haye to prove that the man has actually 
taken the oystier;in other words, you must catch him in the 
very act, and prove that they are your oysters before you can 
really accomplish anything toward punishing him. Now, that 
