410 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Dbc. 17, 1885. 



so cheapen in price tlie fish of commerce as to increase and 

 protect the few varieties of fish which f\irnish sport rather 

 than food to the angler. The taxpayers of this State, who 

 fwrnisK the funds expended by these commihsioucrs demand 

 and liave a right to demand that they shall he principally 

 applied for the lienefit of tlie many in increasing the supply 

 of cheap tish food, and if Mr. Blackford, through a personal 

 experience as a dealer in fish as an article of food, knows 

 what will most benefit the public at large in that direction, 

 ]ie is the oae above all others ho be retained in the position 

 of commissioner. 



' I have no interest in this matter except that of an angler. 

 1 have for many years belonged, and still belong, to more 

 than one angler s association. My opportunities for ascer- 

 taining the public sentiment in relation to this question 

 have probably been as great as those of any mem-bcr of the 

 St. Lawrence Assoc i-ition. 



If any one supposes (hat that sentiment is "setting very 

 strongly" in fawr of anglers and fishing clubs, be is sadly 

 mistaken. On the contrary, in thai [lortiou of the Slate 

 where the interests of anglers are the greatest, and the prop- 

 erty and fraucliises owned by them the most valuable, the 



Fiopular .beutimeut is in many instances decidedly hostile, 

 t is_ useless to disguise the i'aet that the exclu.sive rights 

 acquired or assorfcd by anglers in many loealilies have pro 

 voKcd public criticism and attacks through the iness, which 

 have so aroused some communities that they have Ihrcal- 

 ened to combine in opposition, not only to the extension of 

 these rights, but to diminish or destroy Ihe value of those 

 already acquired. 



The fish laws of the State guarantee to anglers every right 

 and privilege which they can reasonably demand; the acts 

 above referred to provide for the most liberal distribution of 

 game fish. Is^either Mr. Blackford nor any other commis- 

 sioner could interfere with such rights nor prevent such di.s- 

 tribution if he wished to do so. The people are jealous of 

 any fm'ther concessions to anglers and fishing clubs. If 

 Governor Hill removes or seeks to remove ]\Ir. Blackford for. 

 the reasans given in the protest quoted above, it will be 

 practically- an official aijnotincement that the Fish Commis- 

 siomvas created and is to be continued in the interest of 

 "the true sportsman." 



Such action and such a con.struction of the law would 

 still further antagonize the public at large against every 

 angler and angler's association in the southern portion of the 

 State, and so would tend toward the depreciatiqn of their 

 fish preserves and property. 



Will Crovernor llill assume the responsibilities of taking a 

 course which would produce such results just to please a 

 single organization or to gratify a few of its members? The 

 filing and publication of the above protest, have now practi- 

 cally jjlaced Mr. Blackford in the position of being the one 

 commissioner who represents and guards the interests of that 

 portion of the people at large who demand the increase and 

 protection of fish simply as'an article of food or commerce. 



If the Governor now removes or seeks to remove him the 

 public will regard that as the real reason, whatever cause 

 may be assigned. WiU Governor Hill assume the responsi- 

 bility of such a course? Angler. 



SALMON ANGLING IN MAINE. 



WE are permitted to publish the following very inter- 

 esting letter j?ent to the U. S. Commissioner by Com- 

 missioner E. M. Stilwell of the Commission of Fisheries 

 and Game, Baiigor, Dec. 1. 

 Prof. S. F. Baird: 



I suppose the newspapers have reported our success in 

 introd'ucing salmou angling to our Maine rivers. For the 

 last twenty years we have been continually annoyed with 

 tte question as to why Maine salmon wottld not rise to the 

 fiy ? My continual success in capturing them with the rod, 

 in the waters at Bucksport, where they were parked for 

 spawning purposes, .seeifled to have no influence in remov- 

 ing the doubt. This year the accumulated presence of the 

 planting of the last few years has settled the question in 

 their minds, by our anglers captunng'them in both the Pen- 

 obscot and St. Croix rivers. Not our skilled anglers alone 

 among whom have been some of our summer tourists, but 

 our work-a-day citizens from bench and anvil, who after a 

 day's toil have rested weary limbs and brain by participat 

 ing in the of ttimes read-of sport of capturing a salmon on 

 rod and fly. We have always promised them this, but our 

 poverty of resource has protracted the day. The terrible 

 energy of our jicoplc in converting the life of forest and 

 stream into merchantable commodities for trade has now 

 given birth to a dawning necessity of planting and restock- 

 ing both forest and fish, and our Legislature as well as the 

 U. S. Commission of Fisheries, has increased our power of 

 hastening results. The salmon fishery of the State of 

 Maine is limited to the period between the 1st day of April 

 and the loth day of July. All the salmon that succeed in 

 ascending the river above the dam at Bangor are the spawn- 

 ing fish with the attendant male or bucks. The law is 

 obeyed and can be enforced in tide-water, but above the 

 waters are more shallow, the streams narrow and are acces- 

 sible at all times day and night. The country is sparsely 

 settled, and is infested by a class of jioachei-s and outlaws, 

 French, Indians and outcasts, who with net and spear and 

 dynamite destroy every breeding fish they can reach. 



All that we could do was to plant the few thousand of 

 salmon fry that our slender means enabled us to acquire, 

 and thus simply hold possession of our waters for the 

 salmon. We could only hold a small stock in our river; we 

 could only prevent utter extermination. As the interest on 

 one's capital constitutes one's income, so is good, or bad, or 

 any fishing at all, dependent upon the percentage of the fish 

 tbat will take the bait or lure. Do you realize the fact that 

 the percentage of fishes that will rise to bait or fly^ in the 

 most popular or famed angling resorts, is not one-half of one 

 per cent. ? How long would Moosehead or Rangeley or 

 other popular hatmts of our anglers retain a fish in their 

 waters were it otherwise? It is the net, and spear, and 

 dynamite only that can exterminate our fishes; fair angling 

 never. The popular cry demanded of us a division of our 

 salmon fry to all our rivers, when the whole of our slender 

 store if concentrated upon the Penobscot River alone would 

 barely suffice to fill the place of the destruction of all our 

 breeding fish by the poachers, after they had reached their 

 spawning ground. At the "Hunt Farm," on the East 

 Branch of the Penobscot, where formerly large numbers 

 were taken in nets, the whole fishery was abandoned as 

 worthless and exhausted, when the wliole product of the 

 year was but one salmon. Soon after, in 187fi, our young 

 salmon fry from Bucksport Iwigan to show themselves 

 in the river, and fishing on. the East Branch was re- 

 fiUjned and 100 salmon captured at,i;he Ifunt Fsirjp, .In- 



creased means allowed us to plant increased numbers of 

 young _ fry in our rivers. To our earnest appeals the U. S. 

 Commision responded generously, and we were enabled to 

 plant our young salmou fry in the St. Croix and Penobscot 

 waters, with a more liberal hand. Our own State then 

 awakened from her blindness and added a few more dollars 

 to our means and gave us a law forbidding the use of nets 

 above tidewater. This enabled us to afford better protection 

 to our spawning grounds, and as a direct consequence our 

 Penobscot waters are teeming with salmon. In September 

 I have seen tlic basin of water belo^v the big dam at Bangor, 

 tairly alive wit h salmon, not one fish exceeding eight pounds 

 in weight apparently, and manv much smaller in size. Had 

 It not been for the teachings of the U. S. Commission, bv its 

 issue of valuable reports, by its distribution of valuable 

 fishes, the consequent interest awakened and discussion ar- 

 rising therefrom, the Penobscot river, the only great salmon- 

 producing river left on the Atlantic coasl'of the United 

 States, the sole dependence of the U. S, Commission for its 

 supply of salmou ova to restock the rivers of our country, 

 would now be barren of a single fish. Fishculture and fish 

 propagation and planting is a clear, distinct, unmistakable 

 success in our State, whether it be in salmou planting or in 

 landlocked salmon planting, or in the stocking of "our in- 

 closed waters witli trout and black bass. 



Without the U. S. Commission we coulil never by indi- 

 vidual State effort have been enabled to have supjilied oui- 

 selves with the ova of the sea and landlocked salmou that is 

 now so economically afforded us by the State Association 

 under U. S. co-operation. The controlling spirit by in- 

 struction, by experiment (and demonstrated beyond indi- 

 vidual effort, but economically renderetl under associate 

 action) has been entirely by the U. S. Commission. AH the 

 enterprise and spirit and eiihghtened action of the day in tlie 

 farming of our waters to fish production is due to you. sir, 

 or U. S. Commission of Fisheries. Maine has displayed a 

 fearful energy in destroying and marketing her forests and 

 her fish. Forestry or tree culture, and fish culture must now 

 restore and preserve and nurse Iter wealth. The freight on 

 a single man coming into our State to angle for our trout or 

 salmon or to hunt our game is worth a hundred times over 

 the freight on the fish or game if sent to market and sold. 

 The trout of Rangeley or Moosehead cost the angler at least 

 $10 per pound. The visiting sportsman willingly pays as 

 liberally for his ganle. Is this not the wiser policy for our 

 State fish and game protection? 



Far up in the wilderness, beyond the settlements, our few 

 wardens can afford but feeble protection, and the slaughter 

 on the spawning beds is doubtless very great. Remember 

 our whole appropriation from tlie State, for proi^agation and 

 protection of both fish and game, buying all our eggs, pay- 

 ing all our wardens, traveling expenses, law sidts, is but 

 $7,500. Mere planting our river with salmon fry without 

 abundant means of protection for the spawning grounds, 

 above tidewater, must prove futile. The spawning "grounds 

 of our fish must be held sacred as our gardens and ourwlicat 

 fields when preparing, or sowed with their crops. If the re- 

 verse is to be the rule, then there roust be yearly planting of 

 salmon fry, and no breeding on the nat,ural nurseries or 

 spawning beds. Truly yours, E. M. Stilwell. 



GASTALIA CREEK. 



SPEiOilNG of the artificial stocking of trout streams, iiere 

 is a paragraph worth considering. A communication 

 to the Sandusky Eegi»ter gives the following as the total 

 number of trout taken by the members of the Castalia Sport- 

 ing Club from their fishing grounds for the last six years, 

 the fishing season beginning March 15 and closing Sept. 15, 

 no trout being less than eight inches in length, taken from 

 the stream, arid all fishing done with fu-tificial flies: 



1880 1.407 trout, weigliins 534 pounds. 



1881 ......1.739 " i556 



1882 1,776 " " 675 " 



1883 3,3l« " " 783 



1&34 3,72.5 -■ " 906 



1885 3,058 " " 99i 



J. L. Yale, of Cleveland, made a very handsome catch 

 March 30, 1885, of 26 trout, weighing 15 pounds 3 ounces, 

 the weight of the largest being as follows: One trout 16 

 incBes long, weighing 1 pound 10 ounces; one 14 inches, ] 

 pound 4 ounces- one 14 inches, 1 pound 4 ounces; one 12 

 inches, 1 pound. Six trout, average weight, 12 ounces. The 

 average weight of the 26 trout was between 9 and 10 ounces. 



Castalia Creek, which is about three miles long and is fed 

 by springs which yield about 250 gallons per minute, is un- 

 doubtedly the finest artificial trout stream in Ohio. Fifteen 

 years ago the first plant was made, and up to that time a 

 trout was never seen in the Castalia water. Although vari- 

 ous additions have since been made, the fish have virtually 

 taken care of themselves, the abundance of natural food in 

 the stream making an}'^ other feeding entirely unnecessary. 

 This record does not show the maximum weight of fish 

 taken, since several trout this past season scored at from 

 two to two and a half pounds. One fish is on record (if I 

 am not in error) at three and a quarter pounds. B, 



Toledo, Dec. 10, 1885. 



PHiLADELPHtA Angleks —At many of the up-town 

 wharves, of the Delaware River in this city, roach fishing 

 a la Thad. Norris can now be had. Few since the death of 

 Uncle Thaddeus indidge in this passive amusement, as it is 

 cold work, but rather prefer for winter fishing, pike angling 

 through the ice. Most all the New Jersey mill ponds are 

 good waters as soon as ice makes. The Tumbling Dam, at 

 Bridgeton, JST. J., and the Washington Pond in Gloucester 

 county, N. J., are fair places easily reached from Philadel- 

 phia where pike may be taken — Hojio, 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



OYSTER CULTURE IN CONNECTICUT. 



Tit 7 B have the fifth report of the Shellfish Commissioners 

 VV of Connecticut, w^hich shows a material improvement 

 in the production of oysters tlu'ough propei- legislation, and 

 the expenditures of the Commission. One means of improve- 

 ment has been the law of 1883, which prohibits the dumping 

 of refuse matei ial at certain places, and within prescnbed 

 limits, and consequently the beds are rslieved from this smoth- 

 ering nuisance. Tu effectually cany out tliis law, the Com- 

 missionei's placed inspectors on all boats engaged in can-ying 

 .and dumping refuse, who saw that aU deposits were made in 

 places where no harm would resi.il t to the oyster beds. This 



plan should be adopted in New Tork, where the citv refuse is 

 supposed to be earned below Sandv Iloook, but at night, and 

 durmg fogs, the contr,i,ctors tind li^: eonv enient to dump their 

 scows long before roaoliing Fort Hainilto-o. 



The starfish coine in for a share of attention. It has be^n 

 the experience of the more careful of tlie Connecticut ovster 

 cultivators, that by constantly working over the beds, these 

 enemies of the, oyster can be destroyed. Still the case "is one 

 where a neghgent man may fester 'starlish, quite inditTorput 

 to his own beds, while the starfish may destroy liis neighbor's 

 oysters. ''The greater area of grounds tiioroustdy culti- 

 vated," wrote the Coninnssioners, "the less will the starlish 

 abound. Neglected beds suiter tlio most, a.nd it cannot be 

 repeated too often ( hat:, the attack.s of tliese pests can only he- 

 repelled bv unceasiuK vigilance and iudustiy. No work on an 

 oyster bed pays better than dredging for starfish. When pro- 

 prietor.s renhze this fact, and the State does what it ought to 

 keep thorn froiu breeding m the uatui-al lir'ds. it is believed the 

 losses will become insisriifleant tkroughoufc the State." Last 

 spring a small llesh ('olore.a worm w.'is diRcovered orr the 

 small seed oysters, doing mmuc damage. This created some 

 alarm, but its ravages were fouud to be much exa-^eriil ed. 

 The worm was exa-rained hv Prof. Vorrill. of New H;iven, and 

 found to be the Sabelhii io. cvlffans, ^vh]r^\ has b^en figured 

 and described in the rejKu-ts of the Tbiited States Fish Com- 

 niission, some is years aso, The amount of damage done by 

 this sandwonu is said to have been very much exaggerated'. 

 It may be destructive of siuall oysfceix to a i-erfcain exleiit, but 

 the larger oysters resist its ai'tion. Uf late the Commissiouei-s 

 have heard no complaints about the sand worm. Careful 

 attention seems to have been paid m the deteruiina tion of the 

 si^awning periods of tire oysters in Comiecticnt waters. It 

 begins in Jidy and ends in September; i.s earlier in shallower 

 waters, later in -deep ones, modified, of course, l.iy meteoro- 

 logical conditions. The advantages of an extended cultiva- 

 tion of oyster become manifest, beca.use when the spawning 

 period comes then the spat arising from parents at various 

 depths, stands a better chance of being fecundated. 



The great labor of the Commission has been in mapping out 

 some 005,000 acres of water, which, extends from east to west 

 some 96 miles, and varies in breadth fi-om three to ten miles, 

 and to give each occupant a proper title to his groimds. This 

 work was necessary because there is a tax imposed upon the 

 oyster beds, which require to be correctly mapped before the 

 taxes can be gathered, and this involved the settlement of 

 disputes and claims which added tenfold to the original work. 



The Commissioners take pride in the fact that an increase 

 of ten per cent, in the oyster business has taken place within 

 the past season, and in evidence, of this they show figures to 

 prove it. There are now fortj^-ninc steamei's engaged in the 

 work, and by improved methods the plague of starfish has 

 been somewhat abated. 



"SUICIDE OF TROUT." 



Editor Forest and Strpam : 



Noticing Ml'. Mather's communication in your issue of Dec. 

 10, I will give my own experience. 1 do not recollect whether 

 it has been stated in Forest and Stream that I now claim to 

 be the senior American fishcultmlst, having taken my first 

 lesson of Doctors Ackley and Grailick upon' the occasion of 

 then- initial work. I i-ecollect hear-ing Doctor Ackley remark 

 to some parties prf sent one day that the trout did not take 

 kindly to confinement in limited space, but were inclmed to 

 jump out of such inclosures. 1 am uudei- the impression that 

 yom- occasional correspondent, Dr. yterhng, was present at 

 the time. At all events that was my first inloj luation con- 

 cerning this "jumping-out" tendency. My own subsequent 

 and long extended experience in connection with tins branch 

 of the salmon famdy was almost wholly experimental and in 

 limited inclosm-es, some of which were so constructed that the 

 trout could have readily jumped out if they had so desired, 

 but I do not recall a single insfcince whei-c they did. After I 

 had in the main discontinued my experiments with brook 

 trout, I experimented quite extensively with salmon trout, 

 landlocked stilmon, etc., all of which I believe to be the pro- 

 geny of true salmon. 



Tlie first lot which I had were called " salmon trout" by 

 the party from whom 1 purchased them. I placed them in 

 one of my ti'out ponds, the area of which would be about 

 75x75f t. , fed by the purest spnng water and containing no fish 

 of any description. When these so-called salmou-trout had 

 attained a length of five to six inches (I do not remember their 

 exact age) I began to find them on the outlet embajilcment of 

 the pond nearly every morning foi' a week or ten days. Early 

 one very foggy morning f foimd several, none of which had 

 evidently been out of the water long. After 1 had taken my 

 breakfast (perhaps an horn* later) I w-ent over to the pond and 

 found two more dead ones and (jne yet ahve upon the em- 

 bankment. Those of course had jumped out in broad day- 

 hght, but it was very foggy, it tueu occurred to me that I 

 trad found more on mornings after night rains. I took par- 

 ticular notice of this fact upon two occa.sions soon after. 

 Finally, f found no more dead fish, but noticjd that they 

 gradually became less and less in number, and in three or foiir 

 weeks all had disappeai'cd fi-orn the pond. 



About this time 1 noticed on two oi- three mornings, just at 

 daybreak, a large, stray cat making a carefid reconnoissance 

 along the embankment. This explained why 1 found no more 

 dead fish, although conscious of their continual disappearance. 

 Not being at all pai'tial to prowling cats, and still not wishing 

 to kill what might be one of my neighboi's, prized pets, notic- 

 ing that he disappeared toward the village which my ponds 

 outskirt, I determined, notwithstanding, to be rid of" the eat. 

 so one morning 1 took my old army musket and seeded it 

 down well with flue bird shot. I then started out and de- 

 ployed as skirmisher in the direction of the i;>ond. In a. 

 moment 1 saw the cat rapidly disappearing toward the vLHage. 

 When some thiiiy yards away I traded the old musket in the 

 same dii'ection, arid applied a gentle three-pound jiressui e to 

 the trigger. A detonation followed which awakeni.ul the 

 echoes of the sleepy village, and as the cloud of smoke pa ssed 

 away I saw about thr-ee lofty curves described by the cat 

 passing over the ridge, which would have made a jack-rabbit 

 wdd with envy. I have made this httle diversion for the pur- 

 pose of impressing upon the minds of young fishcultm-ists the; 

 fact that cats are not desu-able adjuncts to experimental 

 work. 



The pond to which I have just referred had at one corner a- 

 sereen opening near the bottom, thi-ough which the water dis- 

 charged, supplying a spawning race some seventy -five feet 

 long which in tm-n discharged int(j another pond some two. 

 feet lower than the som-ce of supply. This race was sixteen 

 inches wide and perhaps a foot in depth. It contained several 

 httle "breaks," over which the water plunged for aeration. 

 I had trout of different ages from time to time in this race.. 

 A leap of six inches would have landed them upon the bank, 

 but 1 never knew one of any age to jump out, while they 

 wordd jump over the "breaks" continually, A few years after 

 the events just cited, I was actively engaged in the distribu- 

 tion of young California salmon throughout the entire southern 

 portion of New Jersey. 



At one time 1 had some fifteen thousand of these young fish 

 stored in my spawnijig run, having the various compartments 

 (at the breaks) screened so as to prevent theu- "herding" too 

 compactlv. I soon discovered considerable numbers of the 

 young salmon dead upon the embankment or walk alongside 

 the race, always finding them in the morning. I finally 

 covered the race closely with wide boards, and repori/cd the 

 facts to Prof. Baird, who replied that the IJ. S. Commission 

 cotdd furnish no solution to this "jumping out" conundrum. 

 In order to reach the extreme head watei-s of the numerous 

 streams of Southern Nevv Jersey, to plant the young salmon, 

 I had ridden over some rough forest roads and bad. sejioiislj 



