Jaw. 18, 1S87.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



489 



fish eei-ved at some hotel on the skirts of the Adirondacks, 

 I decline to be a party to their killing by eating them, 

 even when it is lawful to do so, as it was last year. 



Your correspondent does not say what manner of stream 

 it is which may have tixnit of three years of age which 

 are not of the length named, but as he believes that pro- 

 tection should be furnished trout dmiug che first and sec- 

 ond years of their growth he may be safe in returning 

 the fingerlings. He writes like a thoughtful, conscien- 

 tious man and asks for information from those who are 

 posted in the growth of fish, hence I try to tell him the 

 results of growing troxit in confinement and of observa- 

 tions at the brookslde, I once stocked a little brook with trout 

 wliich had contained none of these fish within the mem- 

 ory of those living on it. The fry were planted in May 

 and a year from that time we saw yearlings fully 5in. 

 long hi it. Now, as the fish had such a start, I do not 

 doubt that another year's growth would have made them 

 all Sin. long and given them a weight of several ounces. 

 On the contrary I have seen trout that were a year old 

 which were barely 4in. long, but which should reach sis, 

 after the second year. 



All will agree that fry should be protected up to a cer- 

 tain size, but the size is of course a fair subject for differ- 

 ence of opinions and the old law of New York made it 

 6in. The idea of protecting them is quite old, for Shakes- 

 peare makes Adonis sav: ''No fisher but the ungrown fry 

 forbears," yet we findtnat it requires a law in order to corri- 

 pel some fishers to forbear. Feed Mather. 



Cold Spktng Haebor, N. Y. 



The Intercolonial Railway of Canada, which leads 

 to many of the famous sahnon and trout fishing resorts, 

 publishes an illustrated calendar showiag a fishing party 

 unloading three big fish, and a bigger one stiU is not seen 

 but one man is reaching down for it in the canoe. 



A BOOK ON FLY-FISHING. 



F1.Y-F1SHING Asrn FiiY-MAKiNO FOH Trout, etc. By J. Harrington 

 Keene. With plates of the actual material for makinR flies of 

 every rariety, illustrated. New York ; O. Judd Co., 1887. 



In this little book Mr. Keetie has given a great deal of practical 

 information on fly-fishing and fly-making in a small compass, and 

 has boiled down a gi'eat deal that might hare been extended over 

 more pages. In his chapter on the senses of fishes he records as 

 his opinion that fish cannot hear sounds in air, and in this mooted 

 question we incline to agree with him, always excepting, as he 

 does, those sounds wliich arc accompanied by violent concussions. 

 In the practical essays on fishing and fly-making the author shows 

 his familiarity with the arts. The expert fiy-caster will find 

 diagrams of diOicult and and unusual movements of both rod and 

 line, some of which may puzzle him to follow, especially in the 

 Bpey and switch casts, but the novice may receive insti'uctions 

 from the simpler methods. The making of trout flies is not only 

 well illustrated throughout with woodcuts, but also accompanied 

 by two pages of samples of the actual material used in fly-making, 

 Buch as the diiferent tinsels, silk braids, floss, chenilles, peacock 

 herls and f eathei's, instead of mere pictui-es of them. Mr. Keene 

 is a practical fly-tyer, and his instructions in this art seem to be 

 about as perfect as mere type and woodcuts can make them, and 

 if the fly-caster, expert though he be, gets lost in the labrylnth 

 illustrating the motion of a rod in the air, the fly-tyer has au easy 

 task. Mr. Keene has been long enough in America to have become 

 familiar with American tackle, which as a rule he gives the 

 preference to, except in the matter of lines, his choice in this 

 being an English made silk line %vith a copper wire in the center. 

 Taking the boolc as a whole, it is concise and conveys the impi-es- 

 sion that it is written by a thoughtful, pi-actical man, who has 

 ■wasted no ink on theories, but has plunged at once into his sub- 

 ject and disposed of It in the shortest possible manner. 



^iBhcuUnn. 



Address all mmmuntcatiom to the Fewest and Stream Pub. Co 



SALMON IN THE HUDSON. 



[Road before the Eastern New York Game Protective Society.] 



ALIMOST from the inception in this country of fishcultm-e 

 by artificial means, and as its probabilities and pos- 

 sibilities were cUscussed by anglers and scientists, the people 

 of Eastern New York have been interested to learn if the 

 Hudson River was ever a natural salmon stream, and if not. 

 could it be made the home of this royal fish by the etforts of 

 State or National government; both being interested and 

 active in repopulating our overfished or fished oixt waters 

 with fish indigenous to them, and also introducing new fish 

 into waters suitable for their habitation. By a natural 

 salmon stream I mean one in which the salmon regularly 

 each year make their appearance from the sea for the pur- 

 pose of spawning far up in its headwaters. When, in 1609, 

 Hendrick Hudson, in the Half Moon, sailed up the river that 

 bears his name, he saw what he reported to be a "goodly 

 store of salmon." If such was the case, and it is believed 

 that Hudson was mistaken as to the identity of the fish, 

 there is now no evidence obtainable that salmon ever 

 ascended the river to its headwaters to spawn; in fact I do 

 not understand how it was possible for them to do so any 

 more than now. Cohoes Falls must have shut them out of 

 the Mohawk, and Baker's Falls, on the Hudson, in Wash- 

 ington county, must have debarred them from the upper 

 trfimtaries of the main river. 



These tributaries, Sacandaga, Rock, Cedar, Indian and 

 Boreas rivers, which would turnish the best breeding 

 grounds for salmon if they could be reached, are miles above 

 Baker's Falls. Salmon, when moved by instinct to produce 

 their kind, will overcome obstacles that no other fish can, 

 but there is a limit beyond which they cannot go. The gov- 

 ernment of Norway caused some experiments to be made to 

 put the leaping powers of the salmon on record, and it was 

 round that some fish jumped over a vertical .larrier of 16ft., 

 but the average jump was found to be about 12ft. It is pos- 

 sible that salmon might have spawned in some small feeder, 

 or in the river itself below Baker's Falls, had they made the 

 attempt, for it is within the remembrance of living men that 

 Bakers Falls was once the linfit of the upward movement 

 of the shad. In this connection, I yield to the desire to 

 quote from a letter written to me by Mr. Ripley Hitchcock, 

 who takes a deep interest in and who has written very in- 

 structively on this subject. He says: ''Many of the Resti- 

 gouche salmon, I am informed on good authority, spawn 

 within a few miles of tide water— in fact, I am told that 

 they spawn all along the river. Not only this, but I am tu- 

 formed of instances of their spawning in brackish water at 

 the head of the tide." I question if such spawning would 

 keep a river stocked, but I can find no evidence, except Hud- 

 saixs statement, that the Hudson River ever contained sal- 

 mon, escbpt stragglers or estrays from, perhaps* the Oba- 

 necticut, which is a natural salmon stream. 



I Hudson entered the river in September, and neither he nor 

 his crew ascended further than Albany or, possibly, Water- 

 ford, and the writer would contend that if the river abounded 

 ' with salmon at that timej tliey would in September be miles 

 above Waterford attending to domestic duties, and not 

 where they could be seen by captain or crew of the Half 

 Moon. Solitary salmon have, from time to time, been found 

 in the Hudson, and also in the Delaware, but they availed 

 nothing for profit or sport, 

 ( Between 187a and 18T6 the New York State Fish Commis- 

 ' sion planted 156,000 California salmon in the headwaters of 

 the Hudson and nearly 100,000 in the waters on Long Island. 

 Few, if any, of these fish were ever after heard from, and it 

 is supposed that the waters of the rivers on tlie Atlantic 

 south of 41 degrees are not sufficiently cold for this Pacific 

 Slope fish. The State of \ erniont in 1880 made a small plant 

 of Penobscot salmon fry in the Battenkill, which flows into 

 the Hudson north of Troy, and, if my memory serves me as 

 to date, this plant would account for the salmon taken in 

 the Hudson in 1884. I am told that it is impossible for 

 salmon to return to the planting ground in the Battenkill, 

 because of natural obstruction. Prof. Baird, being satisfied 

 that the Hudson River was not a natural salmon stream by 

 reason of natiu-al and mechanical obstructions which shut 

 the fish off from spawning grounds in headwaters, deter- 

 mined to plant the headwaters with salmon fry — where they 

 would find suitable and abundant food— and if they returned 

 as mature fish through the waters of the lower river, which 

 can scarcely be compared to crystal in purity, the success of 

 the experiment would be assured; for the obstacles which 

 have heretofore prevented fish from ascending to the upper 

 Hudson can now be easily overcome. 



I believe that at this very writing Ool. Marshall McDonald 

 of the United States Fish Commission, is putting one of the 

 fishways that he invented in an obstruction in the Mohawk 

 River. The McDonald fishway is so perfect in its scientific 

 arrangements that it ^vill take a, passive fish over a water- 

 fall whether it cares to go or not. This is fact, not fancy. 

 From the reports of Mr. Fred Mather, who has hatched and 

 planted in the Hudson all the salhion furnished by the 

 United States Fish Commission, I find that there has" been 

 shipped to the waters of this river 1,583,700 salmon fry and 

 150 yearlings. Two lots of fry suffered from lack of ice and 

 there were actually planted as follows: 



1883 350,000 



1883 245,800 



1884 , 385,700 



1885 (and 150 yearlmgs) 269,300 



1886 350,000 



Total 1,500,800 



At two yeai's of age salmon go down stream to salt water, 

 and two years later return to the place of their birth or baby- 

 hood for the purpose of spawning. As the first plant was 

 made in the Hudson in 1883, the first return should be in 

 1886, and that the planting was successful and that the 

 mature salmon did return is evidenced by three salmon, 

 weighing from 10 to 131bs. each, being takeii, this summer, 

 in the river below the Troy dam. One hundred and twenty 

 thousand of the salmon fry, and all the yearlings mentioned 

 above, were planted by or under the eye of the writer during 

 the years 1884, 1885 and 1886, and have" since been watched in 

 their new home with much interest. In October. 1885, at the 

 request of Prof. Baird, I caught a few of the plant of 1884, 

 then about eighteen months old, and forwarded them to 

 Wa.shington. The parr, as the young salmon are called at 

 this age, were fi-om 6 to 8in. long, covered with fine silver 

 scales and dotted with carmine and black. When they go 

 to sea a few months later as smolts, the cai'mine dots disap- 

 pear, but the black spots remain and are found on the adult 

 salmon. This summer I did not see in the brook any salmon 

 that I called of the plant of 1884, still there should have been 

 some, as all of one year's hatching do not go to sea at one 

 time, and this is a wise provision of nature. Some salmon 



trow faster than others, and in one can of yearling fish (all 

 atched at the same time) I found that they ran in size from 

 S^in. to about 6in. In July last I sent Mr, Mather speci- 

 mens of the plant of 1885, and they were almost as large as 

 the eighteen months' fish of the year before. One of the 

 salmon that was caught in 1885 contained ripe milt. I re- 

 ported in the summer (1886) that all the plant of 1884 seemed 

 to have gone to sea, and imdoubtedly the most of them had, 

 but some of the slow growing fish of 1884 probably remained, 

 but could not be distinguished from those of 1885. 



Prof. Baird has, by his experiment, shown that salmon 

 planted in the headwaters of the Hudson will endeavor to 

 return there to spawn, and all that seems to be lacking to 

 make the Hudson a salmon river is means for them to get 

 back and laws for their protection. There is now a fishway in 

 the Troy dam, and also one at Fort Miller. Since these fish- 

 ways were built, there has been a dam built at Mechanic- 

 ville. Baker's Falls will require a McDonald fishway, and 

 Palmer's Falls also. The first is in Washington county and 

 the latter in Saratoga county. The fishway at Troy, which 

 is a mere chute, was repaired by the superintendent of pub- 

 lic works during the past summer. Fort Edward, Sandy 

 Hill, Glens I'alls, the feeder dam and Luzerne also have 

 dams that may require the McDonald fishway or simple 

 chutes. Above Luzerne there are no obsti-uctions to the 

 ascent of salmon. At present there is no protection for the 

 sea salmon in this State. The landlocked salmon is pro- 

 tected, but the salar is not mentioned in the statutes. Above 

 the Troy dam the salmon must take its chances under the 

 law (chap. 137j Laws 1884, sec. 23 of Judge Danaher's com 

 pilation) that forbids the taking of any fish except with hook 

 and line, but below the dam there is no protection against 

 netting, and it is below the dam that the salmon need pro- 

 tection. This can hardly be considered an oversight on the 

 part of the lawmakers, for up to this time we have had no 

 salmon to protect. Salmon have been planted in Salmon 

 River in the State as well as in the Hudson, and it will be 

 necessary to provide for their protection the coming winter. 



A. N. Cheney. 



GrLENS FAXLS, N. Y. 



MICHIGAN NEEDS WARDENS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Following is a suggestive passage from the message ot 

 Cyrus G. Luce, the new governor of Michigan, delivered 

 .Jan. 6: 



"The extensive coast line so nearly surrounding our State, 

 as well as the great number of small island lakes, render the 

 fishing interest of great importance. It is undeniable that 

 the fish add largely to the food products and thus to the 

 wealth of the State. For the purpose of protecting and pro- 



?agating this interest the Fish Commission was established, 

 'hat it has accomplished something in the direction of the 

 purpose for which it was created is apparent. But investi- 

 gation has led me to believe that the commission ought to be 

 abolished or its powers of usefulness increased. Fish have 

 been planted in great and small waters, too often to be pre- 

 maturely caught out and destroyed. No adequate provision 

 has been made to guard the investment. In some localities 

 where fish have been planted, while yet small and worthless 

 for food, they have been caught out and used for fertilizing- 

 purposes. In order to reap the benefit of the commissionri 

 should recommend that to them be given authority to appoint 

 wardens whose duties it shall be to watch and guard the de- 

 posits of fish when made. 



"Only a portion of the people, in the very nature of the 

 case, caai be benefited by the commission or its operations. 

 In other cases special interests pay the expense of inspection 

 and protection. Salt inspection is paid by the manufacturer, 



oil inspection by the dealers, and I most earnestly recommend 

 that the fish interest be required to pay the expense incurred 

 in propagation and protection. Under the present law the 

 annual expenses are not far fi'om $15,000. The appointment 

 of wardens will add to this expense, and I trust that the 

 powers of the board will be enlarged, and that provisions be 

 made for placing a charge upon seines suflBcient to defray all 

 expenses." F. 1. 



FISHCULTURE AT BLOOMING GROVE PARK— 

 The club had on hand Dec. 30 95,000 eggs, of which 70,000 

 were brook trout, 10,000 bro-vvn trout and 15,000 rainbow 

 trout. Some of these eggs were purchased and some were 

 obtained from the stock of breeding trout on hand. No 

 doubt this stock will show up in the fishing scores two or 

 three years hence. 



FIXTURES. 



DOa SHOWS. 



January, 1887,— Bench Show of Poultry and Pet Stock Associ- 

 ation, at Adams, Mass. W. F. Davis, Secretary. 



Jan, 17 to 21, 1887.— Ohio State Poultry, Plgc^on and Pet Stock 

 Association Dog Show, Columbus, O. W. F. KueU, Superintend- 

 ent, Columbns, O. 



Jan. 18 to 21.— Exhibition under auspices of the National Poultry 

 and Bench Show Association, Gate City Guards Armoi*v, Atlanta, 

 Ga. R. J. Fisher. Secretary. 



Feb. 8 to 11.— Southern Massachusetts Poultry Association Bench 

 Show, Fall River. A. R. G. Mosher, Secretary, 



March 23 to 25, 1887.— Spring Show of the New Jersey Kennel 

 Club, Newark, N. J. A. G. Wilmerding, Secretary, Bergen Point, 

 N. ,J. 



March 29 to April 1, 1887.— Inaugural Bench Show of Rhode 

 Island Kennel Club, Providence, R, I. N. Seabury, Secretary, 

 Box 1333, Providence. 



April a to 8, 1887.— Third Annual Show of New England Kennel 

 Club, Boston. F. L. Weston, Secretary, Hotel Boylston, Boston, 

 Mass. 



April 12 to 15, 1887.— Thirteenth Annual Dog Showof the Western 

 Pennsylvania Poultry Society, at Pittsburgh, Pa. C. B. Elben, 

 Secretary, 



May 3 to 6, 1887.— Eleventh Annual Show of the Westminster 

 Kennel Club, Madison Square Garden, New York. James Morti- 

 mer, Superintendent. 



FIELD TRIALS. 

 Feb. 15, 1887.— Inaugural Trials of Tennessee Sportsmen's Associ- 

 ation. Entries close Jan. 10. R. M. Dudley, Secretary, No, 84 

 Broad street, Nashville, Tenn. 



A. K. R.-SPECIAL NOTICE. 



nPHE AMERICAN KENNEL REGISTER, for the registration 

 of pedigrees, etc. (with prize lists of aU shows and trials), is 

 published every month. Entries close on the 1st. Should be in 

 early. Entry blanks sent on receipt of stamped and addressed 

 envelope. Registration fee (50 cents) must accompany each entry. 

 No entries inserted unless paid in advance. Yearly subscription 

 $1.50. Address "American Kennel Register," P. O. Box 2832, New 

 York. Number of entries already printed 4502. 



EASTERN FIELD TRIALS CLUB. 



THE annual meeting of the Eastern Field Trials Club was 

 held at the St. James Hotel on Tuesday evening, Jan. 

 11. The president, Mi-. B. F. Wilson, was absent, and the 

 meeting was called to order by the vice-president, Mr. J. 0. 

 Donner. The minutes of the last annual meeting were read 

 and approved. It was voted that future annual meetings of 

 the club be held during the running of the field trials. The 

 report of the treasurer, .showing a handsome balance to the 

 credit of the club, was read and approved. 



Following is a list of the Board of Governors elected for 

 the ensuing year: Messrs. Elliot Smith, H. E. Hamilton, D. 

 S. Gregory, J. W. Orth, R. C. Cornell, W. A. Coster, D. C. 

 Bergundthal, J. L. Breese, B. F. Wilson, J, Otto Donner, F. 

 R. Hitchcock, J. R. Henrichs, Geo. T. Leach, A. E, God- 

 eflfi'oy and Geo. de F. Grant. 



The meeting then adjourned and a meeting of the Board 

 of Governors was at once convened. Mr. R. C. Cornell was 

 called to the chair and the board unanimonsly re-elected the 

 officers of the past year. President, Mr. B. F.' Wilson, Pitts- 

 burgh, Pa.; Vice-Presidents, Messrs. J. O. Donner and F. R. 

 Hitchcock, New York; Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. W. A. 

 Coster, Flatbush, L. I. 



The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. 

 Mr. Herbert Merriam, of Weston, Ma.ss., was elected a mem- 

 ber, and Messrs. Arthur M. Hunter, New York, and ,1. N. 

 Cochran,Philadelphia,were proposed for membership. Messrs 

 Donner, Hitchcock and Gregory were appointed a committee 

 to determine the amount of the prizes to be offered in the 

 difEerent stakes at the next trials. The above committee 

 was also instructed to report at the next meeting what 

 changes, if any, are desirable in the running rules, and it 

 was voted that the committee, through the press, invite all 

 who are interested in field trials to make such suggestions in 

 relation to changes in the rules as may seem advisable. All 

 .such communications to be addressed to the Chairman, Mr 

 J. O. Donner, 11 West Thirty-eighth street, New York. 



THE INDIANA KENNEL CLUB. 



WE have received a letter from the secretary of the Indi- 

 ana Kennel Club, in which he says that the club is in 

 a very prosperous condition. We give 'below the text of a 

 circular which the club has issued, and we have no doubt 

 that it will meet with a hearty response from the lovers of 

 the dog throughout the State. Following is the circular: 



Deak SiK: During the State Fair held here in October, 

 1886, the Indiana Kennel Club was organized, its object be- 

 ing to promote the improvement of dogs, doa; shows and dog 

 trials. It is also the intention of the club to make an eft'ort 

 to recover any lost or stolen dogs, whose owner has enrolled 

 himself as a member. 



It is the belief; and earnest desire, that eveiy person in the 

 State who fancies or o\ras dogs will join the club. 



Your membership is earnestly desired. The membership 

 fee is two dollars, and the annual dues one dollar. This 

 amount is used in defraying the expenses of the club, and as 

 none of the oflflcers receive or charge anythinec for their 

 services, it is believed this amount will be sufficient to meet 

 all expenses. 



Should you, decide to become a member,_please fill up the 

 annexed blank, and send it to Dr. J. G. Parsons, secretary, 

 who will enroll your name on the club books. 



Yours truly, D. C. Bergundthal, President. 



DOG STEALING AT MT. VERNON, N. Y.-New York. 

 —About a month ago a Mr. Greening, of Mt. Vemon, lost a 

 dog. The party in whose possession he was found was 

 arrested and put on trial. It took the jury about five min- 

 utes to come to a conclusion that he was guilty and the 

 judge gave him a six months' sentence. A dog of my own 

 m keeping at Mt. Vernon disappeared five days ago, taking 

 his chain with him. The loss was advertised in the local 

 papers and the town posted. Yesterday he appeared at his 

 kennel minus the chain. It is supposed that the party that 

 had him in the meantime was afraid to detain him, in view 

 of the present ^ntiment ou the subdect of dog stealing at 

 Mti Vemon.— H. G. P. 



