30 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 30, 1890. 



CARE OF YOUNG TROUT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The writer earnestly desires the restocking of our de- 

 pleted, and in some eases exhausted, trout streams. For 

 some years past he has been procuring alevin trout and 

 liberating them in such brooks, leaving them to care for 

 themselves thereafter. He now asks such readers of For- 

 est AND Stream as have had experience in such matters, 

 and who feel sufficient interest in the work so to do, to give 

 its readers the benefit, of their experience. 



He would like particularly to learn whether it is best to 

 put the young trout in the open brook where there may be 

 a few old trout and let them shift for themselves, or whether 

 it is not better to build a rearing pond beside the brook and 

 deflect a portion of it to feed the pond, making suitable pro- 

 vision for the. overflow, and thus be able to confine the trout 

 until say one year old, when they would be better able to 

 protect themselves. And if such rearing pond be preferable, 

 what should be its size for each thousand fry, how best con- 

 structed, and what care would the young fish require? 



"Where there is an abundant water supply would food 

 enough probably be supplied by it, or would artificial feed- 

 ing be necessary? If food enough would bo supplied by the 

 running water, how large a stream or quantity is required:' 

 And if not, what food would be best, how prepared, when 

 and in what quantity fed? In all the questions it will be 

 understood per thousand fry. This information and much 

 more bearing upon t he same subject can be furnished by 

 readers of Forest and Stream, and if they will kindly do 

 so they will contribute to a timely subject, materially aid 

 in a good work, and help others as well as the writer, 



G. Me. 



Worcester, Mass, 



[Leaders in fishculture now believe that in order to make 

 a speedy and permanent impression in waters stocked with 

 species of the salmon family, yearlings should be used for 

 the planting, and not alevins. Results furnish complete 

 proof of the soundness of this opinion and the Government 

 is especially committed to this method of introduction. A 

 pond 50ft. long, 12ft. wide and 3 to 4ft. deep in the deepest 

 portion, from thence sloping to the inlet, and with a good 

 flow of water, will easily carry 1,000 yearling trout, pro- 

 vided they are proper] y fed. A trough 16ft. long, 18i o. wide 

 and 8in. deep will accommodate 20,000 fry, allowing one 

 month for absorption of the sac and two months for feed- 

 ing. Some fishcnlturists prefer to give the youug fry fresh 

 beef liver until they are six months old. They crush it to 

 a soft mass and feed the fish several times a day when they 

 first begin to feed. Older fish can be fed once daily and 

 adults once in two days. The old fish can take finely 

 chopped "lights" also. There is no fixed rule as to quantity 

 of food, but the trout should have all they will clean uy. 

 See this journal for Dec. 26, on Mr. Atkins's method of feed- 

 ing young Salmon idee with larva? of flies. There is no 

 doubt that live food is the best if it can be obtained. As a 

 rule open waters do not contain sufficient food of a kind 

 suitable to the wants of trout.] 



PROVIDING NATURAL FOOD FOR FISH FRY, 



THE writer has been very much interested by Mr. C. G. 

 Atkins's experiments in rearing larvee for feeding fry. 

 The present method of planting yearling Salmon k.hr is 'a 

 great advance over the system of planting fry, and new If 

 some economical method of providing natural food for them 

 can be evolved it is possible that trout culture may be placed 

 on a still more favorable basis. There has been a recent 

 application by natives of Switzerland (so I have been told) 

 for an American patent on a system (patented in Europe) of 

 feeding fish by having a series of ponds in which natural 

 food is allowed to propagate, and from one to anothpr of 

 which the fish are transferred as sheep would be transferred 

 from one pasture to another. The idea is a good one, but it 

 is as old at least as the knowledge of the value of selective 

 breeding of fishes iu Japan or China, and simply makes 

 complex what is otherwise a very simple matter—the rear- 

 ing of the food and its transfer to the fish pond. 



Dr. Win. H. Wahl, editor of the Manufacturer and 

 Builder, and the writer have for years engaged in the care 

 ful cultivation of Japanese goldfish by selection, resulting 

 in the possession of no doubt the finest long-finned goldfish 

 in the country. These are spawned, hatched and reared in 

 tubs, tanks, aquaria and small cemented ponds. They are 

 fed during the early part of their lives on animah-ube and 

 small crustaceans. The rearing of all fishes within lim- 

 ited areas is, of course, only a question of food supply. A 

 pond or trench, when devoted to raising food alone, devel- 

 ops prodigious quantities of life, because, in the absence of 

 fish to prey upon it, production is unrestricted. 



In the application for patent referred to, the use of dung, 

 offal, etc., is recomm ended as a stimulus to the rapid develop- 

 ment of larvae, Crustacea, etc. While it may attract insects, 

 it is not necessary to the development of minute Crustacea, 

 as these find their food iu the still more minute animal and 

 vegetable life developed uuder the same conditions. Take 

 the sphagnum swamps of New Jersey for example. These 

 dry up in the spring or early summer, and remaiu so dry 

 throughout the summer that there will be cracks in the 

 earth two or three inches wide. They will also be subjected 

 to severe freezing before they fill up. Within a few days 

 after filling up, however, Daphnia and Cyclops will appear 

 to the eye, and in two or three weeks they will be literally 

 teeming with minute life, all developed from eggs lying 

 dormant during all the months of baking and freezing — 

 Daphnia, Cyclops, the larvee of gnats, crane flies, ephemera 

 flies and water beetles, the boat fly, and the curious phyllo- 

 pod Crustacea, etc. The bottom of these swamp pouds is 

 soon covered with a luxuriaut growth of sphagnum and 

 other plants. One of them would supply the fry of cpuite an 

 extensive hatchery. 



On the outskirts of the city of Philadelphia Dr. Wahl and 

 the writer have for years found stagnant ponds or accumu- 

 lations of water, some of them clean and pure aud some of 

 them to some extent sewage-fed, where with a few scoops of 

 a cheesecloth net myriads of these creatures could be taken. 

 And in this w r ay we provided our young fry with an abund- 

 ance of natural food, only resorting to propagating it wheu 

 the ponds or ditches dried up. 



While attending the Ohio Valley Exposition at Cincin- 

 nati the writer found similar stagnant bodies of water, to 

 some extent sewage-fed, and reached by back water from 

 the Ohio during freshets. They were so teeming with the 

 larvae of mosquitoes and small crustaceans, such as Dapli- 

 nia and Cyclops, that as much as half a pint of them could 

 betaken at one scoop of the net, and they were fed to the fish 

 in the aquaria in clouds. These ponds were also alive with 

 small fish, numbers of wbich were caught with the clouds 

 of crustacea. 



The small ponds among the hills on the coast of Massachu- 

 setts, when tilled with water, swarm with these crustacea, 

 and it is probable that they may be fouud iu such numbers 

 everywhere. The point sought to be advanced here, how- 

 ever, is that they may be bred in incalculable numbers in 

 small artificial ponds or trenches. Neither summer heatnor 

 winter's cold seems to affect them with the exception that 

 when there is a considerable accumulation of ice they dimin- 

 ish rapidly in numbers. Were trenches covered with hot- 

 bed sash, however, so as to prevent extreme freezing, then- 

 is no reason why they could not be produced iu abundance 

 throughout the year. This is only applying the methods of 

 the gardener. 



The crustacea will be found on the lee side of a pond in 

 greatest numbers when the wind is blowing and the sun is 



shining, but will sink to the bottom if cloudy. When the 

 wind is not blowing they will be found on the sunniest side. 



The breeding of larva? of gnats and mosquitoes in an open 

 pond is much like inviting a plague. During the past suin- 

 •mer, however, the writer was able to feed many hundreds of 

 goldfish on mosqnito larva? developed iu a large cemented 

 cistern, underground. It was necessary to keep a fine gauze 

 cover over the mouth of the cistern to prevent the escape of 

 the mosquitoss. The gnat and mosquito larva? are of no use 

 only when fish have attained a length of say three-fourths 

 of an inch. They will kill and devour newly hatched fish. 

 Just to what extent this system would be practicable, or as 

 to whether there are limitations to its value in the larger 

 fishcultural operations, is a question which maybe easily 

 determined by devoting small pouds already constructed to 

 the experiment, and it would be well worth the trial. Iu 

 many kinds of fishculture iu the near future it is probable 

 that the most advanced methods will devote much more 

 space to the production of a natural food supply than to the 

 fish themselves. Wm. P. SEAL. 



PROFITS OF TROUT CULTURE.— Does raising trout 

 for market pay under ordinary circumstances if a party has 

 a good pond well located 5 ' Is the work on trout culture 

 advertised in your "Sportsman's Library" complete and 

 reliable ? I have, a good pond in view, but have read in 

 papers that men always lost about all they put into the 

 business.— G. H. S. [We do not believe that trout culture, 

 pays as a rule, although we know some successful establish- 

 ments. The book referred to is good and reliable. Write to 

 Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, Washington, D. G, 

 for his Report on the Wytheville Station, which contains 

 valuable information on this subject.] 



FIXTURES. 



DOG SHOWS. 



Jan. 27 to Feb. 1, I890.-Dog Show of the Colorado Poultry and 

 Pet. Stock Association, at DeDver, Ool. 



Feb. 11 to 14, 1890.— Fourteenth Annual Show of the Westminster 

 Kennel Club, American Institute Building, New York. James 

 Mortimer Superintendent. 



March 4 to 7, .1890.— Second Annual Dog Sbow of the Mascoutali 

 Kennel Club, Chicago, 111. Geo. Lf. Hill, Superintendent, 175 

 Dearborn street. Entries close Fell. 17. 



March 11 to 14, 1890.— Second Annual Dog Show of the Rochester 

 Kennel Club, at Rochester, N. Y. Harry Yates, Secretary. 



March 18 to 21.— First Annual Dug Show of the Maryland Ken- 

 nel Club, at Baltimore, Md. W. She wart Diffenderffer, 220 N. 

 Charles street, Secretary. Entries close March 4. 



March 25 to 28, 1890.— Second Annual Do« Show of the Mass. 

 Kennel Club, Lynn, Mass. D. A. Williams, Secretary. 



April 1 to 4, 1890.— Sixth Annual Dog Show of the New England 

 Kennel Club, at Boston, Mass. J W. Newman. Secretary. 



April 15 to 18, 1890.— Show of the Buffalo Kennel Club. Buffalo 

 N. Y. A. W. Smith, Secretary. 



FIELD TRIALS. 



Jan. 20, 1890.— Seventh Annual Field Trials of the Pacific Coast 

 Field Trial Club at Bakersfield, Cal. H. H. Briggs, Secretary, 313 

 Bush street. .San Francisco. Cal. 



Feb. 11, 1890.— Fourth Annual Field Trials of the Texas Field 

 Trial Club, at Marshall, Tex. W. L. Thomas, Secretary. 



Feb. 3 to 28, 1890.— Meet of the Brunswick Fur Club, Great 

 Island, Me. 



Nov. 17.— Twelfth Annual Field Trials of the Eastern Field 

 Trials Club. W. A. Coster. Saratogo Springs, N. Y., Secretary. 



Dec. 1.— Second Annual Field Trials of the Central Field Trials 

 Club, at Lexington, N. C. C. H. Odell, Mills Building, New York, 

 Secretary. 



INTERSTATE FIELD TRIALS. 



iSpccial Report.] 



I'll B Inter State Field Trial Club's first annual trials com- 

 . raenced at Lafayette, La., Jan. 13, and were finished 

 Jan. 22, The club deserves great credit for their fair man- 

 agement. They gave their prizes to be won by the best dog 

 and every movement showed that they wanted fair play 

 given to all. They were very kind and courteous to every 

 one present. The judges were Mr. A. H. Starr, of Marshall, 

 Texas, Judge Clagge, of Lafayette, La., and Mr. N. D. Wal- 

 lace, of New Orleans, La. Judge Clagge and Mr. Wallace 

 were called away on business two days each, and in their 

 absence Mr. R. M. Hutchins acted in their places. There can 

 be no question raised about the judges' honesty toward every 

 one, and there were no favorites among the dogs. They 

 adopted the plan of deciding each heat at the end of 30m. if 

 either dog bad any advantage of any consequence in their 

 favor, and they stuck to this rule in nearly every case. They 

 made a few mistakes in taking up good dogs ou a short 

 margin in favor of one dog, and they did not properly direct 

 handlers so that they could thoroughly test the actual hunt- 

 ing quality of a high class dog. There were ou many parts 

 of the trial grounds entirely too many birds to thoroughly 

 test the actual hunting qualities of dogs, and iu such case's 

 the judges should have takeu the dogs off of single birds 

 and worked thern for new bevies. This they did not do iu 

 many cases, aud beat some very high class dogs with dogs 

 that were not near their equals, and another fault that 1 

 have to find with them aud most other judges at field trials 

 is, they try to stick to the old point system too much. It 

 seems to be hard for judges to come down to the strict letter 

 of rules to grade pointing under the heading of nose. They 

 kept account of the actual number of points and flushes a 

 dog makes, and at the end of the heat they count up the 

 number of points that had beeu made, aud the dog with the 

 greatest number always won. This is not a correct Way to 

 judge the nose of a dog. One dog might make six poiuts to 

 the other's three and then not have near as good a nose as 

 the one that made three. The actual number of points iu a 

 30m. heat is often due to luck. 



The country around Lafayette is a level prairie country 

 nearly all in cultivation, and cut up iu small farms with 

 three arid four-wire fences, and cultivated mostly in cotton 

 and corn. Every cornfield is thick with cockle burrs, mak- 

 ing it impossible for a setter to hunt any where without 

 being covered from head to foot with burrs. The cotton 

 grows very large aud rank, aud the ground is perfectly bare 

 in most of the cotton fields. There are more birds on these 

 field trial grounds than any that I have ever seen; have seen 

 five or six bevies in a 30-minute trial. They stay out in 

 these opeu cotton aud cornfields, aud wheu a dog points a 

 bevy they frequently run several hundred yards before they 

 can be flushed. They generally light out as soou as they 

 strike the ground, making it very hard to find them. They 

 sometimes fly to hedges, making it impossible to work theni, 

 aud taking the character of the ground, the great quantities 

 of birds, aud the way they ran, into consideration, it is very 

 hard for judges to "do justice to all, and they certainly de- 

 serve credit for their attempts. Their decisions were ac- 

 cepted by every one present except Major Furcell, who an- 

 noyed the judges and management no little by kicking and 

 entering a protest on nearly every heat that he run, some 

 of them being six or eight pages of foolscap. They are en- 

 tirely too long to think of copying, or asking any paper to 

 take space to publish them. The Major started three dogs 

 in the Derby and five iu the the All-Aged Stake and did not 

 win a single heat. It is true that this was hard luck, but 

 there was no one present except Major Pursell that will not 

 fully agree with the judges iu every decision that was made 

 against his dogs. Those who saw them here and out East 

 know r what they are. They are dogs with some better, more 



natural qualities than the record shows, but the Major has 

 none of them broken nearly well enough to think about 

 running in field trials. 



The most of the sportsmen stopped at the Star and Cres- 

 cent House, where they got royal, first-class accommodations, 

 much better than we got at the Eastern trials. The pro- 

 prietor, Mr. John H. Conuiff, tried to accommodate 

 every one m all their wants, and he will long be remembered 

 by the sportsmen present. 



The club should be very proud of their great success in 

 their first effort. The entries show that they had quite a 

 lot of the best dogs in America, in fact, more field trial 

 winners entered than I have ever known to be entered in 

 any one trial before. 



MEMBERS' STAKE. 



On Monday, Jan. 13, at 8:30 A. M., the Members' Stake 

 was begun. The first brace was Mr. R. M. Hutchins's liver 

 aud white pointer dog Spring (Mainspring— Curfew), han- 

 dled by owner, and Mr. Omer Villere's lemon aud white ■ 

 pointer bitch Lillie Talbot (pedigree not given), handled 

 by owner. They were worked through large cotton, corn 

 and weed fields. During the heat there were eight bevies 

 found by the spectators aud dogs, but there was"very little 

 work done, Lillie making four points and Spring two, the 

 birds generally went to such thick heavy cover that it was 

 i mpossible for the dogs to get in much work, but they should 

 have done much better than they did. Spring had a de- 

 cided advantage in speed and range, but showed very poor 

 nose and did piaor work on game They both made flushes 

 that were inexcusable. Lillie broke shot once and was un- 

 steady to wing several times. Spring behaved well to shot 

 and wing. Lillie retrieved, Spring not having a bird killed 

 over his point, did not have an opportunity to retrieve. 

 They were ordered up at 11:44. Down in all 3b. 14m. The 

 judges gave the heat to Lillie. This heat undoubtedly was 

 a very hard one for the judges to decide, and it looked like 

 they took time enough and found birds enough to test any 

 two dogs not evenly matched, Spring having a decided ad- 

 vantage iu speed and range and showed up to be a thor- 

 oughly broken dog, easy to handle. The judges should have 

 given Spring an opportunity to retrieve a bird, and if he did 

 retrieve he should have wou the heat. Under the rules no 

 uusteady dog that has not very high natural qualities 

 should beat a well-broken dog with better natural qualities 

 on a question of three points. 



At 12 M. Mr. F. F. Myles's black, white and tan setter dog 

 Ben Hur (Paul Gladstone— Lottie) .hand led by owner,and Mr. 

 Omer Viller-e's black, white and tan setter dog Lee (Boyd— 

 Gipsey) were cast off in a thick, heavy cornfield, both dogs 

 showing fairly good speed, range and style, Ben having a. 

 decided advantage in these respects. They both got in sev-" 

 eral points and flushes, Ben having the best of it. Lee was 

 unsteady to wing twice, neither dog had a bird killed over 

 him: at the end of 45m. they were ordered up and a bird was 

 thrown and both dogs retrieved. The heat was then very 

 properly decided in favor of Ben Hur. 



F. F. 'Myles's black, white and tan setter dog Bob McCargo 

 (Count Oberon— Blanche), handled by owner, and Capt. R. 

 W. Foster's black, white aud tan setter dog Capt. Bethel, 

 handled by owner, were cast off in a cornfield. In speed, 

 range and style in motion Capt. Bethel had a big advantage, 

 being a far-ranging dog, but he did not make a point during 

 the heat, and flushed one bevy and chased it and refused to 

 back, went iu and flushed and was unsteady to shot. Bob 

 made two good points and would have made the third one if 

 Cap had not flushed his bird. At the eud of 45m. Bob was 

 declared the wiuner. 



After a first-class luucheon Mr. N. D. Wallace's black, 

 white and tan setter dog Bang (Mark Twain— Lena R.) and 

 Mr. J. K. Renand's lemon and white setter dog Ned White 

 (Mark Twain— Lena R.) were put down. As both of these 

 dogs had beeu handled by Mr. McCargo and did not know 

 their owners, they agreed that Mr. McCargo should handle 

 both dogs. They were worked on two bevies and but oue 

 point was made, Bang getting that. They both flushed 

 badly and w r ere unsteady to wing, and Ned chased twice 

 and Bang ouce. They both ranged fairly well and with a 

 fair amount of .-.peed. Bang having a slight advantage. At 

 the end of one hour the judges ordered them up and out of 

 the race. 



The next brace was Mr. F. F. Myles's black, white, and 

 tan setter bitch Dimple (Gordon— Blanche), handled by 

 owner, and Judge J. M. Thompson's black, white and tail 

 setter dog Mark Twain, handled by Mr. Renaud. In speed, 

 range aud style they were a nice brace, Dimple having a 

 slight advantage. In work on game they were both fairly 

 good, but Dimple also had the advantage in this respect, 

 and at the end of 45 minutes Dimple was declared the win- 

 ner. This ended the first series. 



Ben Hur and Lillie Tolbot were the first brace in the sec- 

 ond series. In speed and range Ben had a decided advan- 

 tage, in style they were about equal. There was lots of 

 work done in this heat, Ben getting a decided advantage. 

 Lillie was also unsteady to shot and wung. At the end of 

 1 hour and 15 minutes Ben was declared the winner. This 

 ended the day's work. 



On Tuesday morning the Derby commenced, and the Mem- 

 ber's Stake was finished by new judges, so your reporter was 

 not present to see the work done. It resulted as follows: 



Dimple beat Bob McCargo, both dogs owned by Mr. Myles. 



Ben Hur beat Dimple and won first, Dimple second, Lillie 

 Talbot third. 



THE DERBY. 

 The Derby of the Inter-State Field Trial Club began on 

 Tuesday, Jan. 14. A list of the entries was published in 

 Forest ajjd Stkkam Jan. 16. 



First Series. 



F. F. V. AND SIMON fill^S 

 were put down at 9:04 and worked through open corn and 

 cotton fields, where both dogs bad a good opportunity to 

 show their speed and range. Simouides had a decided ad- 

 vantage in speed, range and style. Both showed good nose. 

 F. F. V. made three points and two Hushes, and was a little 

 unsteady to shot twice. Simouides made two points and 

 was steady to shot and wing. Both backed well. Toward 

 the end of the heat both dogs showed very poor speed and 

 range, and were about equal. At the eud of 30 minutes the 

 judges very properly gave the heat to Simouides. F. F. V. 

 was handled by Major Purcell and Simouides by Rose. 

 HOPE'S BAY AND BANG BANG. 



Mr. Wallace, one of the judges, owning Bang Bang, retired 

 through this heat, the other two judges deciding it. The 

 dogs were put down at 9:45 and worked through open corn 

 and cotton fields throughout the heat, with nothing except 

 burrs to hinder them from going as fast as they liked. In 

 speed and range they both did fairly well at first, but toward 

 the end of the heat they slowed down considerably. Bang 

 had a slight advantage iu speed and range. They were 

 about equal in style There were three bevies found in this 

 heat. Hope made three points, and was steady to shot and 

 wing and backed well. Bang made only one point; refused 

 to back and went in aud flushed. He also made one other 

 flush that he should have pointed. If he had been properly 

 broke j the heat would have beeu much closer and he possibly 

 would have won it. At the end of one hour the heat was 

 awarded to Hope's Ray. Ray was handled by Rose and 

 Bang by McCargo. 



TRANSIT AND LILLIE TALBOT 

 were cast off at 10:50 in the open cornfield, where the last 

 brace was taken up and were worked through the heat in. 



