B94 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 23, 1892. 



A Trout "Haul." 



The Philadelphia Record of May 27 recorded: "Five 

 hundred trout were caught yesterday in Snyder county 

 by Felix Seiter, of Shamokin, being the largest haul made 

 in that part of the State for a decade." We wrote to the 

 address given and received the following reply: 



Shamokin, Pa., June 3,— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Your letter addressed to Felix Seiter, Shamokin, Pa., has 

 reached me, and presume was intended for me. I saw 

 the article in the Philadelphia Record in regard to the 

 number of fish I should have caught, and am at a loss to 

 know how the publishers have obtained such a record. 

 About two weeks ago I was along with a fishing party in 

 Union county, the party consisting of I. G. Seiler, D. K. 

 Hass and myself of Shamokin, and B. F. Herman of 

 Troxleville, Pa. We fished at what is called "the Buffalo 

 Branch," about seven miles northwest fi-om MifSlnburg, 

 Pa., and the four of us caught 827 trout, and among them 

 were some of 14in., and a good many from 8 to 10 inches. 

 I have learned since that quite a number of Union county 

 anglers are trying to dispute the fact, and are trying to 

 set up the idea that we have caught the trout in an 

 illegal manner. That we have caught them any other 

 way than with the hook and line I positively deny, and 

 can at any time bring witnesses to substantiate this fact. 



Felix G. Seiler. 



Adirondack Trout. 



Northwood, N. Y., June 18.— Few "outside" sports- 

 men have been in this region fishing this year. Local 

 fishermen have had quite good luck, having caught num- 

 bers of trout of 2 or 2Jlbs. weight. The logs that came 

 down the West Canada changed the channel consider- 

 ably, but did not injure many trout so far as known. All 

 the trout except a few small ones are on the cold beds, 

 where they refuse to take flies or bait. Earlier in the 

 Beason the fish took the grizzly-king, queen-of-the-waters 

 and brown hackle with yellow body. 



Raymond S. Spears. 



The Old Stagers Want Big Fish. 



My fishing trip was not the most satisfactory I've 

 known. "Old stagers" like myself, who have had cream, 

 don't relish skim milk, and that's what most of the East- 

 ern (Pennsylvania anyway) resorts furnish in the way of 

 trouting. Streams are fished to death and lied about 

 until its an exasperation to visit them. We got a few 

 fish, mostly 6in. (perish the thought that we saved any 

 less). Only one lOin. and two or three 8 and 9in. fell 

 into the net. I did, honestly, throw back lots of little 

 fellows which my eye said were less than 6in. or possibly 

 5fin. But some trout hog probably caught them the day 

 afterward.— S. 



Pere Marquette Club Waters. 



East Saginaw, Mich., June 6. — I have just come back 

 from a day spent on the fishing grounds of the Pere 

 Marquette Club, about 120 miles west of here. I took 

 my private car the other night with a friend of mine 

 and each of us took along our wives and children. Spent 

 the day on the stream and I brought in 45 trout, none of 

 them large, running from 8 to 12in. The women and 

 children gathered wild flowers and loafed and had a 

 good time generally. — M. 



Asbury Park Striped Bass. 



Asblry Park, N. J., June 18.— The largest striped 

 bass, if not the first, caught in the surf anywhere along 

 this coast, was captured to-day by Harry Comegys with 

 rod and reel. The fish tipped the scales at 8^1ba., and it 

 was a beauty, too. A. L. L. 



Chautauqua Lake Muscalonge. 



Mr. Munroe Green took from Chautauqua Lake, last 

 week, for stripping, a gravid female muscalonsre 5ft. 3in. 

 in length and weighing 531bs. A lot of 50,000 musca- 

 longe fry has been put into Oneida Lake. 



UNITED] 1STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



The steam launch Petrel, under the command of Dr. John 

 D. Battle, is now in Mobjack Bay, making a complete 

 hydrographic survey of the region with a view to determin- 

 ing the present condition, extent and distribution of the 

 oyster beds, as well as the extent of the bottom now un- 

 productive, but which may be made valuable for oyster 

 culture. 



The steamer Fish Hawk, in command of Lieut. Robert 

 Piatt, U. S. N., was very successful at Gloucester City, N. 

 J., during the shad season, having obtained over thirty 

 millions of eggs. The vessel will sail to Pocomoke and 

 Tangier Sounds, to carry on work similar to that being done 

 in Mobjack Bay. 



At the request of Gov. McKinney, of Virginia, the steam 

 launch Canvas Back has been detailed for duty in connec- 

 tion with the location of the natural oyster beds of Virginia 

 as a preliminary to leasing the bottoms to private parties, 

 as provided for in recent acts of the Virginia Legislature. 

 The surveying party will be under the charge of an officer to 

 he detailed from the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



The schooner Grampus, after an exceedingly profitable 

 winter in collecting cod, haddock and politick eggs for the 

 Commission's station at Gloucester, Mass., has gone to 

 Woods Holl, and is being fitted up for continuing the inves- 

 tigation of marine problems connected with the migrations 

 of food fishes, which has been carried on during the past 

 two seasons. 



The commission has been making special experiments in 

 rearing black bass in ponds and has adapted for that pur- 

 pose a portion of its station at the Monument Lot in Wash- 

 ington, D. C, where the undertaking so far has been very 

 successful. 



In the propagation of shad during the present year, opera- 

 tions have been confined, as usual, to the Potomac, Delaware 

 and Susquehanna rivers. Owingtotheextreinelyunfavorable 

 season and low temperature the work on the Potomac was 

 very unsatisfactory, the output of the station at Pryan's 

 Point, Md., was only 12,500,000. On the Delaware 30,500,000 

 were secured, and on the Susquehanna, at Havre de Grace, 

 53,500,000; a total of 96,500,000. 



The vacancy caused by the death of Mr. J. J. O'Connor, 

 who was Chief Clerk of the Commission from the time Col. 

 McDonald became Commissioner until May 4 last, has been 

 filled by the appointment of Mr. Herbert A. Gill, who for 



the past, fourteen years has been the disbursing officer. 

 Mr. Gill's former office is now held by Mr. W. P. Titeomb, 

 for many years Assistant Register of the Treasury, with 

 which department he has been connected during the past 

 twenty-seven years. 



REARING FISH FOR DISTRIBUTION. 



At the twentieth annual meeting of the American Fish- 

 eries Society Mr. Frank N. Clark, Superintendent of the 

 Michigan Stations of the U. S. Fish Commission, read a pa- 

 per on the rearing and distribution of trout at the North- 

 ville Station. In the discussion of this paper one of the 

 arguments brought against the method was the greatly in- 

 creased expense of planting yearlings in place of fry; 

 another argument advanced was that trout accustomed to 

 liver would not seek natural food. Mr. Clark at that time 

 had no detailed statistics of the cost of the work, but at the 

 twenty-first annual meeting, recently held, he showed the 

 cost of the operations during 1890 and 1891. In these years 

 250,000 yearlings were reared and distributed, about one- 

 half of them being lake trout, and the rest brook, Von Behr 

 and Loch Leven tront The lake trout, Mr. Clark observes, 

 require at least one-half more food than the others. To 

 quote from his paper: "The cost of the food for this lot of 

 fish was £740, or §3.95 per thousand fish. The cost of labor, 

 based on actual time, was -$600, or $2.40 per thousand. For 

 expressage, drayage and superintendence should be added 

 about $3 per thousand, making a total cost, when ready for 

 distribution, of $8.35 per thousand, or less than one cent 

 each for yearling fish, and Avith facilities for rearing four 

 times as many the cost of labor would be much less per 

 thousand." 



Mr. Clark states that the fry when planted must have food 

 at once or they will perish, while the yearlings are in a con- 

 dition to go without food for a considerable length of time. 

 The destruction of fry by larger fish is imich greater than in 

 the case of yearlings. He placed 100 fry in a tank 8ft. long, 

 2£t. deep, and 18in. wide, containing twelve yearlings; in a 

 similar tank he put twelve yearlings and six three-year-old 

 trout, to ascertain how soon the smaller fish would be de- 

 devoured. The fry were all gone in six hours. In the other 

 tank only two of the yearlings had been eaten by the three- 

 year-olds in two days. Mr. Clark finds yearlings as easy to 

 transport as fry. In making fourteen trips with the car last 

 year, and carrying 80,000 trout, from 2)4 to 7in. long, the 

 total loss was 1,738, and of these 938 were lost on one trip 

 through some accident to the tanks. 



In distributing yearlings "the fish are counted into the 

 tanks when put aboard the cars and counted out when 

 planted, the captain of the car receipting for the fish, and 

 then having the applicant receipt to him for the actual 

 number planted." 



Concerning the objection against planting artificially fed 

 fish, that they will naturally look for their accustomed food 

 and that they will not readily take to the natural food of the 

 streams, Mr. Clark asks if any fishculturist has ever cast a 

 fly in a pond of large fish that have been fed artificially with- 

 out getting a rise, or has ever thrown grasshoppers or any 

 other live food that was not readily taken. He does not con- 

 sider natural food indispensable to the rearing of yearlings, 

 but states that under favorable circumstances natural food 

 may be bred successfully and with far less expense than is 

 involved in feeding liver; but for this large pond areas and 

 ample water supply are essential. In taking the eggs of the 

 Salmonidce and hatching the fry the experimental stage has 

 long since been passed and in trout rearing to-day the prin- 

 cipal question for advanced fishculturists is, what should 

 be used for food and how shall it be procured-' Mr. Clark 

 calls attention to the well known fact that hundreds of 

 thousands of whiteflsh fry have been planted in lakes, and 

 as a result only a few bodies of water have been stocked; he 

 thinks it probable that if the whitefish be reared to the age of 

 yearlings before distributing the area of stocked waters will 

 be greatly increased. "One of the proposed improvements at 

 the Northville Station is that of constructing a rearing pond 

 for whitefish and furnishing them with natural food from 

 the creek. 



Mr. James Kevin, Superintendent of the Wisconsin hatch- 

 ery at Madison, discussed the same subject under the title 

 "Planting Fry vs. Planting Fingerlings. " Mr. Nevin claims 

 that the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and 

 Wisconsin have successfully stocked numerous streams by 

 the introduction of fry, and have accomplished this result 

 more economically than they could have done by planting 

 fingerlings. He believes that if the fry are carefully planted 

 in the headwaters of streams instead of in places where they 

 will be exposed to the attacks of larger fish, more of them 

 will live and thrive than can be raised in hatching houses. 

 He states that the fry will instinctively seek a hiding place, 

 while the fingerlings, having lost the fear of enemies, be- 

 come an easy prey to other fish. He cites a case in which 

 400 2-pound lake trout were deposited in a lake at Madison 

 and on the following morning four of these fish were taken 

 from the mouths of pickerel. Mr. Nevin believes that none 

 of the fish lived twenty-four hours after they were deposited. 

 He refers to the successful stocking of streams in the central 

 part of Wisconsin by planting fry. Some of the finest trout 

 streams of the country, he says, now exist there. According 

 to a newspaper account one man took 7,000 brook trout out 

 of a single stream last season. Another newspaper account 

 is to the effect that 5,000 brook trout were taken in the vicin- 

 ity of Sparta on the first day of the open season in 1893. 



Mr. Kevin's paper was accompanied by a letter from the 

 Hon. J. S. Bugh, County Judge of Waushara county, who 

 states that the numerous streams of his county have been 

 successfully stocked and are fished by people from all over 

 the State and from as far east as Boston. The trout, he 

 says, may be estimated in tons, but not in numbers. The 

 Judge states also that these streams did not contain trout 

 until they were planted. In conclusion he writes: "I wish 

 to say to the Commission (Wisconsin) that no one thing lias 

 brought this county into notice and advertised it so much 

 as our trout streams. Sportsmen who come here to fish all 

 say that, taking all things into consideration, the advan- 

 tages of civilization and freedom from the annoyance of 

 flies and mosquitoes, it is excelled nowhere in the United 

 States." 



Mr. Fred Mather treated of this subject under the title 

 "Planting Trout as Fry or Yearlings." Mr. Mather be- 

 lieves that the best results will be had from planting trout 

 as fry. He thinks that the States cannot afford to distribute 

 yearlings because of the greatly increased expense. Mr. 

 Mather admits that one yearling is worth many fry, but 

 the kingfisher can still destroy it. In January, 1892, he in- 

 structed his foreman to weigh and record the food of 16,300 

 brook and brown trout, which were hatched the previous 

 spring. The record covered the months of January, Febru- 

 ary and March, 1892, a period of ninety-three days, on three 

 of which they had no food. "If it be said that these fish, 

 so near a year old, would consume more food in the last 

 quarter the record shows that on twenty-three days the fish 

 were not taking much food, ranging from 4 to 81bs. of horse 

 meat, against 15 to 201bs. on other days." 



Mr. Mather takes the last quarter of the year as a fair 

 estimate of the consumption during the whole year. He 

 did not consider the expense of preparing the meat and feed- 

 ing fish, hut merely the cost of food and transportation. 

 After having tried hens' eggs, beef's liver, lungs and heart, 

 maggots, mosquito larvae, soft clams and salt water mus- 

 sels, he experimented with horse meat, which he considers 

 best adapted for feeding trout. It costs four cents a pound 

 at the station, while beef livers cost seven cents. To use 

 Mr. Mather's own words: 



"During the quarter mentioned we fed 16,000 trout as 

 follows: 



January 328Klbs. 



February 376%lbs. 



March 435^1 bs. 



l,140#lbs. 



"This, for ninety days, would equal 12.661bs. per day. 

 which at four cents per pound would cost a trifle over .55.06 

 per day, or -¥1,846.90 per year for the 16,000 fish. 



"Divide this and it gives $115 per thousand fish, or eleven 

 and one-half cents for each yearling." 



To resume our own language, the above may be true ac- 

 cording to Mr. Mather's arithmetic, but Forest and Stream 

 is convinced that 13.661bs. at four cents per pound will cost 

 only about 50 cents, and the cost of the food of a yearling 

 will be little more than one cent. Thus Mr. Clark's figures 

 are really not so much lower than Mr. Mather's would be 

 according to our method of calculation. 



The transportation of yearling fish, Mr. Mather says, is 

 much more expensive than the carrying of fry. One man 

 can take care of ten cans of fry for twenty-four hours, each 

 can containing 5,000; the same can would accommodate 

 only from thirty to forty yearlings. In his opinion the rear- 

 ing and distribution of 300,000 yearlings would involve an 

 outlay of about $30,000. Mr. Mather would produce and dis- 

 tribute fry in large numbers, making allowance for loss 

 through enemies of fish, and would expect good results at 

 less cost than by the method of planting yearlings. It is to 

 be kept in mind, however, that the same error of multipli- 

 cation has affected this amount, and a great reduction must 

 be made to bring it within reason; this sum nearly equals 

 the yearly cost of distributing all the eggs, fish and other 

 aquatic animals sent out by the U. S. Fish Commission. 



Public Trout for Private Waters. 



Rochester, N. Y., June 18.— The summer examinations 

 of the public schools and educational institutions of the 

 State have arrived on time. That fossilized body— the State 

 regents— has set its conundrum machine going, and the 

 students in the free academy are wrestling with them. 

 Here is a specimen question: '"Considering the rotation of 

 the earth, upon which bank of the Rhine River would a 

 body lodge first?" "Will ducks swim?" would have been 

 fully as sensible a question to ask; "and if so, on which bank 

 of the Rhine would they lodge first?" The other questions 

 asked by the regents are on an equality for sense as the one 

 cited above. If the regents had submitted the following 

 question to the scholars they might have received some sen- 

 sible answers: "What benefit is it to the taxpayers of the 

 State of New York to expend thoiisands of dollars yearly for 

 the propagation of fish at the State fish hatcheries and have 

 the fry put into streams and waters that are private prop- 

 erty and preserved, so that the public cannot fish in them, 

 and, if the scholars do not find a profit for the taxpayers, 

 would Governor Flower be acting sensibly in recommending 

 larger appropriations for State fishculture?"— Elmiru (AT. 

 T.) Telegram, June 19. 



F I XTU RES, 



DOG- SHOWS. 



Sept. 6 to 9.— Second Annual Doe; Show of the Hamilton Kennel 

 Club, at Hamilton, Canada.. A. D. Stewart, Sec'y, 



Sept. t> to 9.— Rochester Kennei Club, at Rochester, N. Y. Dr. O. 

 S. Barnber, Sec'y. 



Sept. 13 to 16.— Fourth Annual Dog Show of the Toronto In- 

 dustrial Exhibition Association, at Toronto, Canada. C. A. 

 Stone, Sec'y. 



Sept. J9 to 32.— Third Annual Dog Show of the Kingston Kennel 

 Club, at Kingston, Canada. H. C. Bates, Sec'y. 



Sept. 20 to 23.— Western Michigan KeDnel Club, at Grand Rapids, 

 Mich. H. Dale. Adams, Galesburg, Mich., Superintendent. 



Sept. 27 to 30.— Dog Show at Ottawa, Can. Alfred GeddeB, Sec'y. 



Oct. 25 to 28.— Omaha Kennel Club, at Omaha, Neb. JE. L. 

 Marston, Sec'y. 



FIELD TRIALS. 



Sept. 5.— Manitoba Field Trials, at Morris, Man. A. Holloway, 

 Winnipeg, Man., Sec'y. 



Oct. 25.— Third Annual Field Trials of the National Beagle Club, 

 at Nanuet, N. Y. Bench show of the club Oct.. 24. H. V. Jamie- 

 son, Sec'y. 



.Nov. 7.— International Field Trials Club, third anmtal trials, at 

 Chatham, Out. Amateur Stake, Nov. 7, Open Stakes, Nov. 8. 

 W. B. Wells, Sec'y. 



Nov. 7.— United States Field Trial", at Elizabethtown, Ky. P. 

 T. Madison, Indianapolis. Ind., Sec'y. 



Nov. 8.— New England Field Trials, at Assonet, Mass. Geo. E. 

 Stickney, Newburyport. Mass., Sec'y. 



Nov. 14.— Fourth Annual Trials of the Brunswick Fur Club, at 

 Princeton, Mass. J. H. Baird. Sec'y. 



Nov. 15.— American Field Trials, at Columbus, Ind. W. J. Beck, 

 Sec'y. 



Nov. 21.— Eastern Field Trial Club Trials, at High Point, N. C. 

 W A Oostsr Sec'y. 



Nov. 28.— Philadelphia Kennel Club Trials, at High Point, N. C. 

 F. G. Taylor, Sec'y. 



Dec. 5.— Central Field Trials, at Lexington, N. C. Col. Odell, 

 Sec'y. 



FLAPS FROM THE BEAVER'S TAIL. 



Toronto, Can.— As the Dominion government had offered 

 to pay the cost of feeding Canadian dogs at the World's 

 Fair, the information contained in the "par." relating to 

 this show in "Dog Chat" of Forest and Stream of June 11 

 somewhat disarranged their plans. The secretary of the 

 Canadian Kennel Club has written the Dominion commis- 

 sioner regarding it, inclosing the clipping from Forest and 

 Stream and asking what course he proposed pursuing. 



Mr. R. C. Kent, of Kingston, was in Toronto last week. 

 He informed me that all the old officers of the Kingston 

 Kennel Club had been re-elected at the annual meeting held 

 a week or two ago. Mr. Corbett is not yet sure that time 

 will permit of his accepting of the superintendency this 

 year. 



By the way, what does a city contemporary of yours mean 

 by stating the Kingston show would conflict with that of 

 New York? The date is in September, as announced in 

 your columns last week, and not in February, 1893. 



Dr. Wm. Mole, the well-known Hamilton veterinarian, 

 has been down this week for examination by the commis- 

 sioners appointed by the government to take evidence as to 

 the feasibility, from both humanitarian and economic as- 

 pects, of the dehorning of cattle, which just now is a btirn- 

 ing question with us. Mr. Richard Gibson, Delaware, as 

 prominent as a breeder of shorthorns as of collies, is a mem- 

 ber of the commission. 



Mr. Ben Davis, Toronto, is getting out a King Charles 

 spaniel dog, and Mr. R. P. Forshaw has three on order to be 

 shipped in August. 



Mr. Forshaw is also getting over five beagles, three dogs 

 and two bitches in whelp. Part of these go to Mr. J. Smillie, 

 who already has a few good ones. They are to be shipped 

 from Liverpool on the Mongolian, sailing June 23. 



H. B. Donovan. 



