ma-eoh 80, xm.] 



FOREST ANt) STREAM. 



^77 



ourmountam Vrooks aud rapid rivers with game fish, alleg- 

 ing that it is for the beueflt of anglers' clubs, would never 

 make such statements if they knew the facti. 



Of trout applications alone fully 90 per cent, are from 

 farmers residing on the brooks. And why not. They know 

 what is profitable to them. The people of our mountain coun- 

 ties would sadly miss the sums left with them by anglers aud 

 tourists, if they allowed their streams to be annually de- 

 pleted, and neglected to apply to the Fish Commission to re- 

 plenish them. 



The farmers throughout the State are awakening to the 



benefit of restrictive laws; 



The fish protective associations with objects similar to 

 your own that have been formed in nearly every county in the 

 State are not the off spiing of the cities. 



They are composed of farmers aud the sons of farmers who 

 .are wide awake and ^vho see tbat if they are to preserve their 

 fish from pot-hunters and poachers they must make and en- 

 force restrictive laws. 



A comparison of what the Peusylvania Fish Commission 

 has done in the last 10 years, or rather, a statement of its 

 oiatput in 1882 (the year of the formation of the Pennsylvania 

 Fish Protective Association), compared with that of 1893, will 

 best show its progress. 



In 1882 the distribution of the Pennsylvania Fish Commis- 

 .sioii was: 



Of trout and other game fish 66i,000 



Of shad None. 



Whiteflsh None. 



Pike perch, etc None. 



In 1892 there were planted in the waters of Pennsylvania, 

 as follows: 



Pike perch 59,000,000 



Whitefish 15,000,000 



Trout and other game fish 4,000,000 



Shad 9,500,000 



Making a total of 87,.500,000 



fish as compared with 6(>i,000 in 1882. Since 1882 the Erie 

 hatchery, that has done so much to keep up the supply of 

 food fish in that great lake, has been established. 



The hatcheries at Allentown and Corry have been doubled 

 in capacity by the erection of new buildings, and, though 

 producing trout to their fullest extent, cannot begin to sup- 

 ply the demand. 



Since 1882 the code of protective laws has been revised and 

 strengthened, and an interstate law protecting the Delaware 

 has been passed by the States of Pennsylvania and New 

 Jersey. 



In 1882 there were over 500 fish weirs in the Delaware Ri\'er 

 between the New York State line and Trenton. The shad 

 catch in that river, owing to the wholesale destruction of 

 young shad in these fish weirs or eel baskets, had dwindled 

 to a valuation of .$81,000. 



In 1892 there was not an eel basket in the river. They were 

 destroyed by the Fish Commission, and the annual catch of 

 shad has risen in value to over half a million dollars. 



There is a bill now before the IjCgislature asking for the 

 restoration of these eel baskets to the rivers and streams of 

 our commonwealth. 



If the gentlemen who make our laws could see these eel 

 racks in operation in times past, and could see, not only 

 game fish, but thousands of dead shad fry taken from them 

 to fertilize the land, they would pause before they would 

 ever sanction a measure that would be a death blow to the 

 work of the State Fish Commission, 



To day the shad fishing industry in the Susquehanna is in 

 as bad a plight as was that of the Delaware in 1883, aud the 

 Fish Commission is now endeavoi-ing to redeem it. They 

 are in treaty with the Maryland Commission for the abroga- 

 tion of eel racks in the Lower Susquehanna, and they are 

 endeavoring to secure an appropriation for fish ways in the 

 dams, so that the shad can again ascend to the headwaters 

 ■ of the river. It is hardlv fair that the Fish Commission 

 :should have to contend wich an act submitted to their own 

 jLegislature to legalize these eel racks. 



The Pennsylvania Fish Commission has had to combat 

 ithe forces of ignorance, self-interest and lawlessness. It has 

 Ibeen opposed by those who, caring nothing for the future, 

 ;are solicitous only for the profits of the day, and have no 

 ithought of making the world better for those who may come 

 ,'after them. 



Fortunately it has on its side the aid of bodie, like your 

 own, the support of all intelligent, thinking and far-sighted 

 citizens. 



And yet with threatening hostile legislation, and much 

 that is disheartening to earnest endeavor, it may be some- 

 times permitted to the enthusiast in fishculture to prophet- 

 ically read the far future. 



In that mental panorama he sees our two noble rivers, the 

 Delaware and Susquehanna, teeming with food fish for the 

 people. 



He sees the lowland streams again yielding their finny 

 supply prolific as in Colonial days, «'hile the mountain 

 brooks, renewed with aquatic life, biing piofit and sus- 

 tenance to the dwellers on their banks. 



He views, too, clear and sparkling waters freed from 

 polluting infiuences and giving a longer lease of life to 

 humanity, as well as to their finny inhabitants. 



To-day this may seem as the language of a Utopian, but it 

 is the drtam of no vision.ary. It will come slowly, but 

 .surely, aud when it arrives perhaps the people of Pennsyl- 

 vania may awake to a more thorough knowledge of the 

 arduous work of their State Fi=h Commission. 



Anglers' Association of Onondaga. 



The annual meeting and election of ofiicers of the 

 Anglers' Association of Onondaga was held at Syracuse, 

 N. Y,, on March 13, 



President — Gen, Dwight H. Bi-uce. 



Vice-President — Jolm N, Babcock. 



Secretary — Harry G, Kennedy, 



Treasurer— C, H, Mowry. 



Executive Committee — Geo. B, Wood, M. J, French, 

 Amos Padgham, AVm. Evessou, H. E. Robbins. 



The treasurer s report showed about 350 names on the 

 books and the Association to be in a good financial condi- 

 tion. Protector Jackson reported twenty-two nets cap- 

 tured, six speara, with nineteen arrests and prosecutions. 

 Two prizes of a rod and reel have been offered for the 

 member securing the greatest number of new members 

 during the year. 



Current River Bass. 



Neosho, Mo., March 18. — Have just retui'ned from 

 Chilton, Mo. Tried the bass on Current River. River 

 rather high and a little discolored. Weather cold and 

 raw. Caught but one bass (small-mouth) and two jack 

 salmon. Deer and turkeys are abundant. Tlie river will 

 be in perfect condition from April 1 to 15. W. F. Pagk. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



[FYom a Staff Correspmident.] 



Chicago, March 35.— Col. Jolm Gay, until last fall in- 

 spector of stations of the U. S. Fish Commission and long 

 a member of the Pennsylvania State Fish Commission, is 

 now in this city in charge of the Pennsylvania exhibit in 

 the anglers' pavilion. He and Dr. Henshall are having 

 very neighborly times of it just now. The Pennsylvania 

 installation is now well under way in the preliminaries. 



The Horton Manufacturing Company was the first firm 

 to put a piece of furniture in place in the angling ex- 

 hibit. Their large special display case is a work of art. 



Gov. Altgeld's Wisdom. 



Gov, John P. Altgeld deserves to have a large stone 

 monument with red trimmings erected to his memory. 

 This I suggest because I fear that if lie does not put up 

 some such landmark the thinking publi'-; of Illinois may 

 neglect to enslirine him in its heart, and he may be for- 

 gotten after the brief laugh at his display of twenty- 

 eiglit karat wisdom. Yesterday Gov. Altgeld sent a mes- 

 sage to the Legislature recommending the abolition of the 

 State Fish Commission as "a useless and expensive board,'" 

 Of course, he can not frame a law to tbat effect, and a 

 Governor isn't ace high in a Legislature anyhow, but he 

 has put himself on record to the effect that he will gladly 

 approve such a law if passed hj both houses. Gov. Alt- 

 geld figures out that the Commission has cost the State of 

 Illinois $7,000 a year on an average. As he, John P. Alt- 

 geld, has not eaten $7,000 worth of fish each year, he in- 

 fei-s that no one else has, and so that the money has been 

 wasted. This, of coiu-se. is good enough reasoning to suit 

 his real purpose, which is to make a big political bluff at 

 saving a whole lot of money for the State, with an eye on 

 the voting situation among the ignorant and easily led 

 voters when it comes to another run for the Govei-nor's 

 chair. Me, John P,, I saved you $7,000 to feed yom* 

 motherless babes; vote for me, John P.; that is about the 

 way the thing reads. 



Now, with the $7,000 which the IlUnois Commission had, 

 it saved and planted more fish, dollar for dollar, three 

 times over than any other State in the LTnion ever did. It 

 didn't hatch fish, and it didn't experiment. It just 

 scooped yoang fish out of the drying sloughs, and planted 

 thejii in running water. It eimclied this State yearly, on 

 the State's investment of $7,000. to the value of not less 

 than $100,000, and very probably more than .$300,000, 

 Gov, Altgeld does not know the commeiTial value of the 

 fish trade of Illinois, He ought to study up on a good 

 many things before he goes into the governor business. 



Now, if the Commission be ai^olislied that means a wide- 

 open time for the market-fishers, and that means that in 

 four or five years the wealth of our main streams is gone. 

 It would take $50,000 a year to put it back again. Nobody 

 has been saving the little fish and putting them into tlie 

 living water now, mind you, Things have been taking- 

 care of themse] ves, The market-fishers, ignorant and 

 careless as children, have been destroying great and small 

 fish, regardless of the future. A great source of the 

 wealth of the State of Illinois has been inined. It will 

 cost $50,000 a year to replace this wealth of $300,000 a 

 year. Who cost the State of Illinois that money, John P.? 



The Facts of Fish Planting, 



• There is no guess work about this and no assumption 

 of facts. The facts are at hand for any governor who 

 wants them. Let Governor Altgeld go to Mr, A, Booth, 

 of Chicago, the greatest market-fisher in the Avorld, per- 

 liaps, and ask him about the value of fish planting and 

 fish commissions, Mr, Booth will tell him that were it 

 not for the continuous planting by the State Fish Com- 

 missions the whitefish of the Great Lakes would be 

 extinct to-da;! this side of Lake Superior and the fisheries 

 of the Lakes discontinued, Illinois plants fish even 

 more cheaply than that, though only on a $7,000 scale 

 instead of a $50,000 scale, as she should. 



For Gov, Altgeld to ignore the examples of other States 

 and the incontrovertible showing of their beneficent work, 

 would be for him to deliberately forsake the company of 

 intelligent men, and to ally himself with the ignorant, 

 the vicious and the unthinking, those who by reason of 

 their birthright of incompetency as citizens, their lack 

 of providence and their carelessness of the property in- 

 trusted to their use, call aloud for the care, the protection, 

 the forethought and kindliness which any really wise 

 Governor would feel botmd to give them. Gov, Altgeld 

 saves these people no money. He robs them, for he per- 

 mits them to rob themselves, and this they will do as long 

 as they are allowed so to do. When the ignorant and 

 unthinking thus rob themselves, they rob us also. We 

 lose sport. The people of Illinois lose money.. Is it wis- 

 dom to cost this loss? Is it decency to call such loss a 

 "saving"? I do not think the Legislature of this State 

 wiU call this wise or decent. E, Hough. 



175 Monroe Street, Chicago. 



Prizes for Catcties of Fish. 



The Natchaug Silk Co., of Wilmington, Conn., whose braided silk 

 lines recently put upon the market have met with such favor among 

 fishermen, offer thi-ough our advertising columns f 200 in cash prizes for 

 catches of lish taken dmlng the season of 1803, with their lines. Every 

 angler should read their liberal oflEer to be found in our advertising 

 columns, and if possible compete for one of the prizes.— ^du, 



CURIOUS CULLINGS. 



General Walker, on his last trip to Lake Ridge 

 (Lewistown Reservoir), caught a bass that had got away 

 with the business end of his fine during the summer. 



Emerson MeCance caught a small dual fish that was 

 connected, Siamese-twin-like, with a fleshy cord midway 

 of the bodies. 



The fins of Japanese goldfish, whose bodies somewhat 

 resemble smaU jugs boys drop their pennies into, ai-e trans- 

 parent films, and their taUs shadowy, wavy, dual swallow 

 tails. 



Mr. Chas. C. Neereamer, of Columbus, in the excitement 

 of seeing a wild goose swim by his boat at Lake Ridge, 

 made a cast for him and caught him. Judge Ingalls like- 

 wise caught a mudhen. 



Fishing on ship or yacht means to try to hold a camp 

 stool in place on deck and drag a line in the wake of the 

 boat. To bait for shark is to put on a large piece of fat 

 meat, or even a bottle. Baiting with a bottle would catch 

 a good many people nowadays. 



Mrs. Wm. Pratchet, of Dayton, two summers since, and 

 while enjoying a trip to Indian Lake (Xiewistown Rieser- 

 voir), first secm'ed a bass that escaped and that got away 

 from its ultimate captors three times before it was finally 

 landed for keeps. Once he loosened a slat in a "live box" 

 and escaped. 



The angler-fish being slow of motion buries Mmself in 

 the mud, and projecting from his snout is a fleshy bent 



rod and line, with a shining, bony substance or scale at 

 the end that lures the cm-iously inchned to certain de- 

 struction. In fact, danger lurks everywhere in the deep 

 for the finny tribe, each pursuing eacli with a persistence 

 the most cannibalistic. Eternal vigilance produces alone 

 the shadow of rest. 



Heavy gales this fall caused the catch of whitefish in 

 Lake Huron to be but small. 



Several black bass were taken from Indian Lake, 

 Lewistown Reservoir, the past fall, that weighed good 

 81bs. each. 



Drillers for oil in the 60s above and about Oil City, Pa. , 

 found fissures in the rock through which flowed living 

 streams, and from which eyeless fish came up in the 

 "sand pump." 



A boiling spi-ing in a Nevada mine fm*nishes an eyeless 

 fish. 



There are eyeless fish in the Mammoth Cave. 



Durmg a run of bass last spring himdreds, yes, thou- 

 sands, were caught below the bulkhead, at the Lewis- 

 town Reservoir; and to see them mirroi'ed in the water 

 as they went over the breast of the dam was a sight long 

 to be remembered. 



At Minorca fishermen simply dive to a depth of 70ft., 

 witli a weight in one hand to carry them down, while 

 with the other they pick up as many oysters as they can 

 and bring them to the boat. 



A curious fish obtains in foreign waters that lights a 

 certain portion of the darkness surrounding it as a firefly 

 a summer's evening. 



Bearing Black Bass. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have read with much interest what Mr. Wm. P. Page, of 

 the U. S. Fish Commission, has to say on the subject of 

 rearing black bass, and having had six years' experience in 

 this line I wish to indorse all that he says. 



While my experience was in a measure that of an amateur, 

 if raising fish at my own expense and stocking public waters 

 is so to be considered, the work was systematically and 

 effectively done just the same. With the co-operation of 

 Hon. A. C Williams, afterward for four years State Fisli 

 Commissioner, assisted by other enterprising citizens, a pond " 

 of about one-quarter acre was established on a spring brook 

 at Chagrin Falls, 0., and stocked with small-mouth bass. 

 In the shallows gravel was placed for spawning beds. 



The fry were taken from the n&sts j ust as soon as they 

 had risen from the gravel and before they had become scat- 

 tered. They were placed in a small pond with ample shal- 

 low margins, and there kept and fed on clotted blood, rubbed 

 through a fine sieve, which we found to be better than liver. 



Our subsequent experience taught us that a better way 

 was to plant at once, if the water to be stocked was near at 

 hand, placing the fry along the shores in the very shoalest 

 water, that not over half an inch deep being preferable, 

 where we found by examination from day to day that they 

 stayed for a week or more. 



Streams which had never before contained a small-mouth 

 black bass were .so effectually stocked in this way that from 

 one single pool in one of them, four years after the first 

 stock, Mr, Williams and the writer took, in one month, with 

 hook and line, 160 bass of from one-half to one pound weight, 

 with which to stock the State ponds at Chagrin Falls. 



No branch of fishculture is more simple than that of pro? 

 dnciug black bass fry in ponds, if pursued with a fair amoiinj; 

 of intelligence, the statement of bigots in the business to 

 the contrary notwithstanding. Of course, they caunot be 

 furnished in millions, as with some other varieties of fishes, 

 but the speed with which they assert themselves in suitable 

 waters, even when only a small number are planted, ihakes 

 up for this shortcoming in numbers. 



J. J. Strasahan, 

 Supt. Put-in-Bay Station U. S. Fish Commission. 



]^itt-tn-Bay, Ohio, March 16. 



Nepisiquit Angling' Club. 



SITCATIOK OF PROPERTY AND REGULATIONS. 



Thi: lands and premises, fishing rights and privileges on the Nepisiquit 

 River, in the Pawsh of Bathur.s;t, ra the county of Gloucester, New BrunSi 

 wick, particularly described in the several conveyances, and grants 

 fiom^ the Crown, mentioned iu a certain declaration of trust, executed 

 by the late John H. Kinnear, and recorded iu the office of the Registrar 

 of Deeds for the said county of Gloucester, by the number 102, on 

 pages 192, U)3, 194, 195, I9jand 197 of the 34th volume of Records of 

 the said county, are now held by trustees for Jauies deWolfe Spurt, 

 Simeon Jones," the exeentors aud trcistees of the late John H. Kinneaf,' 

 and the devisees under tiie will of the late Major ,1. J. Forsyth Grant, 

 jointly, the said lands compi ising four several grants from the Crown 

 of about 346 acres at Grand Falls, three several grants of about 500 

 acres at Pabineau Falls, two several grants of about 150 acres at Mid- 

 Landing, and four several grants of about 600 acres at Chain of Rocks, 

 in all about 1,596 acres: each of the said grants having a front on the 

 said ris er. The trusts upon which the above lands and premises, fish- 

 ing rights and privileges are held, are "for sport and pleasure, prima- 

 rily for fishing, and not for business purposes," and such trusts are 

 more fully set forth in tlie declaratioti of trust before mentioned'.. 

 \.ll rates and taxes, and expen.ses ot protcctmg the river, and charges 

 conucLtLd tliLiuw ilh uid \Mth thi Ermiial ni un;,t nn nt of the prop- 

 ertv Including expense ot Idluit? club ice bouses aud other mcidental 

 evperj-fs. .ire Lome eciuallv: each 30mt owner bemg liable for and 

 pax M . I n 'li. Auv owner uiav sell or dispose of his interest 

 fu r M- ^Mts au'l privileii-es. suViifCt to existin.g trusts, but the 



jiu - I -I "i -ii'h mtHivst iriusr, be accepted as an associate by the 

 othei' thvi-e imiic o\vnei's. or bv a maiority ot them. Any owner may 

 lease his season s nsbint:. as allotted to hiiu. Atter many years' ex- 

 perience, the club have adojited a system of allotment of pools, which 

 has been found most equitable; and the allotment for the .season of 

 1893, herewith attar-hed. which was drawn bv ballot on the 4th of 

 March, iiiscHut- will explain the system, and show when and where 

 each joint nwuef has the right to fish for the ensuing season. A 

 niajoritv of lomi owners can. ai anv meeting duly convened, make 

 any alteration in the distribution ol (islniig and allotment of pools. 



Section No. 1. 

 Date. Pabiueci u Pal Is and Mid- 



Fiom- Landing. 



Jm.eSl..J deW.Spun- ? 



No 1 l or i 



June 21 to June 28. .Est, J. H. Klnueai- 1 

 No 2 for? 



June 2S to July '0. .Simeon J mes, I — — , , 



No. 3 f r 5 13 days . . No. 2 for f 12 days 



July 10 to July 22... Est. J J. K. Grant * Simeon Jones, I 



' No. IforilSdaj-... No. 3 fori 12 days 



July 22 to Aug. 8...J. deW. Spurr, * Est. J. J F. Grant, ( 



No. 1 for i 12 days. . No. 4 for ) 12 days 



Auir 8 to Aug 15. ..Est J. H. Kiimeat ) J deW. Spmr, ) 



No 2 for S 12 days. . No. 1 for J 12 days 



62 days 48 days 



The sale will be on Wednesday, April 26, next. See advertisement 

 elsewhere. — Adv. 



With Hon asd Creel.— The davs approach when the sportsman 

 v,-ill go forth with rod ami creel. AVhere will be go ? If wise, to the 

 great trout aud bass country aloDy: or tributarj' to the Grand Trunk 

 Railway of Canada. Write for particulars to N. J. Power General 

 Passenger Agent, Montreal, Cauada.— •ddv. 



Section No. 2. 

 Chain Rock and Graad 

 Falls 



r days. No Fishing. 



7 days. . No Fl-^hing. 



Est. J. H. Kinnear, > 



