Feb. 8, 1886. j 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Drought and Trout Streams. 
Ithaoa, N. Y, — Trout anglers fear that the long-con- 
tinued dry weather of last summer and fall proved dis- 
astrous to the brook trout supply of this part of the State. 
Many of the small trout streams of this locality dried up 
completely, and one farmer, a Mr. Schutt, up Slaterville 
way, affirms that he saw chickens picking the little finger- 
ling trout from the water impoverished rivulets. Other 
reports confirm Mr. Schutt's opinion that the summer and 
fall of '95 was a dreadfully fatal one to the brook trout 
supply of Tompkins county. W. H. Willson, the veteran 
angler of this city, is discouraged at the prospect, but 
avers that when the moon gets gay and the bluebird pipes 
his lay once more, the planting of young fry will promptly 
begin. 
Cayuga county hailed the first robin of the year Jan. 23. 
M. Chill. 
THE NEW YORK COMMISSION. 
Extracts from the report of the New York Fisheries, Game and 
Forest Commission, made to the Legislature Jan. 30, 1896. 
Special Protection of Stocked Waters. 
The Commissioners desire to call attention to the fact 
that under the old game law, Sec. 273, Chapter 31, of 
the General Laws, 1892, power was conferred upon boards 
of supervisors "to pass at their annual session such laws 
and ordinances as shall afford additional protection to and 
further restrictions for the protection of birds, fish, shell- 
fish and wild animals, except wild deer, and to prohibit 
the taking and killing of the same." This law was re- 
• pealed by the game law now in force, Chapter 974, Laws 
of 1895, Sec. 302, except as to Suffolk county, and all 
protective laws must come from the Legislature. The 
Commissioners have, occasion, not infrequently, to stock 
new waters with plantings of trial fish, to restock old, 
worn-out waters with the fish that once abounded there- 
in, and to introduce new species into the lakes, ponds and 
streams of the State; and to obtain the best results, the 
fish so planted should remain unmolested until they estab- 
lish or re-establish themselves. Special laws to cover such 
cases seem only to make the general game law burden- 
some and conflicting. 
Following the precedent established by sister States, we 
would recommend that power be conferred upon the Fish- 
eries, Game and Forest Commissioners to close streams or 
other bodies of water in the State for a term of years, not 
to exceed five, when in their judgment it is necessary to 
resort to such procedure to enable fish planted by the Com- 
mission to obtain suitable size, before fishing of any kind 
is permitted. The waters to be closed by a printed notice 
signed by the Commissioners and erected on the banks of 
stream, pond or lake, and by a similar notice published 
in the papers of the county in which the water is situated. 
Consideration of Proposed Laws. 
The Commissioners would also recommend that all bills 
relating to the fisheries, game and forest interests of the 
State should be referred to them for their consideration 
by the legislative committees having them in charge 
before action is taken upon them. The Commission is in 
session practically throughout the year, and through its 
agents and employees distributed over the State is in a 
position to know of and advise intelligently regarding 
needed legislation in its department. This course would 
tend to do away with conflicting legislation, make the 
laws more simple and less confusing, and the State would 
be protected from the harmful influence of ill-advised fish 
and game laws. 
Pollution of Streams. 
All just fish and game laws, broadly stated, are enacted 
to protect the fish and game of the State during the breed- 
ing seasons and to allow for recuperation afterward, and 
without such laws, rigidly enforced, artificial propagation, 
which is simply aiding and improving upon nature, would 
be practically useless to maintain the supply of food which 
comes under the head of fish and wild game. 
Of necessity there are auxiliary laws to supportthe laws 
governing the breeding seasons, and one which demands 
attention at this time is that which relates to the pollu- 
tion of streams. The present law on this subject is almost 
inoperative, because of the provision that dy estuff , sawdust, 
etc., shall not be allowed to run into any waters "in quan- 
tities destructive to the fish life," and it is a difficult mat- 
ter to prove just where the dividing line between life and 
death may be. Seven years ago a select committee of the 
Senate of the Dominion Parliament conducted an inquiry 
into the expediency for preventing sawdust and other 
refuse being cast into Canadian waters, and in summing 
up the situation, after obtaining testimony on the subject 
■from engineers, fishculturists and scientists in the 
Dominion and a number of the States, the following 
language was used : 
"Settling here and there in its course down the stream, 
the sawdust forms a compact mass of pollution all along 
the bottom and the margins of the rivers and inlets, filling 
up the crevices on the gravel beds, and among stones, 
where aquatic life is invariably produced and fed. It be- 
comes a fixed, imperishable foreign matter, and adheres 
to the beds of streams and other waters, and forms a 
long, continuous mantle of death and constitutes an end- 
less graveyard to the innumerable colonies of insect life 
which inhabit this well-adapted abode for their existence. 
These, then, are only some of the pestilential effects pro- 
duced by sawdust and mill rubbish in the waters of the 
eountry on fish life, and independent of its evil influences, 
from a sanitary point of view, on human life, and its dam- 
aging effects by seriously impeding navigation on many 
waters. Then why should the few, for self-aggrandize- 
ment only, be permitted to continue this wicked, devas- 
ating work for depleting the waters of their legitimate 
supplies of food, originally supplied by an all-wise Provi- 
dence for the use of mankind? And why should the many 
suffer for the few who still pursue and unscrupulously 
idvocate a continuance of this insidious and direful 
proceeding for entailing ruin upon the fisheries of our 
JOuntry?" 
It is claimed by some that sawdust and refuse from mills 
md factories will not in j ure adult fish. Be that as it may, 
|f the young fish and the food for both young and adult 
:dsh are destroyed there will be no adult fish. 
To extract briefly from a report prepared for the Vienna 
Exposition on the decrease of food fishes: "The basis on 
which a rational system of pisciculture is founded is very 
simple. Preserve the natural conditions of those places 
where the fish spawn, conditions which favor the spawn- 
ing process and tend to preserve the spawn and protect 
the first development of the eggs; thus everything which 
diminishes the supply of fresh water; everything which 
changes the quality of the water or the character of the 
bottom ; everything which hinders the growth of aquatic 
plants; in fact, everything which at its source can destroy 
the health of fish of a whole basin. * * * Leave a 
free passage for the fish to pass to the places which are 
favorable for spawning. * * * Protect the young 
generation so that it can arrive at the age of maturity and 
contribute its share toward the increase of its species." 
We know personally of two instances where mill refuse 
has been diverted from a stream in this State with but 
little cost to the mill owners, In one case the poisonous 
chemicals of a pulp and paper mill have been conducted 
to vats on the shore, and later the contents of the vats 
have been marketed. In the other case the sawdust of a 
large mill plant has been conducted by a series of boxes 
and belts, requiring no hand labor, to a central storage 
pit and used for fuel. Under the circumstances we think 
we are warranted in recommending that the law be 
changed to forbid the pollution of our streams and waters 
without conditions of any sort. 
Fishways. 
It will be observed that one of the rules upon which a 
rational system of fishculture is founded is that fish shall 
have a free passage to the places which are favorable for 
spawning. This means that fishways must be built over 
natural and artificial obstructions in our streams contain- 
ing food fishes if the supply is to be kept up. We have a 
law that provides that in the future no dams shall be built 
in any stream over six miles long unless at the same time 
a fish way is built in the dam, but concerning the dams 
already built the law is silent. 
The United States Supreme Court has given a decision 
as to the rights of proprietors to erect and maintain dams 
on any stream. This is the language in part of the de- 
cision: "Ownership of the banks and bed of the stream 
gives to the proprietor the exclusive right of fishing op- 
posite his land, as well as the right to use the water to 
create power to operate mills; but neither the one nor the 
other right, nor both combined, confer any right to erect 
obstructions in the river to prevent the free passage of 
fish up and down the river at their accustomed seasons, 
as such obstruction would impair and ultimately destroy 
all such rights Owned by other proprietors, both above 
and below the obstruction on the said stream. 
"Fish rights below a dam constructed without passage- 
ways for the fish are liable to be injured by such a struc- 
ture as well as those owned above the dam, as the migra- 
tory fish, if they cannot ascend to the headwaters of the 
stream at their accustomed seasons, will soon cease to 
frequent the streams at all, or in greatly reduced num- 
bers." 
Hudson Salmon. 
Through the contributions of young salmon planted in 
the Hudson River by the United States Fish Commission, it 
has been demonstrated that the waters of the stream are 
suitable for this grand fish. Planted in the headwater 
trout streams, the smolts have, in season, descended to the 
sea, and at the proper time returned as adult fish to the 
river and attempted to ascend to the streams of their baby- 
hood to reproduce their kind. Dams, and falls without 
passageways, and fyke nets in which they are taken con- 
trary to law, have thus far conspired to prevent the Hudson 
from becoming a self-sustaining salmon stream. 
The river Tay, in Scotland, commands for its salmon 
fishing (and it is a smaller river than the Mohawk in this 
State) an annual rental of $200,000, and the expenditure 
of a sum less than a quarter of that amount would open 
the Hudson to salmon from mouth to source, and to shad 
up to the point, at least, where they were known before 
the building of the Erie Canal. 
Streams other than the Hudson are in need of fishways 
to provide the best results in furnishing the people with an 
abundance of suitable and cheap food fish. 
Finfirerlingrs Instead of Fry. 
It will be the policy of the Commission, so far as its 
means and facilities will permit, to change radically the 
manner of rearing and planting young fish. Heretofore 
it has been the practice largely to plant the fry of the fall 
spawning fishes soon after the yolk sac was absorbed. At 
this period of their existence the young fish are helpless 
and an easy prey to their enemies. Fry of trout are of 
necessity planted in the spring, at a time when they are 
just beginning to feed, and the waters are apt to be high 
and roily, and the natural food produced in the streams 
is not fully hatched out, as it will be later, when the sun 
has warmed the air and water and developed the larvae 
of all insect life. 
Fingerling trout planted in the fall are stronger, larger 
and more active fish, and find an abundance of food 
hatched out for them; the waters having been tempered 
by the summer's sun and subsided from the spring fresh- 
ets, the trout have a better start in every way to fight the 
battle which they must fight in wild waters. Improved 
methods demand that the young fish be retained in rear- 
ing boxes or ponds and fed until they reach the age 
of from 4 to 12 months before they are planted in 
wild waters. This will require additional rearing boxes 
and ponds, and a greater expenditure for food and labor, 
but the advantages and benefits to be derived from this 
method of planting fish, in a great measure able to care 
for themselves, has been demonstrated, and will well 
repay the; outlay. It will be some time before all the 
young of the fall spawning fishes can be reared to finger- 
lings before they are planted, but so far as practicable 
this will be the method pursued. 
Game Fishes and Food Fishes. 
Occasionally it has been charged by those ignorant of 
the subject that this Commission is largely if not chiefly 
engaged in propagating game fishes for the few at the ex- 
pense of the many. The absurdity of this charge is demon- 
strated by an examination of the tables of fish reared and 
planted by the Commissioners. In the abstract, all fishes 
are food fishes, but there is no fixed standard by which to 
determine which fishes are the so-called game fishes. For 
the purpose of showing how idle this charge is, we will 
divide the fish into commercial and hook-and-line fish. 
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1895, the State has 
planted 196,247,840 fish of various kinds and ages. Call- 
ing the brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, land- 
locked salmon, sea salmon, mascalonge and black bass 
hook-and-line or "game fishes," there have been 
planted of these soecies 8,627,908. Of whiteflsh, pike- 
perch, tomcod, smelts, ciscoes, shad, bullheads, frostfi3h, 
etc., er of the commercial or "food fishes," there have 
been planted 187,619,934. In other words, for every 
single "game" or hook and line fish planted in the State, 
the Commissioners have planted twenty-one and a fraction 
of "food" or commercial fishes. It must be taken into ac- 
count that the so-called game fishes are the highest order 
of food fishes, and that the love of angling is on the increase 
among the people as a healthy relaxation from the count- 
ing house, the pulpit, the workshop, the forge and the 
factory, and the whole people must be considered in the 
matter of propagating and planting fish in the waters of 
the Sfcata. The angler and th9 commercial fisherman 
both have rights which we are bound to respect, but our 
efforts are directed entirely to the propagation of food 
fishes, by whatever special names their adherents may 
choose to call them. 
Diminished Sources of Supply. 
Almost since the date of the creation of the New York 
Fish Commission in 1868 it has been dependent in great 
degree upon the waters of the great lakes for a supply of 
lake trout and other fish eggs. In recent years the supply 
of eggs from this source has been growing gradually less, 
and it is a matter of serious consideration where we shall 
look for a supply of eggs of the food or commercial fishes. 
With our increasing population and the growing interest 
taken in hook-and-line fishes, it is also a serious matter to 
obtain a sufficient quantity of the eggs of such fishes to 
supply the demand for young fish for distribution in State 
waters. The demand each year is several times greater 
than the supply. 
We would recommend as a public necessity that two 
bodies of water in the Adirondack region, to be selected 
by the Commission, be set aside by law, to be controlled 
by the Commission and used as stock waters to supply 
eggs of lake trout and other fish for public waters of the 
State. For this purpose the waters would be thoroughly 
stocked with the species of fish most in demand and main- 
tained as natural stock ponds. It would not be necessary 
to erect hatcheries on the shores of these stock waters or 
disfigure them in any way, as the eggs would be taken at 
the spawning season and conveyed to State hatcheries for 
development. 
Food Fish Output. 
It is the desire of the Commission to greatly increase 
the output of commercial or so-called food fishes. Last 
year the Commission planted 41,205,000 pike perch fry 
(also called wall-eyed pike), one of the best of table fishes, 
and a hook-and-line fish as well; 24,080,000 whitefish and 
18,000,000 ciscoes. These are the very choicest of food 
fishes, but the annual output should be doubled or trebled, 
and we would recommend a special appropriation of 
$25,000 to be used for the purchase of suitable lands 
(and water if necessary), and to erect buildings in such 
place or places as may be selected by the Commission for 
the propagation of pike perch, whitefish, ciscoes, black 
bass, etc. 
Black Bass Hatching. 
The initial experiments conducted last year in hatching 
black bass artificially convinced the Commissioners that 
it may be quite possible to hatch black bass in large quan- 
tities and thus supply the demand for this excellent fish, 
which each year is far in excess of the number to be ob- 
tained by the Commission. 
• We feel that we must utter a word of caution to those 
who apply for fish, particularly for the different species of 
trout other than lake trout, and for black bass. The 
annual applications call for more of these fish than it is 
possible to supply under the most favorable conditions. 
Applications are made for 25,000 trout when the water 
named may not support more than 5,000. The question 
of food for the fish seems not to be considered, and really 
it is of vital importance. Without food in abundance fish 
will not thrive any more than farm stock. Last year the 
applications for black bass amounted in the aggregate to 
several millions, while the State by strenuous effort was 
able to obtain less than 20,000, and some of them had to 
be purchased. One application called for 1,000,000 black 
bass for Lake Ontario when we were looking to this lake 
to furnish a small number of black bass for other waters. 
During thirteen years of the life of the New York Fish 
Commission a total of 8,043 small-mouthed and 4,821 
large-mouthed bass were distributed, or a grand total of 
12,864; and from this it will be seen how idle it is to ask 
for black bass in million lots. 
A dozen adult black bass thoroughly protected will do 
wonders in the way of stocking a pond. 
Food for Fish. 
A trout stream can be more certainly stocked by planting 
5,000 fry annually in the headwater rivulets of the stream 
than by turning in 25,000 in one year and leaving it to 
fate. ' If there is no food for the fish in the stream planted, 
it is simply a waste of fish to plant them. We have just 
received a letter on the subject, from- which we make an 
extract. 
A good trout stream in this State seemed to lack fish 
food, and it was suggested to a resident at its headwaters to 
plant shrimps for food. He not only planted the shrimps — 
obtained from the Caledonia Station—but procured a lot of 
trout eggs from the United States Fish Commission and 
hatched and planted them, A small pond was built on a 
tributary stream, and in it the fry were placed 
and reared until they were fingerlings, when 
they were allowed to run down into the main 
stream. The letter says: "Our river holds out wonder- 
fully well and the trout are fat. showing plenty of food.. 
I think the shrimps I put in account for the condition of 
the trout. I do not know anything about the shrimps; 
in the river, but do know that since they were planted 
the trout have grown noticeably fatter. I do know, how- 
ever, that the shrimps that I put iu the little pond multi- 
plied wonderfully. For once when I drew it down the 
bottom was fairly alive with them, and I have no doubt 
but there are millions upon millions in the river. I think 
that the question of food supply for the fish in our streams 
and ponds is of the utmost importance, and I also know 
that the fry we hatched and fed in our pond for weeks 
after the sac was absorbed were worth very much more 
for stocking. In fact, planting fry as soon as the sac is 
