£98 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[AtBtL 11, late. 
he sees the beautiful pink buds of the rnayflower peeping 
out from under the belated snowbank, as if in protest to 
winter's cruel restraint, and as if to be promptly on hand 
when the time comes to take its allotted place in the 
sequence of flowers attendant upon the ides of spring, 
Journeying down the gentle declivity, where nature a 
little later will carpet the ground with beautiful violets 
and modest anemone, his friend of former years, the he- 
patica, attracts his eye, and, putting forth his hand to 
remove some encroaching grass, a meadow mouse scam- 
pers suddenly away in fright at the unwonted intrusion. 
But the music of the rippling brook now claims his un- 
divided attention, and hastening footsteps soon bring him 
again to its margin. The fringe of green grass close up 
on either side and the nodding watercresEes in its pellu- 
cid depths tell him that nature's forces have been at work 
for some time past. * 
He marvels at the restful murmer of the rippling brook, 
its tiny wavelets and miniature cascades, and he wonders 
when they thus began and how long they will continue. 
Such a small streamlet ! and ever running from nowhere 
somewhere — ever running, ever singing, ever flowing, 
ever, ever I 
Our fisherman's rod was still unjointed, a,nd his mind 
reveled in the delights and enchantments of the scene until 
he was called back to the work in hand by the landing of 
a mink on the bank a little below him with a beautiful 
trout in his mouth, which he soon devoured for his morn- 
ing meal. It dawned upon him that the quadruped mink 
has his counterpart in some biped men who look not 
above the gratification of the selfish and sordid, and who 
respect not salutary human enactments. From long ob- 
servation he well knew the skill and success of the mink 
as a fisherman, nor could he withhold a modicum of ad- 
miration for his discernment and good taste in showing 
his preference for the toothsome, gamy trout. 
His rod is now assembled, the reel adjusted, and away 
goes his lure dancing lively before him down the stream. 
He skillfully directs it from side to side, carefully re- 
strains it as it engages in the eddy and plunges to the 
pool below, steals stealthily and warily along bo that no 
concussion or jar will follow footfall to disturb the wary 
trout, redoubles his best efforts at the overhanging bank 
at the bend, in the open meadow keeps as far away from 
the brook as possible, and does not allow his shadow to 
face athwart the stream; and who will say that our fish- 
erman has not earned and does not deserve the beautiful 
trout which he so carefully takes from their bed of moss 
in his creel and arranges side by side upon the grass in 
the order of their size, that his eyes may feast thereon 
while he eats his noonday meal on the sunny side of the 
old abutment which sustains the rustic bridge that spans 
the brook in the meadow? 
The unusual exercise and lengthy walk result in a fa- 
tigue that our fisherman would call exquisite; for while 
the physical man gladly gives way to needed rest the 
mental is as buoyant and elastic as in schoolboy's merriest 
day. 
The enjoyments of his nooning are not limited to the 
conventional hour, and already the sun is aslant in the 
heavens before he resumes his pleasant occupation. At 
each bend of the brook a new panorama meets his eyes. 
Clouds of fleecy whiteness scud athwart the luminous 
blue of heaven's dome, and the song of the vesper spar- 
row swells the growing volume of melody that greets the 
return of spring. 
As a reward of his skill and perseverance a well-filled 
creel is already his, and ere 
"The sun descending dyes the clouds in crimson" 
he reels in and turns his steps homeward. 
Age has laid a heavy hand upon the friend of his early 
years who gave him his first lessons in the gentle art, and 
now his many thoughtful acts of kindness return unto 
him as bread cast upon the waters. Our fisherman finds 
it a pleasure to make a long detour to call at his humble 
home and pleasantly while away a reminiscent hour, and 
to leave benind some choice specimens of his day's catch. 
A generous share of the balance is left with a convales- 
cent friend, and he reaches home in the early evening 
hour at peace with himself and all the world. 
Who will say that his day was misspent and that it is 
all of fishing to fish ? Geo. McAlebe. 
WoECESTKR.'jMaSS. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Killing Salmon with Broken Rod. 
If any one would take the trouble to gather together in 
one volume stories of the capture of fish under remark- 
able circumstances it would make a book of more than 
ordinary interest and one well worth the reading. Of 
course I refer to incidents that have actually occurred, 
and nearly every angler can furnish from one to a score 
from the pages of his own experience. These true stories 
are frequently quite as curious as those which some men 
rack their brains to invent for the pages of the daily 
papers and often prove that truth is stranger than fiction. 
Seated in an Albany club a few days ago after lunch, 
smoking with some friends, the conversation had 
turned to fishing, as I have noticed that it has 
the habit of doing on such occasions, when my old 
friend Dr. C. G. Schuyler came in and told this story, 
which is entitled to a place in that book which I have sug- 
gested. He was fishing on the Eestigouche and his rod had 
given out a sound as though it had cracked, but a careful 
examination failed to disclose any defect, still he felt that 
there was something wrong which would appear at an in- 
opportune moment. He was casting with this rod when 
a salmon rolled over the fly without taking it. Resting 
the pool he cast again and the salmon rolled over the fly 
as before. Another rest and the thing was repeated. 
Still another rest, and as the salmon again rolled over the 
fly the Doctor struck, and at that instant the rod parted, 
breaking square off about a foot above the reel. The 
Balmon was foul hooked and going down stream like a 
race horse, with the major portion of the rod somewhere 
between the fish and the canoe. 
& Chase was made by the canoemen and the missing part 
of the rod recovered, when the Doctor, holding the frac- 
tured parts together with his left hand, played the fish 
until his hand gave out under the strain and the rod was 
passed over to one of the canoemen, who continued the 
fight until the Doctor was again able to take the rod and 
bring the fish to gaff. The salmon weighed 281bs, 
A Novel Question. 
On a previous occasion a gentleman at this club had 
said to me that he thought that the salmon in the Eesti- 
gouche did not now display the same game qualities when 
hooked that they did in former years. I asked Dr. Schuy- 
ler about it and he was quite inclined to confirm this 
opinion, and when asked if there was any reason for it, 
he said that it was attributed to stocking the stream with 
salmon fry artificially reared, and that these fish were 
not as game when grown to adult size as those hatched 
naturally. To me this theory seems utterly groundless, 
and I cannot conceive of anything in the handling of the 
eggs of salmon artificially hatched that would impair the 
game qualities of the adult fish. I have a theory of my 
own on this subject, but having written to Canada for 
the opinions of salmon anglers there it would not be well 
to air my views at present; but I hope soon to give the 
views of the veteran John Mowat on the subject, and per- 
haps the views of other salmon fishermen in Canada and 
elsewhere. 
Ouananiche and Landlocked Salmon. 
A friend surprised me a few weeks ago with the in- 
formation that there were ouananiche in Tuxedo Lake, 
reared from eggs obtained from the Lake St. John or 
Saguenay region in Canada. This was so opposed to all 
that I had learned at Lake St. John that I was dumb, for 
my friend is a lady and I could not dispute the statement 
had I been inclined to do so, and I had no such inclina- 
tion. I was reasonably sure, however, that her informant 
was in error, for I have had occasion to keep a little track 
of what was done or not done with the ouananiche of 
Canada in the way of artificial propagation. During the 
Sportsmen's Exposition I met Mr. James L. Breese and 
Mr. R. B. Lawrence one evening in the Forest and 
Stream office section, and we talked ouananiche and 
landlocked salmon until taps, and so I missed seeing the 
show that evening, which I did not regret. 
Mr. Breese very promptly informed me that the Tuxedo 
fish were landlocked salmon, reared from eggs^of the 
Maine fish obtained from the United States Fish Coruniis- 
sion. 
He gave me some figures as to the number of fish 
reared to practically 3-year-olds, from a given number of 
eggs, that were marvelous for the results obtained, but 
to be absolutely sure that he was correct he promised to 
send me figures from his report on the operations at the 
Tuxedo hatchery, and this he has done. Under date of 
March 28 he says: "I have been waiting for some 
figures that have escaped my memory about the land- 
locked salmon before writing you about them. * * * 
We were supposed to receive "10,000 eggs of the land- 
locked salmon from Grand Lake stream, Maine. There 
were twenty-eight dead eggs on arrival, and we lost 633 
eggs in hatching. They were received March 3, 1892. and 
in December, 1894, we counted and turned out 8.029 
salmon. Some of them were taken from the lake the fol- 
lowing May and June up to ljlbs. in weight. On March 
28, 1893, we received 4,000 eggs and turned out 3,374 
salmon. On Dec. 10 1895, I think we have about 1,700 
fry on hand obtained from the United States Fish Com- 
mission last November." 
Of the first lot of salmon eggs mentioned, 9,339 fry 
were hatched, and over 85 per cent, of these were reared 
until they were nearly three years old. This is by far the 
best showing in rearing salmon fry of which I have 
knowledge. I have a memorandum that tells me that of 
a lot of salmon fry hatched in Maine by the U. S Fish 
Commission 83 per cent, were reared to yearlings. 
Of the second lot of eggs mentioned by Mr. Brppse, 
over 83 per cent, of the total number of eggs were hatched 
and reared to nearly three years of age, and if the num- 
ber of eggs lost in hatching were given it would bring the 
percentage of fry reaied to 3-year-olds up to, if not 
above, the first mentioned figures, and the operations at 
the Tuxedo hatchery may be considered as notably suc- 
cessful. I intended to say in this note that I made in- 
quiries at Lake St, John when I was there, and have been 
in constant communication w.ith Mr. Chambers, of 
Quebec, since, and have failed to learn of a single at- 
tempt made to hatch the ouananiche artificially or to 
transplant it. I refer particularly to Mr. Chambers, as 
he has written a book, now in press, about the fish and 
its environments, and would know of any attempts in this 
direction. While I was writing, the mail brought me a 
letter from Mr. Wm. Seaton, of Quebec, secretary of the 
Triton Club, in which he says : " We are intending to 
stock one of our ranges of lakes with ouananiche this 
summer. I propose to get a score of good fish from Lake 
St. John, and af ter running a wire netting across the out- 
let, to let them loose in one of our lakes, where they can 
have strong running watef at the inlet." 
This would seem to be the first effort made, or to be 
made, to transfer the ouananiche to other than its native 
waters in Canada. Mr. Seaton tells in detail how he pro- 
poses to transfer the fish, and it is sufficient to say that it 
must prove successful. 
Within five minutes after I arrived at the Saguenay I 
satisfied myself why the ouananiche of Canada remained 
at the surface of the water in August and the landlocked 
salmon of Maine sought the depths of the lake at the 
same season of the year, for the water the last of August 
must have been not above 52 to 54° F. 
I have known of quite a number of failures to establish 
the landlocked salmon in lakes that seemed in every way 
suitable for them, but I have not known a failure where 
the salmon have been planted where they could find smelt 
food. 
I am of the opinion that lakes containing the round 
whitefish (Adirondack "frost fish") would prove as suit- 
able, and that the salmon will become established in such 
waters. Acting upon this belief I have for two years 
been planting fingerling landlocked salmon for the 
United States Fish Commission in two lakes — one con- 
taining smelt and the other "frost fish" for food. 
Commissioner Stanley told me in New York recently 
that he could stock any lake with landlocked smelt for 
$25. So the question of food for salmon is not a difficult 
one. In some localities where the landlocked smelt 
abound there are no facilities for hatching the eggs arti- 
ficially for the purpose of transplanting. Where such is 
the case and it is desired to transplant smelt, brush may 
be cut and thrown into the Btream where the smelt run to 
spawn, and the eggs adhering to the twigs can be trans- 
ported in cans of water to the stream or lake to be stocked. 
Commissioner Wentworth, of New Hampshire, told me 
that at Sunapee Lake, N. H,, smelt were caught for 
salmon bait and put into an old half- sunken row boat 
near the shore. The smelt spawned in the boat and the 
fry hatched and literally swarmed in the boat after the 
parent fish had been used for bait. I have seen young 
smelt at the mouths of the streamB in the same lake in 
myriads in spite of the number of fish ready to prey upon 
them. 
I left my desk for a little while just at this point, and 
upon my return found a letter from Mr. W. de C. Ravenel, 
assistant in charge of the Division of Fishculture of the 
United States Fish Commission, in which he says the 
Commission will this year be very short of landlocked 
salmon, and a number of assignments will be short and 
the deficiency will have to be made good with young 
brook trout. Applications are constantly made to the 
Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission of New York for 
landlocked salmon fry or yearlings, but the State has 
practically none to give out from eggs taken from fish in 
State waters. If Lakes Champlain and George become 
stocked from "yearlings" now being planted from the 
United States Fish Commission the State should have a 
supply of breeding landlocked salmon to draw upon to 
stock other waters. 
The Ladies. 
At the annual dinner of the Fly-Fishers' Club in London, 
in February last, Mr. R. B, Marston, the honorary treas- 
urer, speaking to the toast "Success to the Fly- Fishers' 
Club," said : "I have another suggestion. My wife said 
to me, 'Why don't you ask the ladies to come sometimes 
to your gatherings?' Now, I belong to one or two clubs 
where they are invited, and I believe it is a very good 
thing, because the ladies go home and talk about it, and 
tell their lady friends, and their lady friends, who would 
also like to go, get their husbands to join. Of course I 
told my wife that fly-fishers were such bashful men that 
they would not like to have ladies present, and her reply 
to me was, 'Well, that is one of the best fish stories* I ever 
heard.' " 
Now for the sequel. On March 12 the Piscatorial 
Society held its annual dinner in London, and in a three- 
page account of the dinner, given in the last Fishing 
Gazette, there is a list of those present, and in the list I 
find "Mr. R. B. Marston and Mrs. R. B. Marston, Mr. Wm. 
Senior and Mrs. Wm. Senior, Mr. Booker and Mrs. 
Booker and Miss Booker; Mr. Blundell, Mrs. Blundell and 
Miss Blundell," etc, down through a long list in which 
there are as many women as men, but the reporter bad 
the grace to name the ladies first, as was eminently 
proper, and the men's names followed, becomingly, after. 
I am a firm believer in this sort of thing, and if fishing 
clubs will entertain the ladies it will be better for the 
clubs and club members. I have the honor to be presi- 
dent of a fish and game club, and it is a satisfaction to 
remember that the first entertainment ever given by the 
club, just a little music, flowers, luncheon and conversa- 
tion, was graced by the ladies, and I think it was the 
ladies more than the men who have made the club a 
succesB. 
A "G. W." Angler. 
A few days ago I saw about twenty trout on two 
marble slabs, making a sight to cause an angler's blood 
to quicken at any season of the year, particularly at this 
season. On one slab were a lot of yearling trout averag- 
ing about half a pound in weight, and on the other an 
equal number of 2-year-olds of about 11 to l£lb.s each. 
Tney were exceedingly fat fish and the silver gleam on 
their sides told of intimacy with salt water as well as 
of rich ealt-water food. The two slabs were on Governor 
Morton's desk in the Executive Chamber in the Capitol at 
Albany, and a friend of mine who had brought them to 
exhibit to the Governor was describing the fish, the fishing 
and the preserve from which they were taken, and as he 
is a talker from Talktown, he was doing the subject full 
justice, and the eloquence was pouring out of him like a 
vpring freshet at its flood. He stopped a moment for 
breath, not inspiration, and I tried to fill in the gap with 
' 'a few well-chosen words." I was not down for a speech 
and there was no reporter present to take down my words, 
and so I went directly to the point thusly: "Commis- 
sioner, will you look the Governor squarely in the face 
and tell him how you caught those trout? Did you grovel 
for them with mud worms or did you catch them artistic- 
ally with an artificial fly?" My friend made a sound as 
though he had swallowed some loose fish hooks and the 
points had stuck in his throat, and he turned that fuller 
crimson that comes upon the robin's breast in the spring; 
then he made one of those tangled breaks of a converted 
pacing horse, but gathered himself together and found 
he was going level again, and with a Chesterfieldian bow 
said: "Governor, I caught them with bait; permit me to 
present them to you." 
That evening, when we were dining at the Albany Club 
upon some of the same trout, with my friend as host, he 
turned to me without any Chesterfieldian or other kind 
of bow, without making a break of any kind, and with- 
out swallowing his palate, he said, in a clear mezzo- 
soprano : "Doggone you, I thought I had muzzled you 
with an invitation to dinner, and was expecting no storm 
indications unless it was from your partner in crime, 
seated at your left, but I told the truth about catching 
those trout and maintained the reputation of the angling 
fraternity ; but— it nearly choked me to do it." 
Preserving Fish. 
A correspondent desires to know how to preserve fish 
and retain their colors. I have, had the best success with 
50 per cent, alcohol and 50 per cent, glycerine, preserving 
fish eggs and young fish, but Dr. T. H. Bean has told me 
that he uses one-third each of water, alcohol and glycer- 
ine. A. N. Cheney. 
Fish and Freezing'. 
It is quite generally supposed that the sudden and com- 
lete freezing of lakes and watercourses must necessarily 
e fatal to all their inhabitants. Recent experiments by 
a French scientist, M. P. Regnard, have proved this to be 
an error. He cooled the water in an aquarium containing 
live carp to different degrees below freezing. At 0° C. 
the fishes seemed to fall asleep, but were not frozen. At 
—3° they were apparently dead, but retained their flex- 
ibility. The water being then gradually warmed, they 
revived, began to swim, and showed no signs of suffering. 
This would indicate that the polar seas, whose tempe rature 
never falls below 3° O, may be a congenial abode for 
creatureB inured to this degree of cold. — Scientific Ameri- 
can, 
