FOREST 'AND ' STREAM^ 
[JULT 85, 1896. 
The Kingflshefs will Wind tfaelr Reels. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I am much beholden to Br'er Starbuck fot his kindly 
mention of ye Kingfishers in issue of July 4, but he is a, 
little off on the location of our summer camp for this 
year. We are not going to camp on Burt Lake. We 
nave taken a new departure. 
The boys have "prevailed over me," and ■roe leave on 
July 31 over the C, H. & D., Monon and Chicago & 
Northwestern railways for Presque tsle Lake, in V'ilas 
county, Wisconsin, going via Power's Junction, as recom- 
mended by Brother McCrea in Forest and Stream of 
Nov. 3. 1895. 
The lake is eighteen or twenty miles southwest of 
Gogebic Lake, and lies, with a dozsn or more other lakes 
near about, a few miles from the State line dividing the 
Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Wisconsin. 
The lake is said to afford splendid bass fishing, but the 
chief reason for making the camp there is to give "poor 
Charley" (Furr) an opportunity to "hive a maskinonje" — 
the ambition of his (angling) life — in Pappoose Lake, 
which can be reached by a couple of short portages. 
There will be a dozen or more in the party, including 
Adirondack Murray, who "got lost in the middle of the 
road" last year; Dr. A. E. Elliott, of Lodi, Ohio, a new 
recruit of last year and an angler and sportsman after our 
own hearts: Dick Morris, George Payne and a couple more 
bluegrassers of the right sort, with another one or two to 
hear from; the big 4 (old Sam, poor Charley, Col. Cul- 
bertson and old Hickory, yer humble sarvent), and last, 
but not least important, old Mack, the black prince of 
camp cooks; and if we don't pull a heap o' comfort and 
sport out of that camp, it will be because ye Kingfishers 
lukve "forgot their ways;" and if ye editor of Forest and 
Stream, Bre'r Hough — may his shadder never grow less 
nor his pencil wear out — or any other brother of the rod 
has a doubt about it, let him follow up our trail to Maren- 
isco, get John McLaughlin to "buckboard" him out and 
drop him in the shadow of Old Glory to share our blan- 
kets for a few days, and we'll make it warm for him. 
The latest from Bre'r Starbuck is that he is on his way 
to his favorite waters, the north shore of Lake Superior, 
and here's a hopin' that he'Uget his "satisfy" of luring 
crimson princelings, scarlet-Tieacfed and red- TioocitecZ trout 
and other varieties of the fontinalis that are seemingly 
IndigenoTis only to those waters, albeit I never before 
heard of a red- TieadecZ trout. They must be a new species 
not classified by naturalists. I'm a trifle loose in my 
Latin, but how vfo\x\A fontinalis topknoti, rubri, Starbuck- 
eye do ? or words to that effect, which being interpreted 
liberally stands for Starbuck's led-headed trout. 
EONGPISHER. 
Their Pictures in the Papers. 
The Boston Olobe gave a portrait last week of a Maine 
boy who had distinguished himself as a rising young an- 
gler. The story of his exploit runs: 
"John Merrill, theCobbosseecontee fisherman and guide, 
is the proudest man in Kennebec county, Maine, just now, 
because his son and heir, aged three, has caught two strap- 
ping great bass, and has won the distinction of being the 
high-line fisherman of his age in Maine, so far as it is pos- 
sible to determine. Jf there is any otner child of three 
years who has landed two 3lb. black bass, one within half 
an hour of the other, John Merrill has yet to hear of 
him." 
In the mail which brought this to the Forest and 
Stream came a copy of the San Francisco Chronicle with 
with a portrait of Miss Slaud Pryor, who has seen but ten 
summers and is declared to be "entitled to the palm as 
champion fisher maiden of California, for she caught sev- 
enty large trout in Donner Lake in one day recently. 
The little girl is the daughter of W. A. Pryor, of Shasta. 
She left home in May to visit friends in San Francisco, 
and after a few weeks' stay went to Truckee, where she 
is at present. Miss Maud is very fond of fishing and other 
outdoor sports." 
Dr. Webb and the Quebec Fish and Game Club. 
Fish and Game Protection Club, Province of Quebec, 
Montreal, July 12— Editor Forest and Stream: It has 
been brought to my notice that articles have been pub- 
lished in some American papers claiming that Dr. Webb, 
the president of the St. Lawrence & Adirondack Railroad, 
has been arrested and fined by the wardens of this club for 
alleged infraction of the fishery laws of the Province. 
As Dr. Webb is de facto a resident of this Province and 
pays taxfcs as such, I need hardly point out how void of 
foundation such statements must be, and as they may be 
productive of mischievous results if allowed to remain 
uncontradicted, I shall feel much obliged if you will be 
kind enough to publish this in the next issue of your valu- 
able journal. J. S. Leo, Hon. Sec'y. 
Htn^ md ^isf( §roie([tian. 
MINNESOTA ASSOCIATION. 
St. Paul, Minn., July 11.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
The first annual meeting of the Minnesota G ime and 
Fish Protective Association will be held at the Windsor 
Hotel, in St. Paul, on Thursday, July 30. A pleasure 
programme for visiting members has been arranged, 
and the St. Paul Eod and Gun Club will on Friday, the 
31st, give an all-day trap tournament as a compliment to 
our Association. Several hundred dollars in merchandise 
prizes will be shot for. A banquet will also be given on 
one of the evenings named. 
While in all probability most of the old ofiicers will be 
re-elected, the meeting will be of much interest to Min- 
nesota sportstuen in general, for after an existence of a 
year it has been practically demonstrated that an organi- 
zation of such a character can do much toward shaping 
the sentiment of the masses in the interests of game and 
flshproteotion. 
While in reality this Association has made no startling 
demonstrations of activity during the year just closed, we 
have conducted a dignified and worthy campaign and 
have mads friends and recruits in all quarters; yet our 
attitude has been such as to warn violators that we are in 
the field for business, and in this connection the State 
Game and Fish Commission has given us full credit for 
oar work and influence as an auxiliary body. Though we 
have reason to be satisfied that we started this volunteer 
movement, We have learned several weaknesses to be 
guarded against, and have some changes to make in our 
constitution that will make it thoroughly possible to as- 
similate with the Various local protective bodies and gun 
Clubs throughout the State, extend our line of usefulness 
and make out work etf active in all quarters. Oar consti- 
tutional provisions for admitting these local bodies to 
membership have not been satisfactory to the major num- 
ber of clubs. But with the changes we propose making 
this result will be accomplished, and this being a legisla- 
tive year, we will, with united action, be able to voica 
any alterations in the fish and game laws that may be 
thought desirable before our legislative tribunal. Oar 
present laws on these subj acts are for the most part ad- 
mirable and have stood the tests of the highest courts, 
and it is doubtful if njore than a few minor alterations 
will be brought forward. Wm. L. Tucker, Sac'y. 
NEW METHOD OF POND CULTURE.* 
BY DR. JOUSSET DE BELLKSME. 
[Translated by Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, by permission of the author, and 
read at the twenty-fifth annual meeting of the 
Amarican Fisheries Society.] 
[Concluded from page 52.] 
FiSHCULTURE should be a methodical process, producing 
returns with certainty and regularity. Carp culture has 
for its object the bringing of this fish to a size advan- 
tageous for market purposes, but the carp is not market- 
able until it reaches a minimum weight of 1 kilogram, 
and it finds a better sale when it reaches a weight of 3, 3 
or 4 kilograms. If we wish to keep them long enough in 
a pond to attain this weight and the best perfection possi- 
ble, we must arrange the ponds in such a way as to secure 
this as rapidly as po.''sible. 
The case is by no means the same either with trout or 
California salmon. These fish are marketable when they 
have attained the weight of 200 grams, and it is to be ob- 
served that they bring a better return at this weight than 
those weighing 2, 3, 4 or more kilograms. As a matter 
of fact in the Paris market the large trout bring 8 francs, 
while the small ones of 200 grams are sold at 10 francs a 
kilogram. 
But a carp weighing 200 grams is not edible. It is pre- 
cisely this difference between the California salmon and 
the carp which serves as a basis for organizing the new 
method of culture which I have the honor to explain. 
We seek merely to obtain small Salrnonidoe, and this per- 
mits us to secure an annual return, a tning which the 
carp rarely furnishes. 
Doubtless this difference in the method of culture will 
incommode not a little the fishculturist who is in the 
habit of raising carp. But pond culture of the California 
salmon, as I shall explain it, is very simple. 
As in all intensive culture this requires care, frequently 
greater care than with the carp; but we shall see that it 
yields nearly ten times as much as carp culture. 
We will now for greater clearness inquire successively 
into the different conditions which may present them- 
selves iu pond culture. 
Suppose in the first place a property contains many 
ponds, some with warm water, others with cold water, a 
condition of frequent occurrence, how shall these ponds 
be arranged for use in the culture of Salrnonidoe? 
The principal prerequisite for a pond culturist should be 
to insure abundant nourishment for the fish. In the cul- 
ture of the carp, which is herbivorous, the ponds must be 
well supplied with certain species of aquatic plants. I 
have insisted so strongly upon this point in my recom- 
mendations for the last ten years that many proprietors 
of ponds begin to recognize its value. 
At present we seek to raise carnivorous fishes, and all 
our efforts should lead primarily toward securing an 
abundant supply of animal food. Certain specialists have 
believed that they could solve this problem by an unlim- 
ited' supply of crustaceans; this is the system of Lugrin. 
I have demonstrated in experiments made at the Troca- 
dero Aquarium that feeding by Daphnia is simply a dan- 
gerous illusion. These little animals possess very small 
value as food, and fish which are subjected to this regimen 
do not grow. But it is important to the fishculturist 
that his products grow as quickly as possible, and to ac- 
complish this we must not forsake food materials of rich 
quality, like meat, blood, etc. 
We employ the two series of ponds, of warm water and 
cold water, for different purposes. The warm ponds, in 
which fish reproduce and grow rapidly because plants 
grow in them, are used to raise herbivorous fish of rapid 
growth, like the carp, tench and roach. 
In this new method of culture the carp and its rearing 
does not entirely disappear. It is simply relegated to the 
second place and cultivated, not for the purpose of ob- 
taining fish of marketable siz?, but for the fry, which 
are intended for feeding the Salinonidce. Carp, roach 
and tench, hardy fishes of which the multiplicatinn is 
unlimited and the growth rapid, will be grown in warm 
ponds, but produced in such a manner as to remain small, 
and in order to obtain this result we allow the breeding 
ponds to be overstocked with eggs, a thing v.'bich was 
avoided carefully under the old methods, but which on 
the contrary we wish to attain because we desire nothing 
but to produce fry smaller than the carnivorous fish 
which are to feed upon them. 
Besides, the American Salrnonidoe,, and particularly the 
California salmon, develop much more rapidly a;nd much 
earlier than the fry of the Cyprinidce. In August the 
young carp measure scarcely 4 jantimf<ters, and at the 
same time the California salmon are 10 centimeters long, 
at least if they have been properly raisad. Thus the new 
method of culture is based upon the abundant production 
of minnows with a view to their transformation into 
flash of the Salrnonidoe, and in the two series of ponds we 
conduct two methods of rearing, each of which is equally 
important. It is clear that each type of pond will be dif- 
ferently managed. The warm ponds should have the 
banks sloping, should be shallow and well exposed to the 
sun. The bottom should be furnished with an abundance 
of plants of suitable height. 
* Nouvelle MUhode de Culture des i^tangs. Par le Docteur Jousset 
deBellesme, Peche et Pisciculture, 'Brasania. Nos. 1, 2, 3, Jan.-Mar., 
1895, pp. 8-11, 38-40, 50-54. 
. The choice of these plants should not be left to chinC3, 
but made with judgment according to the different 
speeies of fish which are to inhabit the ponds. As these 
aquatic plants ate not well known to tt^hculturists, I will 
mention those which are useful for ponds intended for 
the cultivation of carp, tench and roach. * * * 
At the end of February or the beginning of March the 
breeding fish are placed in the pond according to custom, 
but in double the usual number, in order to insure a sur- 
plus production of fry, the securing of a very great quan-- 
tity of eggs here being the sole object of the operation. 
Spawning will take place at the end of May and the 
pond will contain a considerable number of alevins which 
will be 3 or 4 centimeters long in August. It will 
be easy to catch them with fine seines and to transpoi't 
them quickly to the cold ponds devoted to the rearing of 
Sahnonidoe. 
The fishculturist must proportion the number of young 
of the Cyprinidm which he will need to the number of 
Salrnonidoe which he desires to feed, and experience will 
quickly teach him this proportion, which will of course 
vary with the surrounding conditions, and the additional 
nourishment, more or less, which can be obtained from 
the worms and insect larv^ in the pond; besides, if there 
should be a surplus of food for the Salrnonidoe he can eas- 
ily sell it to other fishculturists. 
Asa general rule the young carp and tench will be eaten 
up before they have reached the length of 8 centimeters. 
No advantage is to be derived' from allowing them to grow 
larger. Every year the fishculturist will then secure a 
new production of fry. There is nothing in this which is 
either complicated or calculated to embarrass the fish 
breeder. 
Let us proceed now to the arrangement of the cold 
ponds (I repeat that by cold ponds I mean ponds in which 
the water is not more than 16° centigrade). Neverthe- 
less, since we have to do here with California salmon, 
we may consider as cold ponds those in which the tem- 
perature rises to 24° centigrade during the heat of sum- 
mer; that is to say, a truly cold pond of the ordinary kind 
tov Salrnonidoe is not a necessity in this method of culture,, 
which has succeeded marvelously in regions provided 
almost entirely with warm ponds, as at Sologne. 
Since a locality always contains some ponds which are 
cooler than others, I recommend to the fishculturist to 
give the cooler ones the preference in re'aring the Cali- 
fornia salmon. There are a number of reasons for this 
which I will not enter into here. 
It will be well to arrange beside these ponds one or two 
moderately large elongate basins, in which the water can 
be circulated. These basins are intended for the rearing 
of the salmon alevins, and in this way time rnay be 
saved, because the young increase much more rapidly 
in them than if they were at liberty in a pond. The 
rearing basins, dug in the soil, should have a dejDth of at 
least half a meter to 1\ meters, and the banks should be 
sloping. A width of 1^ meters will be very practicable. 
They need not be fully stocked with aquatic plants; a 
few clumps may' be placed in them, which can be ar- 
ranged in pots buried in the gravelly bottom. The plants 
which should have the preference are the large-leafed 
potamogetons and the nenuphars. At first they will 
serve to oxygenate the water, and later to furnish shade 
for the young. 
The breeder may have recourse either to epes or to 
alevins; the latter are always high-priced and difficult to 
transport. It is therefore much more practical to pro- 
cure the eggs, and, from another point of view, it almost 
always happens that alevins which are purchased liave 
been injured and have not been properly ted. It is well 
to know that in this case the inevitable result will be an 
arrest of dtvelopnlent. They will not become large, no 
matter how favorable the conditions in which they are 
placed. 
Preference should be given to eggs, which involves a 
slight complication, it is true, because it will he necessary 
to hatch them; but nothing is easier, and we have to-diy 
hatching apparatus so simple and practical that hatching 
is merely a pleasure. 
The price of fertilized eggs of California salmon is 
about 18 to 20 francs a thousand. 
After hatching, the fry are transported to the rearing 
basin, and at the end of about fifteen days, without wait- 
ing for the complete absorption of the yolk sack — I insist 
especially upon this point— the feeding should be com- 
menced. The food should be suspended daily in the 
water by means of a zinc vessel placed about 30 centi- 
meters Irom the bottom. The general principles of r<^ar- 
ing fry should be followed rigorously. In feeding them 
one should not seek for variations or for imaginary im- 
provements. It should be our aim to grow the alevins 
rap dly, and give them the richest and most easily assimi- 
lated food. 
For more than ten years I have emjjloyed for this pur- 
pose the spleen of beef, calf or horse, the price of which 
is low and its preparation very simple, because it is given 
raw and its nutritive properties are very great, This sub- 
stance has been employed for food of the youngest salmon 
at the Aquarium of the Trocadero almost exclusively since 
1883, anu many fishculturists have followed our example. 
Blood is an excellent and cheap food. It should be slightly 
cooked in hot water. One may ignore all other forms of 
nourishment, particularly Uaphnia and the prepared foods 
which are so extensively advertised. 
What number of alevins can be reared per hectare? 
Experience has shown me that if the conditions are favor- 
able one may raise without danger in a hectare of water, 
with an average depth of 11 meters, 200 kilograms of 
Salrnonidoe at least. If then the fishculturist follows my 
advice by raising California salmon to the weight of 200 
grams he will place 1,000 alevins in a hectare. If he de- 
sires to raise fish of a larger size he must use fewer per 
hectare. Here are in this respect the approximate num- 
bers: 
1,000 salmon of SOO grams par hectare. 
500 " " 400 " " 
200 " " 1 kilogram " 
125 " 1)4 ■■ " 
These numbers are the results of numerous experiments 
which I have made upon this point, and I have taken 
piins to give the minimum, which may of ten be surpassed 
under favorable conditions. 
At what time should we place the alevins in the pond 
and in what time may we expect them to reach market- 
able size? 
The spawning of the California salmon takes place very 
early, and on account of this precocity it is chosen as the 
