June 13, 1897.J 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
467 
able guides say that tlie water has been alive -with tbese 
smelts. Later they have died by the thousands, and have 
been seen floating on the surface dead or dying. Every 
trout caught has been simply gorged with these smelts. This 
I saw myself, in the case of trout being dressed. The ques- 
tion of these smelts ever having been introduced into the 
Eangeley waters is a very grave one. Guides and sports- 
men who have watched and fished these waters for years, are 
in doubt, to say the very least, and some of them' are mad 
all through. I heard it freely expressed that the 
wonderful brook trout fishing of the world, at the Range- 
leys, has been ruined by putting in smelts for land- 
locked salmon food; landlocked salmon that can, at the 
very best, never equal what the brook trout have been to 
these waters. As for myself, I have no opinion at present. 
The smelts in the maw of the trout I have seen, and have 
seen the dead smelts on the water. I have also seen the re- 
markably fattened condition of the trout as compared with 
the fish of the past twenty years, with which I have been 
familiar, catching and examining them each year in greater 
or less numbers. Would it not have been much better for 
the State of Maine, through its Fish Commissioners, to have 
hatched a great many brook trout each year and put them 
into the Rangeley waters, thus keeping up the supply of a 
fish altogether satisfactory, rather than to have been dabbling 
with fish not formerly found there? Who does not remem- 
ber the introduction of the English sparrow? Who will 
claim that natural conditions, as to fish and game, are not 
the best? XXX. 
BLACK BASS CULTURE. 
The few men who for the past two decades fought for a 
proper recognition of the prince of fishes — the black bass — 
have reason for congratulation in that the outposts have been 
gained ; that the public is demanding the propagation of the 
bass, and that the demand is increasing day by day to a point 
beyond the present possibilities of supply. 
It was unfortunate that some years ago two eminent ad- 
vocates of the black bass, in their enthusiasm for its game 
qualities, produced the impression that its voracious habits 
would preclude the possibility of any other fish living in the 
same stream ; and it was equally unfortunate that one of the 
highest scientists accorded to the bass the lowest scale of 
economic importance. A review, based on a further and 
fuller study of the basses in their native waters, has shown 
the incorrectness of the first position, and inquiry among 
the fish dealers, fishermen and anglers indicates clearly, and 
demonstrates fully, the untenability of the second position. 
In their natural habitat the black basses are found living 
harmoniously with other fishes, not only in open streams, 
bjit in confined ponds; and from every source comes evi- 
dence to indicate that the bass constitutes no small factor in 
the domestic economy of the people living in the Middle and 
Southern Atlantic and Inland States. 
The wonderful power of adaptability (scarcely approached 
by any other desirable table fish) possessed by the bass for 
waters of extreme range of temperature and varying condi- 
tions of impurity fit it in the highest degree for the widest 
dissemination. Either species easily and quickly adapts itself 
to the cold lakes and streams of the far North and North- 
west, while the big-mouth luxuriates in the warm tributa- 
ries of the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Texas. I have 
known them to winter safely under heavy ice, even when 
ice was harvested from the pond, and have in the following 
summer found their young thriving in ponds at 98" F. 
There can be no doubt that the bass prefer pure, clear, 
clean water, but there are few game fishes which can with 
impunity withstand so sudden and marked muddying of the 
stream or pond, and that not only for a short time, but for 
days and weeks in succession. One has but to recall the 
spring freshets of the Ohio, Kanawha, Potomac and other 
bass streams, to wonder how so game a fish could live 
through such deluges of mud, 
I repeat that, all things considered, no fish offers to the 
economist the possibilities presented by the black bass. The 
question of to day among fishculturisls is how best to utihze 
these possibilities — how to propagate and disseminate the 
black bass. Several methods present themselves. 
The earliest method, and the one which up to this time has 
produced the most marked effects, is the collection of adults 
from native waters, and planting them in new or depleted 
streams. Dr. Henshall, in his "Book of the Black Bass," has 
given the history of how the Potomac and all its tributaries 
were stocked years ago by bringiug a few adult bass across 
the mountains in the tender of a railway locomotive; and in 
a paper of my own (soon to appear in the Bulletin of the 
IJ. S. Fish Commission) is an account of the stocking of one 
of the most beautiful and seemingly impossible streams in 
Virginia. If the conditions are at all favorable the collection 
of £^ult bass is not difficult, nor should their transporta- 
tion be regarded as hazardous. At the same time I be- 
tray no professional secret in saying that with the great- 
est care in collecting and transporting, it frequently happens 
that the results fall far short of expectations. It may 
safely be assumed, that of wild adult bass captured and 
transplanted to private ponds, from 25 to 33 per cent, will 
die in from one to eight weeks, and cases have fallen under 
Ddy observation where the entire consignment died in a short 
time. Why? It often happens that the collection is inter- 
rupted from one cause or another — conditions of weather, 
waier, scarcity df fish, or some other cause— and a part of 
the consignment is necessarily held for a time in "live-boxes." 
So far as adult bass intended for brood slock are concerned, 
an adequate or sate live-box has not yet been devised, nor 
do I believe it possible that it can be. I am well aware that 
thousands of black bass have been captured, held in live- 
boxes, transported and delivered at destination in apparently 
good condition; but I am safe in saying that in but the few'- 
est instances has the one collecting, caring for and transport- 
ing the bass had the subsequent care of them or been in 
position to observe their condition beyond an hour after 
deposit or planting. Bass held in the close confinement of 
a live-box are sure to bruise themselves within a few days. 
A disrupted scale, torn fin or bruised mouth, unless well 
and repeatedly treated with salt or other caustic, means 
fungus, and fungus on fishes under such conditions means 
death. I have seen it appear on thousands of bass and crap- 
pie within thirty-six hom's after capture. A small pond 
having earth and rock sides and bottom will be be found a 
healthier penning place than any live-box yet devised. 
During capture, confinement and transportation, the fish 
should be handled with the greatest care and every precau- 
tion exercised against the least blow or hurt. Very many 
fish leave the collecting point in good condition and are hurt 
while in tlie cans by a reckless use of the dipper or other 
aerating apparatus, and not a few have been killed by the 
over use of ice in transit. There is as much danger from a 
too liberal use of ice on the road as from high temperature. 
To avoid discouragement and false expectation, it should be 
noted that adult bass seldom spawn in the season in which 
they are capture.d and moviid". The nearer to the natural 
spawning season the capture is made the less is the liability 
of spawning that year. 
The artificial propagation, in the strict sense of the term, 
of the black bass is, in my opinion, an ignis fatxms. By 
this I mean it is extremely doubtful if we shall ever succeed 
in artificially impregnating the eggs of the bass as is so easily 
done with those of the salmonidaj and other fishes. 
Not only is there a structural difference between the 
bass and the other varieties referred to, but there seems 
to be a degree of delicacy (if I may employ the 
word in this connection) on the part of the bass 
entirely wanting in the others. Several fishculturists 
have noticed the fact recorded by Mr. Seymour Bower last 
year that to extrude even the eggs from the female advan- 
tage must be taken of an exact, supreme moment of excite- 
ment which has been engendered by the nuptial dalliance 
of the male. I have tried day after day to spawn a female 
bass, when the eggs were distending the ovarian sack almost 
to bursting, without securing the least sign of an egg, and I 
have seen the same fish a few weeks later pair off and sub 
mit to the biting, butting and nosing of the male. 
Not only is it difficult to get the eggs from the female, but 
as yet milt has not been secured from the male except by the 
CsBsarian operation, the propriety or expediency of which 
is doubted by some. Many ends justify extreme means, and 
each one must determine for himself whether he will kill the 
male fish for the purpose of experiment. The artificial im- 
pregnation of the bass eggs, their subsequent handling, care 
of the alevins and feeding the very young fry, will remain an 
experiment for some time — possibly forever, I am well 
aware that a few bass eggs have been obtained and impreg- 
nated and a partial degree of success obtained in hatching 
them in jars, but no positive results have yet been secured at 
all commensurate with the time, labor and money expended. 
All negative knowledge, of course, has its value. 
Black bass which have lost the shyness and fright incident 
to capture and transportation, become domesticated, readily 
spawn, and rear their young in artificial ponds, and on this 
method the fishculturist must depend for any considerable 
number of young. They may be allowed to .spawn in the 
stock pond, from one quarter of an acre or larger in size, or 
annex spawning grounds, as used by Mr. Bower, may be 
provided. Dr. Henshall has given the best description of a 
bass nest: Slightly concaved, with a diameter twice the 
length of the fish. While gravel is undoubtedly acceptable 
to the fish, and clean small gravel can. easily be provided, it 
is not a necessity, for I have frequently seen bass make a 
nest on the bare clay. Personally, I have not had the op- 
portunity to fully test the artificial nests devised last year by 
Mr. Seagle and Mr. Strannahan. 
The columns of Forest and Stream have contained 
many interesting and valuable articles bearing on when the 
bass spawn. Many of these articles were written from a 
purely local standpoint, the writers forgetting or disregard- 
ing the fact that the season varies for almost every State, 
and frequently in the same State. Moreover, the season is 
rarely the same year after year in any one locality. My ob- 
servations lead me to think that the bass will not 
be found nesting before the ground becomes warm 
enough for gardening purposes. For several years 
I have noticed that the bass commenced nesting 
when the dogwood was well in blossom, and m the same 
pond I have known them to continue to nest as late as mid- 
summer. The period of incubation averages about nine days, 
and the alevin stage occupies about six days more. Shortly 
after the food sac is completely absorbed the school, hereto- 
fore guarded by the parent fish, disperses in search of the 
natural food — daplmia, cy claps, etc. If the pond has b..en so 
constructed that a good portion of it is shallow water — from 
6in . deep to feather edge — and is old enough to have pro- 
duced a fair crop of aquatic vegetation, no feai- need be 
entertained that the young fry Avill starve for the want of 
this natural food. When about an inch long they will be 
found foraging on the young gamrnarus and corim, and later 
on larger crustaceans and smaller fishes. 
When a majority of the crop measure ll to 2in. in length, 
it is advisable to remove them from the spawning pond. In 
the latitude of Virginia, Ohio and Missouri this period wiU 
be found occurring about the last of June, a time when all 
the breeders have not finished spawning. 
How to remove the early hatch without disturbing the late 
spawners was for a time a vexatious problem. Its accom- 
plishment is easy and simple Construct the pond to have a 
long, narrow neck, not over 4ft. wide, and running to a 
point where the inflow enters; 10 or 15ft. from the inflow 
separate the neck from the pond proper by a wire screen. 
Meshes of \ or fin. answer very well. The young bass read- 
ily find their way through the screen, and show no inclina- 
tion to leave as long as food is present. This screened- off 
neck should bo closely watched, not only for the numer- 
ous enemies of the young bass, but for any sign of can- 
nibalism. To net the young bass from the neck is such a 
simple and easy matter as not to require explanation. 
Several years ago I recommended a new form of ponds 
for separating the young fry from their parents to protect 
the young and facilitate their capture. It was to build the 
pond in the shape of a dumb-bell, the water to enter at one 
bell and escape at the other, the upper bell to be shallower 
and separated from the lower by a wire screen. The spawn- 
ing occurs in the lower bell and the fry pass through the 
screen into the upper bell, where they may be allowed to re- 
main longer than if it were a mere neck of a pond. 
If it is necessary to keep the young bass for even a day 
before shipping it Is of the utmost importance that they be 
carefully sorted, and the different sizes placed in different 
receptacles. In the buckets while being filled at the neck I 
have frequently observed a bass swallow another a very little 
smaller tnan itself. 
If the fry are to be kept for several weeks or even days, 
they must be fed, or cannibalism will surely reduce the num- 
ber, and reduce it at an alarming rate. Any kind oi fish 
(crayfish ai'e excellent when abundant and cheap) chopped 
or ground fine, make good and acceptable food for young 
bass, In fact, I may state I have never known, bass fry to 
accept any food, except such as had grown in the water. All 
the various articles of trout diet they utterly reject (but it 
should be noted that domesticated adult bass take as kindly 
to beef liver as do domesticated trout) Bass fry take a fish 
diet, thrive and grow on it with far less labor, patience and 
loss of stock than can be accomplished with trout on any 
known diet. That part of trout culture which is tedious, 
laborious and hazardous becomes a pleasure when caring for 
bafis fry. 
Within the last year or so a practice is springing up of dis- 
tributing very young bass fry — alevin a — from the nest. From 
past experience I doubt if this class of bass culture will ever 
meet with marked success Bass alevins are exceedingly 
tender and are peculiarly susceptible to slight changes of tem- 
perature. All things considered, I incline to the use of bass 
fry from \\ to 2in. in length and even larger, and it is doubt- 
ful, if ihe distance to be traveled is considerable or the road 
and appliances not the best, whether bass of this size are not 
to be preferred to large adults. William F. Page. 
Lynchbubo, Va. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Rainbow Trout. 
There seems to be a gradual change of sentiment in re- 
gard to the rainbow trout. Thousands have been planted 
and never heard of after the second year. Occasionally we 
hear of them remaining permanently in the water where 
planted, and when they do they grow rapidly and to great 
size. It is more than likely that many of the plants of rain- 
bow trout have been made in waters that were unsuitable to 
them, but there is a tendency on their part to ruam even in 
waters where they are found at their best. If they remain 
they afford fine sport, but the question seems to be to find 
just the waters in which to plant them. This year more 
large rainbow trout ran up the stream on which the State 
hatchery is situated at Bath, N. Y,, and twenty-eight were 
captured for breeding fish and confined in the ponds at the 
hatchery. One of the trout weighed nearly lllbs. 
A gentlem^ writes me from Jonesboro, Tenn. : "We es 
pect to have a Government fish hatchery in this part of the 
State, and if our Legislature would stop special legislation 
on behalf of certain counties we would in a few years have 
fine sport. We have some trout yet in our mountain streams, 
and good black bass fishing in some of our rivers. We have 
a few rainbow trout of fi-om 1 to 41bs. weight, the result of 
a planting made about three years ago, and more recently 
we have put into tfie stream 8,000 or 10,000 more. All that 
we need in order to have good fishing in this mountain region 
is good laws well enforced. " 
I would lise to hear from any region where the rainbow 
trout remain after they are planted, with character and 
temperature of water and food conditions. 
Mascalongre Hatchingr. 
Mr. Frank W. Cheney, of Jamestown, N, Y, , was engaged 
by the Wisconsin Fish Commission this spring to go to that 
State and hatch mascalonge, and writes upon his return of 
his success in the work : 
"I have just returned from .Wisconsin after what may be 
called a successful season of work propagating mascalonge. 
I had but one net, yet 1 succeeded in securing 2,040,000 eggs 
and hatched nearly 2,000,000 of fry, which I carried twenty- 
one miles through the woods in a wagon and over 400 or 
500 miles of railroad from Lost Lake, Sawyer county, to 
Hayward, thence to Ashland, on Lake Superior, where we 
changed cars and came down the Wisconsin Central R. R. 
to Fon du Lac and planted the fry in Green Lake. They 
stood the iong journey well. I hatched the fry m a slightly 
different manner from that practiced at Chautauqua Lake. 
The mascalonge in Wisconsin are exactly like our Chautauqua 
Lake fish. We took 85,000,000 pike-perch eggs before we 
took the mascalonge eggs. Lost Lake is alive with the finest 
kind of yellow pike. I was in Wisconsin from April 10 to 
May 31," 
Fishing In Maine. 
Commissioner H. O. Stanley writes me: "We have been 
traveling over the State for the last month, giving hearings 
in regard to special laws, and have had little time for fishing, 
only putting in part of a day here and there when on good 
ground. 1 was at Sebago last Thursday, May 6, and caught 
fcur salmon 3 to lOJlbs,, and hooked and lost two others by 
breaking the hooks on tail of Stanley smelt. The fishing at 
Sebago has been the finest that I have ever known, and many 
large fish have been taken. Thus far the fishing in Maine is 
showing up well, and many new salmon ponds are beginning 
to show fish. The introduction of landlocked salmon in new 
fields is what will save our fishing for the future. The fact 
is that the trout in our brooks and streams are pretty well 
fished out, but the ponds and lakes in Maine are holding 
their own. The objection of the guides to registering is con- 
fined entirely to Rangeley. The guides in other localities 
favor the law. The fact is, all the guides will come in 
eventually, and I believe it will become a popiilar law." 
This year the State Fisheries, Game and Forestry Com- 
mission of New York has planted landlocked smelt from 
Maine and New Hampshire in New York waters, and hope 
to establish them that they may supply other waters in time 
to furnish food for landlocked salmon. A planting made 
at a preserve lake near the Adirondack hatciiery was very 
successful, as over two-thirds of the eggs of the smelt 
hatched. Mr. W. C. Witherbee, of Port Henry, N. Y., JVIr. 
Edward R, Hewitt, of Ringwood, N. J., and Commissioner 
Thompson, of Northport, L. I., have planted the landlocked 
smelt in private waters to serve as fish food. The plants 
made by Messrs. Witherbee and Hewitt were successful, the 
eggs hi.tching finely, and I presume Mr. Thompson's plant 
was ecxually successful, although I have not heard from him. 
Rearing: Black Bass. 
Mr. Edwin Clark Kent, chairman of the hatchery com- 
mittee of the Tuxedo Club, has written me of his attempts 
to rear young black bass, and the details are of such interest 
he has consented that I relate them as he has given them to 
me. 
Any. one who has read Mr. Seymour Bower's paper (read 
before the American Fisheries Society last year, and printed 
in that journal soon after), will understand the first steps, 
for the Pass are allowed to pair, make their beds, and it is 
only after the fry is hatched naturally that they are taken in 
hand. To quote from Mr. Kent's letter: "My troubles 
began after the fish were hatched, for I consider it abso- 
lutely useless to plant fry. If you do not protect the fish 
until they are old enough to protect themselves, it is time 
and trouble wasted. With bass especially the loss takes 
place after the eggs are hatched. 
"After sundry futile experiments in artificial hatching, we 
built a pool about 60ft. square and from IBin. to 3ft, deep, 
with an earth bottom covered with clean gravel and sand; 
rocks also were scattered about to imitate as closely as possi- 
ble a natural spawning ground. We took twenty bass out 
of the lake and put them into the pool, which was supplied 
with the water which passed through the trout hatchery. 
We watched the bass for some time, but they showed no 
desire to make their beds, and it struck me that the water, 
