Oct. 33, 1897. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
831 
and a very handgome flsli. At one time the pen containing 
these trout was struck by lightning and twenty-seven of the 
flsh, mostly large and fine specimens, were killed. 1 never 
before heard of the necessity of putting up a lightning rod 
to protect trout, but maybe these are not quite as quick as 
most wild trout are. 
One of the pets of the hatchery is a big brook trout, G^lbs. 
in weight, which is quite blind, and which allows its back 
to be scratched by persons properly introduced. The big 
lake trout are handsome fellows and are also obliging, allow- 
ing their backs to be scratched like so many contented pigs. 
The brown trout are very large, and we had a lot of fun 
feeding them. They know very well the hour at which they 
are to be fed, and about that time become as uneasy as the 
animals in a menagerie. When the food was thrown in to 
thena they fell all over each other, dashing the water up into 
a spray, and going half out of water in their rush one over 
the other. There were brown trout in there which looKed 
to weigh 8 or lOlbs. I never would tire watching the sho sv 
of trout in these many poo's at the hatchery, for even in 
captivity these brilliant and active flsh appear spectacular, 
retaining much of their shyness and cleverness at hiding. 
We saw pen after pen full almost to overflowing, the grand- 
est spectacle of live trout it was ever my fortune to witness. 
The fish are all in fine condition, as is indeed every variety 
of fish at the hatchery. The superintendent of the hatchery, 
Mr. W. H. Morgan, is a very skillful man at his business, 
having had many years of experience in the United Stales 
hatcheries. One of his discoveries for the treatment of fun- 
gus on the fish was that a salt bath is nearly always effica- 
cious. Now, when a fish is observed to be dull, and to show 
the customary white growth which afflicts so many speci- 
mens in confinement, it is at once removed to the salt tanks 
and given a pickle which makes it gasp for the time, but feel 
good afterward. We saw many young fish which had been 
thus doctored or were in process of doctoring. 
The Minnesota pike hatchery is said to be one of the very 
finest, perhaps absolutely the best, in the United States. It is 
a glass jar hatchery, such as that shown at the World's Fair, 
and has a capacity of 100,000,000 eggs! It grinds out a pile 
of wall eyes in a year. Then we saw tanks and troughs and 
sluices and boxes full of millions of little perch and croppies, 
looking like wriggling silver when shoveled up in the hand 
net for our inspection. These are partly the salvage of the 
sloughs, where the very sensible work of seinina; out drying 
water holes has saved them for another day. No bass are 
now hatched at this hatchery, the room being devoted to 
other fishes, the young bass seined from the bayous being 
handled into other and better waters as taken. If the Com- 
mission ever is able to devote a steamer to this work, the 
salvage of small-mouth black bass can be made something 
enormous along the upper Mississippi River. 
This year the Minnesota Commission has hatched out 
750,000 trout, and nest year it expects to put out twice as 
many. Its output for 1898 will probably embrace 1,500,000 
trout, 100,000,000 wall-eyed pike, 500 000 black bass, 1,000,000 
croppies, 1,000,000 perch. The work is progressing nobly, 
and the people of the Slate should realize their indebtedness 
to the enterprise, 
The site of the Minnesota hatchery is one of the loveliest 
and most suitable that can be iinagined. Along the Father 
of Waters, from some distance out from St. Paul, runs the 
msjestic bluff which bounds the great river, this bluff at one 
point. Mound Park, being surmounted by the ancient grave- 
yards of the former owners of the soil, whose burial mounds 
have been preserved and are now inclosed against fui'ther 
sacrilege. Following this grand bluff out a little further, 
one reaches a summit from which a splendid panorama of 
the river valley can be seen, far below and reaching far 
away. At the edge of this wide, green valley, and running 
back into the front of the high bluff and sheltered by its arm, 
runs a narrower valley or cove, across which flows a spring- 
fed stream which has been forced by the hand of man to ex- 
pand and deploy into a myriad pools and reaches. The stream 
heads back right at the foot of the bluff. Here some moist 
ground was noted at points not actually marked by springs, 
and repeated borings at such points developed magnificent 
flowing springs. Iron pipes were sunk at the bottom of the 
pits made in clearing out the natural springs, and from each 
of these pipes an unfailing rush of cold water pours forth. 
It is apparently practicable to increase the water supply in 
this way to any desired extent, though the flow is now all 
that is wanted. From the springs the water is led down and 
into the meadow-like little valley through long flumes, then 
is expanded into the series of ponds needful in the hatchery. 
The people of the State of Minnesota have a treasure in this 
hatchery — a treasure of great natural beauty, to say nothing 
of its utility. A more charming corner of ttie world is rarely 
seen, and to visit it and peer over from the green edges of 
the pools at the myriad darting forms in the clear water js 
mucn like experiencing a dream of a trouting heaven. 
The Minnesota State Game and Fish Commissioners re- 
ceived from the last Legislature an appropriation of $35,000, 
and during the past year turned in fines amounting to about 
$5,000. At the last statement of expenses, for the term end- 
ing Sept, 10, the Commission had expended this year 
$6,166.38. This covers wardens' salaries and legal expenses. 
It is very likely that the State has no bureau in its service 
which is on a better paying or more valuable footing, 
Muscallonjre Shed Their Teeth. 
Chicago, 111., Oct. 9.— It is odd how little we sometimes 
know about things which are near about us, or odd how we 
sometimes think we know more than we do. I do not be- 
lieve it will be needful to classify under the latter head the 
piece of information which has just come to hand in regard 
to some of the personal habits of the muscallonge. It has 
always been known by anglers for this big fish, that during 
a part of the summer it will not bite very freely. This time 
of laxness is commonly noted to be at the time of the 
'•bloom" which appears on the waters, making them turgid 
and milky. It has always been supposed thai this "bloom" 
was what kept the fish from biting. Now, is this really the 
case? Such is the question arising in the mind of my friend 
H. L. Stanton, of this city, and in the minds of several of 
his friends, and I may add also in my own. 
The facts of this story are thus: Mr. Stanton, Mr. Frank 
Wiliard and their wives were in the week of Sijpt. 23 up at 
Squirrel Lake, Wis., on a muscallonge trip. The season 
was late, and the bloom, which is usually over by late July 
or August, was still on the water, so that they did not ex- 
pect to get much 'lunge fishing, though they picked up a 
number of the fish now and then throughout tlie week. One 
day they were resting along shore, when they were approached 
by a canoe bearing a lumberman and a half-breed, bound 
across the lake. The two parties passed the time of day 
with each other, and the traveler asked them what luck they 
had had. When they told hiba that the fishing was poor, he 
said that;he was not surprised, for that "over in Canada, we 
never used to think of Ashing for 'lunge until after they 
were done shedding their teeth." At this the two anglers 
laughed heartily, thinking it a very good joke, and they 
laughed so much that the Canadian got angry and went 
away Irom them in some dudgeon. "Maybe you think a 
borse don't shed its hair, or a moose its horns, or a snake its 
skin," he said. "They all do, just the same, and so does a 
muscallonge shed its teeth, regularly every year, and while 
it is doing it it won't bite, of course, any more than a deer 
in the velvet will run, or a moulting bird move about 
much. If you don't believe it, I'll bet you $100 I can prove 
it right now, with the first 'lunge you take." 
The lumberman went on across the lake and disappeared, 
and no one knows who he was. His words set Mr. Stanton 
and Mr. WiUard to thinking. They had a few 'lunge up on 
the ice at their camp, and one by one they examined these. 
In every case the jaws were found to be red and much in- 
flamed. The teeth were in no case all present, and in some 
cases were nearly all absent. The whole row of teeth along 
the side of the jaw could be rubbed out free from the jaw 
with a rake of the thumb-nail. The ends of the teeth were 
softened, as though about to decay or disintegrate, so that 
the tooth could be crumbled. The large teeth were loose in 
the sockets when found still in place, and very often the 
sockets were empty. One fish, weighing 17+lbs., was taken 
afterward. The guide said he would ' 'try that tooth racket," 
and taking up the fish was able to scrape every remaining 
tooth out of its jaw by means of his thumb-nail. (This can- 
not be done witn a 'lunge in the spring season, I know.) It 
was further noted that all the flsh taken on this trip were 
very gaunt, having nothing at all in their stomachs. Yet 
these fish spawn very early in the spring, at the first break- 
ing up of the ice. The big 'lunge mentioned was very thin, 
and was long and deep enough to have weighed 25lb3. had 
it been in fair condition. The same experiments were made 
with the pickerel that were caught, and it was discovered 
that they, too, had shed or partly shed their teeth, or had 
them loosened so that they could be scraped out of the mouth. 
It was noticed a great many times on the trip that 'lunge 
would be seen following the spoon along for some distance, 
but not striking, a practice quite contrary to their savage 
rush when in the biting season of spring or fall. 
Mr. Stanton and his friends became very fully persuaded 
that their strange lumberman had known perfectly well 
what he was talking about, and they concluded that they 
had discovered, solar as their own earlier knowledge was 
concerned, a new fact in natural history. Neither of them, 
nor any angler I ever met, has ever heard anything about the 
muscallonge shedding its teeth, but it would be very hard to 
convince them now that the fish does not do so. Mr. Stan- 
ton sent over for me, and related the above tales at consider- 
able length. There is no doubting their authenticity. Will 
Mr. Cheney or some other savant tell us how old this new dis- 
covery is, or if it is new, why no other man has, ever learned 
of it? If this be ancient history, why have none of our an- 
glers told us of it before? In this party were Mr. Stanton 
Mr. Wiliard, Mr. McManus, three guides and two cooks, and 
none of them had ever guessed any such thing before. They 
all know it nov^. 
Texas Tarpon. 
Mr, Irwin sends me from Little Rock still further informa- 
tion about the fine tarpon fishing on the Texas Gulf Coast 
his letter reading in part as below : ' 
"W. D. Jenkins, the Government engineer of the work of 
getting deep water at Aransas Pass, is an expert tarpon fish- 
erman, and whenever he finds, after landing a silver kino-, 
that his gills have not been injured, he punches a hole through 
the covering of the gills and attaches a silver tag to the fish, 
and turns him loose again. If the giils are injured, as the 
lungs of a man, the fish, even if liberated, woula soon die or 
be caught and devoured by sharks. 
"I had a very pleasant visit this morning from June In- 
gram, the champion of all the tarpon fishermen, who for 
this season has 103 tarpon to his credit, all landed with rod 
and reel. The last fifty he landed all but two upon the 
beach without the aid of gaff hook, which certainly is a great 
feat, as it gives the fish additional chances to get away, as 
many of them are brought Xo the beach but escape by 'the 
failure of the boatman to gaff them." 
The Buffalo Will Bite. 
In our early fishing days out in Iowa we never used to 
think of fishing for the buffalo flsh with hook and line, and 
indeed had a large contempt for it as a flsh in any capacity. 
1 do not think I ever personally heard of its taking bait, un- 
til receiving tD day the adyice from J. B. H., who has been 
out fishing along our old river, the Skunk, out in central 
Iowa. It seems that this once prolific stream has been net- 
ted and dynamited to death, so that it offers very little 
sport, out J. B. H. managed to get enough flsh for camp 
use. He says: "I caught buffalo flsh for the first time in 
my life with the hook, i got one of 31bs., and for real game 
fighting and endurance, and for quick and long runs, it was 
fully tne equal of any bass I nave ever caught. I used 
angle-worms, but the lunny way the buffalo had of biting 
was new to me. We fished in the deepest water in the mid- 
dle of the day. They are slow biters like the suckers, but 
are a regular tornado when they feel the prick of the hook. 
This opens a new sport for me, I guess." E. Hough. 
1306 BoYCE Buiu>mG, Chicago. 
New Jersey Coast Fishing. 
AsBURY Pakk, N. J., Oct. 16.— The prevailing westerly 
winds the past lews days have greatly improved surf fishing. 
Bluefish and weakfish are again biting at all points, but the 
best catches of the week have been at Manasquan Inlet 
where plaice and blu9fi -;h appear to be particularly abundant' 
the latter taking the squid freely. ' 
Each .season demonstrates that there is much to learn in 
relation to fish life. Never before have the bluefish been 
taken from tne beach and piers at night in any quantity; 
this season that condition prevails, and lOe best catcnes have' 
been made during the early evening, and occasional ones the 
entire night through. Wdile the weakfish are not nearly as 
abundant as two weeks ago, still enough are being taken to 
hold the attention of the angler and keep the lines aciive. 
Striped bass appear to have given us the "marble shoulder" 
entirely. While they are in the surf in abundance, as the 
net men make good catches whenever the sea is in good con- 
dition, none will take the hook. Why is this? Will some 
brotUer angler rise and explain? One evening recently when 
conditions seemed perfect, I fished faithfully for two hours 
and took nothing save an occasional weakfish at a point 
where basa were known to be, using every bait which experi- 
ence suggested as being particularly good, and yet a amall 
net was laid around the point and the first haul yielded 
seven good ones, the second one sixteen. They apparently 
require a trolling bait, something we are unable to offer ex- 
cept on rare occasions. 
The New England whiting, or what is commonly termed 
the "frostfish," have put in appearance, although but few in 
number as yet; still we have the promise of them with us 
during the winter months, and they are a very agreeable ac- 
quisition, breaking the monotony of our usual long winter 
wait, as they take the hook freely until along in February, 
and are really a game fish. They never nibble, but take the 
hook with a rush, and make a most determined resistance; 
fully equaling, weight considered, the kingflsh, whose 
praises as a game flghter has been sung for ages. I took 
several hundreds of them during the past winter, and I 
cheerfully recommend them as being entirely worthy of the 
angler's attention. A 3 or 4lb. flsh puts up a most gallant 
fight, and with light tackle tests the angler's skill, as in the 
cold, fingers are apt to be numb and the hold on tackle more 
or less uncertain. Leonaed Hclit. 
American Fisheries Society Proceedings. 
Detroit, Mich , Oct. 11 —Editor Forest and Stream: My 
attention has been called to an item on the first page of your 
issue of Oct. 9, stating you had failed to receive a report of 
the proceedings of the American Fisheries Society, and 
commenting on the action of the society in restricting the 
distiibution of the report to its members. While the society 
did so restrict the distribution, I knew it was not its inten- 
tion to exclude the sporting press, and, therefore, immedi- 
ately on its issue I had mailed to Forest and Stream and 
other kindred publications a copy. If your copy was not 
received, it must have been through some fault of the mails. 
I know the copies mailed to some of the other papers were 
received, and I presumed you had received yours. There 
was no intention of denying Forest and Stream a copy. 
I wish you would give this letter publication in order that 
neither the society or myself may be misunderstood in this 
niatter. Herschel Whitakeb. 
Raritan River Fish and Game. 
Perth Amboy, N. J., Oct. 15.— Slrippd bass and perch 
are biting nicely at bloodworm in the Raritan River any- 
where from one to five miles above the Central Railroad 
bridge. Some yellow legs about yet, and a flock of teal was 
seen this week. k. 
'he Mmmt 
FIXTURES. 
BENCH SHOWS. 
Dec. 8.~Rhode Island Poultry Association's show, Pawtuxet B I 
Nov. 2-3 — MetropoliUa Kennel Club's second annual show, Brook- 
lyn, N. Y. 
FIELD TRIALS. 
Oct. 25.— National Beagle Club ot America's eighth annual trials 
Hempstead, L I ' 
Oct. ^5.— Brunswick Fur Clnb's ninth annual trials, Barre, Mass 
Nov. 1.— Dixie Red Fox Club's third annual meet. Waverly, Miss 
Nov. l.—Nevv England Beagle Club's trials, Oxford, Mass. 
Nov. 2.— Monongahela Valley Game and Fish Protective Associ- 
ation's trials, Greene county. Pa. 
Nov. J ^Haosier Beagle Club's inaugural trials, Indiana. 
Nov 8 —Missouri and Illinois Fox Hunters' Club's ninth annual 
meet, Salem, Mo. 
Nov. 8.-aaion Field Trials Club's trials, Carlisle, Ind. 
Nov. 9.— Central Beagle Club's trials. Rice's Landing, Pa 
Nov. 9.— Peninsular Field Trial Club's trials, Leamington, Ont 
Nov. 10 — Western Massachusetts Fox Club's meet, WestQeid Mass 
Nov. 15 —National Fox Hunters' Association's fourth annual trlais' 
Cynthiana, Ky. ' 
Nov. 15.— E. F. T. Club's trials, Newton, N. C. 
Nov. 16.— International Field Trials Club's eighth annual' trials 
Chatham, Ont. ' ' . 
Nov. 82.— U. S. F. T. Club's autumn trials, Newton, N. C. 
Dec. 6.— Texas Fox-Hunters' Association's meet, Hhison SprinKS. 
Tex. ' 
trials, Madison, 
Jan. 10.— U. S. F. T Club's winter trials. West Point, Miss. 
Jan. 17.— Continental F. T. Club's trials, Netv Albany, Miss. 
Jan. 24 -Pacific Coast Field Trial Club s trials, Bakersfleld Cal 
Jan. 2i.— Union Field Trials Club's trials, Tupelo, Miss 
Feb. 7.— Alabama Field Trial Club's second annual trie 
Ala. 
"SPORT" FROM THE STANDPOINT OF 
HUMANITY. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
May 1 point out to Mr, Louis Benson Akin (vide your 
issue of Oct. 9) that in deprecating the pleasure men derive 
from the killing of game, or the "fun" of seeing a pack of 
hounds, fight, chase, catch, fight or kill a wild animal, he 
proceeds entirely on sentimental grounds (I use the word in 
no invidious sense) and ignores practical observations and 
indisputable facts. Thus, I do not see how any killing of 
any animal, on any but strictly utilitarian grounds, can be 
anything but cruel, considefed entirely in the abstract, and 
it should follow that any enjoying of any such killing can 
be nothing but an aggravation of cruelty. But strictly 
abstract considerations never have, and never will, govern 
society ; compensations, or call them either contradictions or 
compromises if you prefer, invariably play most important 
parts, and logic stands a poor chance when human nature 
is arrayed against it. 
Now, surely Mr. Akin knows many most humane men 
who are ardent sportsmen. I know men so tender-hearted 
that they will walk up a steep hill on a very hot day to spare 
the horse, who delight in "going out shooting." There is 
no man in America ihat I honor more for his exalted human- 
ity than the Hon. Felix R. Brunot, a man who stayed in the 
extreme front at G-aines's Mills caring for the wounded, 
risking his life a hundred times, and who was finally taken 
prisoner while in pursuit of his duty, and who subsequently 
vent ired into the camp of Capt. Jack (just after that scoun- 
drel had murdered Gen. Canby) in his attempt to save the 
Modoc tribe from extinction by the United States forces. 
Such a man must be humane, there is no possibility of be- 
lieving him anything else. Yet he was a most devoted 
sportsman, and lost his health (which has now resulted in 
his mental decay) in pursuit of "sport." There is no race 
on earth more humane than the Engliih, yet they are the 
most ardent of sportsmen. Now, it is out ol the question to 
say that the delights of such men are cruel. Logic may say 
so, abstractions may prove it; but their lives rise superior to 
mountains of other proofs. 
And to be more specific, there certainly is "fun" (meaning 
enjoyment) in witnessing the gallant fight between a bob cat 
(wildcats we call them) and a pack of hounds. I have seen 
