FOREST AND STREA|^. 
ANGLING NOTES; 
^^^^^^^ 
Scientific Informatioo. 
A FRifiND that I have never seen in my life, a news- 
paper writer himself, acquired the habit a few years ago 
of sending me newspapers and newspaper clippings con- 
taining matter relating to iish and fishing. This little 
attention was continued for more than a year before there 
was even an exchange of letters, but with considerable 
regularity there came to me the bundle of newspapers and 
clippings with the blue penciled "F. M. W." or "Frank M. 
Woole}'" on the margin. His own contributions to the 
press would be indicated, but anything that had a fish 
flavor he considered might be of interest to me, and I 
have received all sorts and kinds of fish stories. In some 
instances . I have recognized my own work, dressed over 
to suit the publication in which it appeared, or to conceal 
the source from which it was borrowed without credit. 
One evening last week I received a package in the familiar 
handw^riting on the wrapper in blue pencil, and 
glanced over the contents, but found nothing of interest 
to me; and put them in the waste basket. The next morn- 
ing the maid happened to single out one of the sheets, be- 
cause, perhaps, it bore more pencil marks than the 
others, and asked if I meant to throw it away. It related 
to exchanging fish with Europe, and the item had b«en 
copied from the Scientific x\merican, and I read it more 
carefully and preserved it simply because it came from 
a paper of the standing of the Scientific American and 
contained such gross misinformation. The statements 
seem to have passed unchallenged, as the article is copied 
apparently in its entirety, without comment, but if Forest 
atnTd Stream should go so wide of the truth in an article 
on .shooting, fishing, 3'achting or any other subject in its 
particular field it would be commented upon without 
gloves. Of course. Forest and Stream could not make 
such a stupendous blunder, and give absolutely false in- 
formation, and one naturally looks to the Scientific 
American for. facts, not fables. 
American Fish in France. 
The article opens in this wise: 
"Many tourists who will attend the Paris Exposition 
next summer need not be surprised to find on the bills of 
fare of the leading European hotels such items as 'Amer- 
ican black bass,' 'American salmon,' or 'American mas- 
calonge.' It should not be hastily concluded that these 
items are put there for deceptive purposes, or that they 
refer to canned or dressed American fish. They are in 
reality true statements of facts, and indicate the growth 
of our fishing interests under the wise and progressive 
supervision of the United Statfes Fish Commission. Dur- 
ing the past summer American fish fresh from the water 
appeared on the tables of European hotels devoted 
specially to catering to American tourists. In order to 
appreciate the full meaning of this, it is necessary to 
glance at a feature of the work planned years ago by the 
Fish Commission." 
Reduced to fewer words, this feature of the work of the 
Commission consisted of scientific study and experiment 
and investigation of food plants of inland waters, causes 
of famine and years of plenty in the fish supply, the trans- 
planting of young fish fry to waters far removed from 
their natural habitat. "This experiment proved of great 
commercial value to the country. Inland waters that were 
almost destitute of fish are now teeming with millions of 
artificially propagated fry. In some of the new waters 
they have been transplanted to, the food fishes have been 
found to thrive better than in the streams where they were 
found. The extension of this work to foreign waters was 
anticipated by the Fish Commission years ago purely as 
a scientific test. Consequently, when they received in- 
timations from leading ichthyologists abroad that an ex- 
change of native fry would be agreeable, preparations 
were immediately made to send out fish to European 
countries." 
Ichthyologists and fish breeders, fry and food fish are a 
little mixed in that paragraph, and it would seem that the 
only fish tran-splanted were stream fish. Ichthyologists as 
a rule are not interested in the transplanting of fish fry, 
and exchanges with foreign Governments, fish breeders 
and acclimatization societies are made in the form of im- 
pregnated ova, but that is a minor matter. To continue : 
Landlocked Salmon in Scotland. 
"The first experiment was made in Scotland with our 
landlocked salmon. The iriland waters of Scotland pre- 
sented conditions somewhat similar to those in which 
our salmon loved to disport, and besides, there was a 
species of Scotch salmon native to the streams and lakes 
of that land. Young fry of our landlocked salmon were 
shipped to Scotland some ten years ago, and in that time 
thej' have multiplied rapidly, much to the detriment of the 
Scotch salmon. The American salmon proved larger and 
stronger than their native cousins, and the Scotch salmon 
is almost threatened with extinction bj^ the growing 
rapacity and multiplication of the American landlocked 
.salmon.. On the whole, however, this is. not to be re- 
gretted,' for the American species furnish more and better 
food than the Scotch salmon. ' 
I have a friend who has the habit of relating jokes in 
his letters, and at the end of them he writes, "Ha! ha!" 
to indicate that the reader must laugh, but that last para- 
graph requires no "Ha ! ha !" 
If the Scientific American pays good money for such rot 
as I have quoted, it pays for a gold brick of huge 
dimensions. Any boy who has read Forest and Stream 
for a year will probably know that Scotch salmon, Irish 
.salmon, Welsh salmon, English salmon, Canadian salmon 
and American salmon (if the quoted writer means the 
United States), the few that there are,, are one and the 
.same species, and that the landlocked salmon is also the 
same fish that resides in fresh water instead of going 
down to the sea on occasions. Scotch anglers will receive 
a shock if they should find out what the quotation cliarges. 
As the. "Scotch .salmon" grow to over 7olbs., and the 
largest landlocked salmon on record weighed under 30lbs,, 
the scientific writer is a little bit off in his comparison of 
size of thejtwo fish, and as one fish holds to the fresh 
watei- and the other is anadromous, tlie war of extinction 
must have been carried on in the columns of some scientific 
paper led astray for the moment. It is barely possible 
that at some time a few landlocked salmon eggs were sent 
to Scotland, but there is no record of the exchange that 
I can find in the Government reports, and certainly there 
is no mention in foreign exchanges of the presence of 
the fish in any European waters except where they are 
native — in .Sweden. 
But the best of this remarkable article is yet to come — • 
best in that it is more outrageously incorrect than what I 
have referred to : 
Black Bass in France. 
"A shipment of American black bass fry was made to 
France for stoclcing the rivers and streams, and, like the 
American salmon in Scotch waters, they have flourished so 
marvelously that to-day they are quite common articles of 
diet at the French hotels and restaurants. The French 
streams, since the introduction of the American bass, have 
doubled in their productive value, and there is every 
reason for the French anglers to be grateful to our 
American Fish Commission for stocking tlieir waters with 
a new species of food fish, The French streams were 
practically deserted when the fry were introduced, and 
they had little difficulty in taking quick and complete 
possession of the water.s," 
Had they been introduced there is no question, if their 
health, hccd remained good, about their taking quick and 
complete possessi6n if they had wanted it. 
The most determined efforts to introduce the black bass 
abroad were made in England and Germany. The Mar- 
quis of Exeter and Mr. R. B. Marston took over several 
shipments of adult black bass to England, and Count von 
dem Borne did the same for Germany, but I can find no 
record of black bass going to France. Count von dem 
Borne wrote me that he sent black bass to France, but 
to-day one hears nothing of the fish in England or 
Germany, and Mr. Marston admits that his experiment 
was a failure, and they do not want the bass over 
there, even if each fish is delivered with a muzzle over its 
mouth, for they are afraid of it. 
But to resume the extracts from this most remarkable 
article with surprises in every paragraph: 
Mascaiong^e in Germany. 
"Other varieties of fish have been shipped to France and 
other countries as scientific experiments. The Amer- 
ican rock bass has been introduced in several English 
streams, and the American brook trout is to-day in 
flourishing condition in the clear, cold streams of Russia 
and other northern countries of Europe." (As a real fact, 
not an imaginary one such as our friend has been treat- 
ing us to, the American brook trout can be found in 
Europe, if it is planted in a pond with a fence around it, 
but when planted in a stream it disappears, never to re- 
turn, so I have my doubts as to those cold, clear streams 
of Russia being able to hold the fish when the bars are 
down.) "The waters of Switzerland abound with many 
of our cornmon river and brook fish, which make the 
angling there superior to anything in the past. It is even 
reported" (he is getting cautious at the end of -his 
article) "that the fine American mascalonge has found a 
satisfactory home in the Rhine and the Danube." 
That is a fitting climax to his American fishes intro- 
duced into European waters. The Fisheries, Game and 
Forest Commission of New York is the only commission 
that has practiced the cultivation of the mascalonge, and 
I happen to know that the eggs of this fish have never been 
sent to Germany from that Commission. 
Of the various fi.shes I procured to send to Count von 
dem Borne at his request, I was satisfied that he had ex- 
hausted the list when he a.sked me to send liim some dog- 
fish (Amia), but never in his wildest flights of fancy over 
the introduction of American fishes into the waters of 
Germany did he even remotely refer to taking the mas- 
calonge across the sea. 
> Fish from. South America. 
One more extract and I will have finished with this 
remarkable production. Referring to an exchange of 
fishes with foreign countries and the fishes that have been 
brought to this country, it says : "The Scotch salmon has 
been tried here, but holds out little promise of success in 
waters where the American salmon lives. There is reason 
to believe that we will be more benefited by introducing 
the young fry of South American fish in our Northern 
waters than any that can be brought from Europe. The 
condition of ichthyology in the countries south of us, how- 
ever, is such that it is difficult to secure the fry without 
sending an expedition after them." 
Can any one tell what ichthyology in the countries south 
of us has got to do with the introduction of fish, and the 
kinds of fish it is proposed to introduce from South 
America? At the first meeting of the Fishcultural Asso- 
ciation Governor Horatio Seymour thought we might in- 
troduce fish from China, but the Scientific American man 
could have given Governor Seymour cards and spades and 
a beating when it came to introducing foreign fish and 
sending them abroad. 
Never in my life have I seen what purported to be a 
serious article upon the subject of fish or fishing that was 
so crammed full of ignorance and misinformation as this 
scientific article. If it had been signed A. Ward, I could 
have understood that it was meant for humor. 
In a recent book review I read : • "There can surely be 
no lover of good literature who does not take delight jn a 
well written book on angling ; a treatise on that exquisite 
art that is at once a school of philosophy and a whole sys- 
tem of education, and the closer recreation of the con- 
templative man." 
The reviewer possibly did not know that some articles, 
akin to the subject of" angling, that are intended to be 
educational, are more laughable than any comic opera 
ever placed on the stage in any land. If I possessed com- 
plete knowledge of the subject of "exchanging fish with 
Europe" and had set about writing an article to show 
how inaccurate I could make it, I doubt if I would suc- 
ceed as completely as the writer in the Scientific Amer- 
ican has -succeeded in an article supposed to give facts. 
There is one peculiarity about his article, or several, that 
shows his unfamiliarity with his subject. x\ll the fi.sh 
planted, exchanged or wirh which, tbe waters teem, are 
fry, and never eggs or fish older than fry, 'The ex- 
changes seem to have been made, with ichthyolpgiists, i^nd 
his fish are always stream fish, from brooks or rivers— 
never from lakes or ponds. 
Pond-Reared Sahnon in France. 
After all is said, visitors to Paris may eat salmon the 
parent stock of which came from the United States, but 
they will not be landlocked salmon caught in wild waters 
in Scotland, but Pacific salmon reared in ponds in France. 
Dr. Jousset de Bellesone, Director of Fishculture of Paris, 
has reared at the Trocadero Aquarium quinnat salmon, 
rainbow trout and our native brook trout. The Pacific 
salmoir have been reared for five generations in fresh 
water by a system of pond culture not practiced in this 
country. I have used considerable space to dissect the mis- 
leading article, chiefly because of the source from which 
it was given to a confiding public, and also because the 
fishcultural work of to-day does not need to be bolstered 
up by misstatements of what it has accomplished to 
show that it is of vast benefit to mankind in increasing 
and preserving the food supply. * 
Our writer says : "The Commission may some day add 
to our fish diet some new species that will prove of en- 
during value." This is said as if the Commission manu- 
factured new species out of sawdust and leather, as dolls 
are made, and deserves to be set alongside of the state- 
ment that the Commission is making a boneless shad by 
crossing the shad with the jellyfish. This latter state- 
ment was accepted as gospel by the public prints a few 
years ago, and was no more ridiculous than the asser- 
tions I have quoted. 
Commercial. 
To-day for luncheon I ate fresh salmon that came from 
the Pacific coast in a refrigerator car, and was retailed 
within fifty miles of Albany at 20 cents per pound when 
cut into steaks, and the whole fish could have been bought 
at a less price. The fish was not equal to Atlantic sal- 
mon from Canada in season, but it was in good condi- 
tion, and of good flavor, and well worth 20 cents per 
pound. This information, which is reliable and can be 
verified in many Eastern fish markets, is worth more 
than all the alleged information in the article from which 
I c[uoted in the previous note, and shows the strides made 
in this country in fish propagation and fish tran.sportation 
to furnish fish food at a reasonable price. 
Sport. 
On a recent journey over the N. Y., O. and W. Ry. I 
met the auditor of the road, and he asked me about con- 
structing rearing ponds for trout fry, as the road proposes 
to construct such ponds in which to rear the fry obtained 
from the State until they are fingerlings, eight months 
old, or yearlings, before planting them in the public waters 
of the region through which the road runs. This road has 
always assisted the State authorities in distributing fish 
by hauling the State fish car and men free, and has taken 
a lively interest in planting fish in the waters of Sullivan 
and Delaware counties. The officers realize that the State 
cannot rear all their fry to the age of yearlings, and 
also that yearlings produce better results when planted. 
Instead of finding fault with the State because the State 
hatcheries do not furnish water for rearing fish, the officers 
will apply for fry and rear them at their own expense, and 
thus turn them into public waters to furnish sport for 
the general public, and therefore I consider this railway a 
public benefactor, and mention the fact here that other 
railroads may follow the good example. 
Making a Trotut Pond. 
Scarcely a year passes that I do not have half a dozen 
letters, more or less, in regard to making a trout pond by 
damming a stream, and if I had made a collection of such 
letters received, say during the past ten years, I doubt if 
any two of them would be alike. As a rule the first thing 
is to find out what the inquirer really has to start with, 
for the letters tell me notliing to base an opinion upon 
that is good for anything, and at best my reply is only an 
opinion about something I have never seen. After an 
exchange of letters, wherein I become the questioner, I 
offer such suggestions as appear to me to cover the case. 
This month I received a letter on this subject which 
was quite out of the rtsual, for it related the existing 
conditions so that one could frame an intelligent reply, and 
I give it here, premising that it is written by one of the 
officers of the Review of Reviews : 
"The editor of Forest and Stream has told me that 
you might possibly give me some information concerning 
tiic stocking of a particular stream with trout. This 
stream is the old Horseneck Brook, running by Green- 
wich, Conn. I have built a house on a hill overlooking 
it, and put a dam at the mouth of a deep, wooded glen, 
almost a ravine, which will back the water up 800 or 
i,oooft., making the water 5 or 6ft. deep, and a pond not 
over 75 or looft. wide anywhere. The brook flows over a 
very stony bottom, and is very much shaded at the bottom 
of the glen. 
"It never runs dry, as there are two large lakes at its 
source. I would own about 1,500 to 2,000ft. of the 
stream, and would want to screen it at the dam and my 
upper boundary. The fall is rather rapid, and the bed of 
the stream is full of big boulders. I am told that the 
brook used to be a celebrated trout stream. I am un- 
decided about going to the expense of putting in five or 
ten thousand yearling trout in the pond made by the 
dam, and would like to ask if you could, from these 
meager details, give me any advice on that score, and 
what time of the vear you would advise as the best to put 
trout in. I think the temperature of the brook never 
goes above 65 degrees ; probably not above 60 degrees." 
Instead of being meager, the details are quite com- 
plete, judging from queries that usually come to me. The 
correct temperature for trout ; a shaded stream where the 
fish can hide; sufficient depth of cool water; vigorous 
water that is well aerated from flowing over boulders in a 
rapidly descending stream ; flow of water sufficient to re- 
new the volume in the pond before it becomes dead--in 
fact about everything necessary to know, except that im- 
portant item, food for the trout. Having once been a trout 
stream, it is fair to suppose that the water contains a 
certain' amount of fish food, but to make sure, fresh-water 
shrimp should be planted in the fall, and if the pond con-^ 
tain.s no cover for the fish, build "hides" for them of 
rotigh board.s, L e , :i tElWe with ghort h$s anchored to 
1 
