488 
had been passed that forbade the taking of trout under 
6 inches in length. George Bennett knew the law well 
enough, and was careful to obey it, but became separated 
from his companion on the stream, and when he re- 
joined him for luncheon, and the trout were exhibited 
and counted, the Attorney-General had a good sprinkling 
of under legal limit trout, for it was apparent that the 
chief law officer of the State kiavv nothing of the 6- 
inch law, and George did not tlcein it necessary to in- 
form him, but thereafter creeled trout as they came to 
him without regard to their length. 
Since I first fished the waters in the. region of Thir- 
teenth Pond the fishing has gone from bad to worse, until 
there was practically no fishing worth the journey to it, 
and then under artificial cultivation, planting of trout and 
a better observance of the fish laws, it has improved 
until fair to good trout fishing may be found; but if the 
artificial hatching of trout had not come to the rescue 
manj' of the Adirondack Avaters would to-day be barren 
of trout, or practically so. 
Landlocked Salmon. 
The State fish car went to Lake George last week to 
plant a car load of yearling lake trout and landlocked 
salmon, and I went with it. The work of stocking this 
lake with landlocked salmon was begun in 1894, before 
the creation of the Fisheries, Gan\e and Forest Com- 
mission, when fingerlings were furnished by the United 
State Fish Commission, and this has been continued 
ever since. The plant of 2,400 yearlings made last week 
was the first from eggs hatched and reared by the present 
Forest, Fish and Game Commission, and the plantings 
of the species will be concentrated in this lake until tlic 
fish are established in sufficient numbers for the State 
to draw upon them to stock other suitable State waters. 
It is far better to do this than to distribute the fish in 
small lakes, where it will take some time to determine 
the question of the suitability of the waters for the fish. 
It has already been proven that Lake George is most 
favorable for the salmon, and it is expected that the 
State may Aery soon begin taking eggs from the fish 
that have been grown there. While at Lake George 
Capt. Lee Harris gave me a memorandum of twelve 
salmon caught this season, the largest weighing it 
pounds, and the next 10 pounds. They have been seen 
to run up the streams where they were planted and 
which are closed by law^ to all fishing for the purpose of 
permitting the salmon to spawn unmolested and give the 
young an opportunity' to grow to two years of age before 
descending to the lake. 
Pioneer Fish Breeders. 
One of the replies which came to me in response to 
to Dr. Seligman's queries about fish monsters was from 
Gen. Martin Schenck, formerly State Engineer and 
Surveyor of New York. Though 1 had known him for 
a number of years, and talked fish and fishing with him, 
I was unaware that he was one of the pioneers in hatch- 
ing fish artificially, and therefore I asked him about his 
early life in this field, and in reply he sends me the follow- 
ing interesting letter: 
"I began operations in a small way in 1873, and then 
established the Kenandrach trout ponds and hatchery 
on Kenandrach Creek, near the south line of the town 
of Palatine, four miles east of Palatine Bridges, on the 
NeV York Central. My ponds were supplied from a 
large spring, known as the Schenck Cold Spring, and my 
first ventirre in taking ova was from native trout taken 
by me and a few friends from the Loucks, Allen and 
Plank creeks, near the south line of Fulton county, and 
some were purchased of local fishermen. 
'T trust vou will not criticise this method of getting 
stock. Please remember the law then permitted it, and 
all the fish except those purchased were caught in a 
decent and sportsmanUke manner; possibly those pur- 
chased also were. - , , c 
"L had tnree ponds of fingerlmgs, that tor adult trout ot 
good size, and a hatchery with a capacity of 200,000 ova. 
but did not take that number of eggs the first year or 
two. Used gravel in the hatching troughs the first 
year; after that used galvanized wire ttays, fertilized ova 
by the dry method, and was reasonably successful for a 
beginner. " 
°For text books I had Seth Green on "Trout Culture" 
and Stone's "Domesticated Trout." I also received con- 
siderable verbal information from Fred Mather, Seth 
Green and Dr. Slack. Fred Mather at tliat time wrote 
tor an agricultural paper (a monthly) on the subject of 
fishcuhure, but I cannot for the life of me recall the 
name of the paper, notwithstanding I culled from it 
many a valuable hint on fish breeding. 
'T was something of a pioneer m the fish breeding 
line in Central New York, although the Richland Station 
hatchery, of which you speak in your letter, was running- 
then. , , , . T- 1 
"At that time Seth Green was at Caledonia, bred 
Mather at Honeove Falls, Dr. J. H. Slack at Troutdale 
Ponds, near Bloomingdale, N. J., Mr. Ainsworth m 
Livingston county, and Stone & Hooper (Livingston 
Stone senior partner) were running the Cold Spring 
ponds at Charleston, N. H. The American Fishcul- 
tural Association, with Geo. Shepard Page, president, 
was then in its glorv, and every man who owned a horse 
pond, a hog wallow or frog puddle was going to raise 
salmon and get rich in a week. A few did not get very 
wealthy. 
Most of the persons named have passed on to the 
Great Beyond: all were worthy disciples of the gentle 
craft, and let us hope they find plenty of occupation for 
rod and reel over there. 
•T had comparatively few monsters among the fry 
hatched from ova taken from our native trout, nor do 
I think that anv unusual number were hatched from the 
fish raised from the Stone & Hooper eggs mentioned in 
my recent letter to you, although a very large number, 
the three-headed one among the number, were hatched 
from the lot purchased from them in 1875. I preserved 
the triple-header for some time, but it finally became a 
Peshy mass in the alcohol, and was thrown away. Plad 
amateur ■ photography then been one of my accomplish- 
ments I might now have a picture of it. I do not recall 
ever having seen more than one monster with one body 
fin4 two tails, although thos? with hY9 fro4'es and one 
FOREST AND ^ STREAM. 
tails were of frequent occurrence, and the Siamese twins 
soon were quite common. 
"My iish breeding experience ended when my pro- 
fessional duties became so exacting as to require all my 
time, much of it away from home, and in 1879 I disposed 
of some of the stock, and with the balance stocked a 
few brooks in the vicinity of the ponds. 
"The pond and hatchery have jiassed out of existence, 
and I understand that the county of Montgomery has 
purchased the property on which they were located for 
a county alms house farm, and thus endeth the Kenan- 
drach ponds and this letter/' 
The reference to Mr. Ainswortli in Gen. Schenck's 
letter reminds me that he is perhaps the pioneer fish 
breeder in this .State, and in some future angling note 
I will publish a letter which he wrote me years ago in 
which he tells of his early experiments and which shows 
that lie operated on indejiendcnt lines, never having 
heard of Reney and Gehin, whose experiments in Paris 
inspired Dr. Garlick to become the father of fishculture 
in this countr3^ 
It was quite b}- chance that my own thoughts were 
turned to practical fishculture by artificial processes, for 
I had never heard of T-ivingston Stone until on a visit 
to a younger brother in college I was forced to spend the 
night at Bellows Falls, Vt., and there heard of a fish 
establishment at Charleston, N. IL, and the next day 
1 drove to it and later went to the Richland hatchery in 
New York to learn how the hatching was done in all 
its details, but in those days only members of the salmon 
family, chiefl\' brook trout, were hatched. How this busi- 
ness has grown since that time! At this moment there 
is before me a report showing that in New York State 
alone there were over 60,000,000 fish of dififercnl kinds 
planted in one month 
New York Commissior, 
The work of the Forest. Fish and Game Commis- 
sion has been most encouraging ihis year. The pike- 
l>eich work at the Constantin hatchery on Oneida Lake 
is closed, and 50,700,000 young fish were hatched and 
planted/ in State waters. The Commission has granted 
applications for pike-perch only for Avaters that already 
contain them, or waters that once contained them, and 
many applications for small waters, -where it was be- 
lieved the fish would not thrive, have been rejected. 
The United States Fish Commission was so successful 
in taking shad eggs on the Delaware that five car loads 
of fry, 10,300,000, Avere granted to the State Commis- 
sion and Avere planted in the Hudson. One car load of 
shad fry was planted at Glens Falls, fifty miles above 
tide water, at Troy, as previous experiments in this 
direction have proven that the shad grow rapidly in the 
purer water of the upper river, and escape their natural 
enemies in a greater degree than in tide water. The shad 
work at Catskill, Avhere the State Commission has a 
hatchery, is in progress, and about 30,000,000 eggs have 
been taken. The Commission is also taking shad eggs 
at Smithtown, L. I». from the shad that run up the 
Ncssaquoge River, so that altogether more fry will be 
planted this season than in any previous year. 
The mascalonge work at Chautauqua Lake resulted in 
taking about the same number of eggs as last year, some- 
thing over 6,000,000, and above 65 per cent, of the eggs 
were hatched and planted. This, too, is a fish for 
which many applications are made to be planted in 
waters that are wholly unsuitable, for the . Commission 
will not grant applications for this fish to be planted in 
waters in Avhich they do not at present exist. Many 
small mascalonge were taken in the State nets this year, 
showing that the work of previous years is bearing fruit. 
It is the policy of the Commission to return to the 
waters from which eggs are taken more than a fair share 
of the fry hatched from the eggs, and in pursuance of 
this policy over 15,000,000 pike-perch Avere planted in 
Oneida Lake, and OA'er 3,000,000 of mascalonge in Chau- 
tauqua Lake. The Commission Avill hereafter increase 
the stock of breeding brook trout at the various sta- 
tions, and decrease the stock of breeding brown, rainbow 
and red-throat trout, for there is a greater demand for 
the native brook trout than for the European or Pacific 
coast species that have been already introduced into 
State Avaters. 
The applications for black bass seem to swell in num- 
bers rather than decrease. The total number of black 
bass asked for in the applications this year has not been 
given out by the Commission, but at their last meeting 
the Commission adopted a recommendation made by 
the State Fishculturist that no small-mouth black bass 
be distributed this season. The present laAV does not pro- 
tect the fish during their breeding season, and it is most 
difficult to procure the fish for transplanting. There is 
less difticulty in procuring the iry of the large-mouth 
black bass, and this species Avill be distributed so far as 
possible to those Avho ask for them, or who will change 
their applications for small-mouth black bass- to read 
large-mouth black bass. 
A. N. Cheney. 
The African Tiger Fish* 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I Avas much interested in the article on "The African 
Tiger Fish," in the issue of Forest and Stream for June 
2 (p. 433). Your readers may be pleased to knoAV Avhat 
the fish is. It belongs to a group of Avhich no representa- 
tives occur in Europe or the L^nited States proper — that is. 
the family of characinids. Numerous species occur in the 
waters of Africa as well as tropical America, and a single 
species ' enters the southernmost streams of Texas. The 
family is most nearly related to that of the carps, al- 
though almost all have an adipose fin like the salmonids. 
The so-called tiger fish is member of a genus peculiar to 
.A.frica {Hydrocyon) and its longest known species is a 
fish of the Nile called by the Arabs kelb el bahr, or kelb el 
nioyeh, which may be translated river or Avater dog. Five 
species occur in A'arious parts of Central Africa, They are 
all large fishes of a fusiform or salmon-like shape, but 
more slender, and the very large and pointed teeth fit in 
grooves outside the jaws. The caudal fin is deeply 
notched, and its lobes spread out. Tavo new species have 
been described lately (De^etrib^r, 1898) from the Congo 
Basin. ' Thko, Git.t., 
Washington, Jun§ 4, 
[June 23, 1900. 
When the Bluefish Bite* 
Fire Island, June 13.— "Too airly for bluefish? It's 
never too airly for 'em, if ye know where to find 'em." 
So spoke Captain Joe Sinclair, Avhose reputation for find- 
ing the Avary and uncertain pirates of the salt seas had in- 
duced us to employ him to guide us to the best fishing 
grounds, and incidentally to assure us of a good catch. 
"Bluefish is like all other fish," he contmued, as he 
loosened the sheet rope of the sloop Emma and swung 
her out into the channel before a spanking breeze. "They 
have their fav'rite hidin' places, an' ye might fish around 
'em all day an' not get a bite. What ye wants to do is 
to drop your squid plum into the school. Then they do 
the rest." 
That, incidentally, we thought might be the secret of all 
fishing, but Ave did not say so, and permitted the Captain to 
enjoy the full effect of his erudition in fish lore. Across 
the bay from Babylon to Fire Island is a good tAvo hours' 
sail when you have a fair breeze, but we made it in much 
less than that time, because we had something more than 
a fair breeze. We thought it was a two-reet breeze, but 
out salt-Avater navigator sniffed at the suggestion and 
replied : 
^ ■' "t ain't nothin' of a breeze — ^jest a little baby breeze. 
The whitecaps ain't hardly formed on the channel yet." 
Before we reached Fire Island Inlet, however, the 
Avhitecaps had certainly formed, and they seemed to make 
an endless line of foam wherever the tide eddied and met in 
little Avhirlpools. There was a perceptible swell on the 
inlet, too, which Avas not altogether agreeable to some of 
the party, but nobody dared confess such feelings. We 
had all told our tale of bluefishing in "rough waters before, 
and it hardly seemed consistent to indulge in any remarks 
about the unusual rolling and rocking of the boat. So 
wc all remained quiet, and later, under orders from our 
guide, hauled out the lines and flung the squids into the 
Avater. 
there is 110 plcasanter fishing than trolling for bluefish 
if you have the luck of finding them. It goes far ahead 
of "chumming," for you have the delight of the sail as 
well, and there is ahvays the brisk excitement produced 
by the danger of somebody being knocked overboard 
Avhen the boom SAvings around just as a fish is being 
landed. For some unknoAvn and occult reason an ordi- 
narily sane and level-headed man loses his head complete- 
ly wnen in the act of hautmg a big bluefish in, and if he 
doesn't jump into the water after him he is very apt to 
catch the boom if a puff of wind or a heavy waA^e should 
swing it over iri the nick of time. The Avisest and 
most sedate business and professional man dances a 
regular hornpipe on the stern of the boat when he feels a 
sharp bite on his squid, and then after hauling in a hun- 
dred feet of line finds that ihe gamy creature will flop off 
if he is not quick and active in pulling. If it is a big one 
everybody adds to the man's excitement hy shouting, "Pull 
him in !■ Quick, or you'll lose him ! There he goes ! No, 
you've got him jet! Keep him away from the boat! 
Keep him away from the boat !" 
Such shouts and directions are enough to disconcert 
almost any except a professional, and many a man has 
come Avithin an ace of losing his Avits entirely when in the 
act of landing a 6-pound bluefish. It was because of 
this pandemonium that our first fish escaped. The lucky 
fisherman Avho got the bite on his line was unused to the 
sport, and instead of devoting his time to the fish, he 
attempted to follow the various orders shouted at him. 
After five minutes of the hardest work in the AA'^orld, his 
fish Avent plump into the Avater, and Avhile mopping his 
broAV he talked back angrily to his would-be advisers : 
"W^hat for you tell me such lies? You say pull him in 
quick; then you say he's gone, an' I give up. Then 
you say he ain't gone, an' tell me pull again, I pull away, 
an' you shout keep him away from the boat. Then I 
throAV the line away from the boat, an' you say pull again, 
pull again. How I know Avhat to do? I know. The 
next time I'll do jest as I blank please. See?" 
Our shouts of laughter did not help to mollify our 
Dutch friend, but Captain Sinclair poured oil on the 
troubled waters by remarking: "Ye don't want to mind 
wdiat anybody says. Jest pull aAvay, an' keep your line as 
far from the boat's side as possible. If the critter gets 
under the boat he's apt to turn over and flop off the hook. 
Ye must jest fight \A'ith him alone, an' don't pay no 
attention to the others." 
"That's jest it, Captain ; don't pay no attention to none 
of them. They jest tell lies, because, I think, they're 
jealous of my luck." 
We did not respond to this outburst of confidence, for 
just then we struck it rich. The Captain had indeed led 
us to the early summer hiding place of the bluefish. One 
hook after another Avas caught and swallowed, and in 
a short time Ave were hauling five lines hand over hand. The 
fish Avere of good size, and Ave flung the hooks over again 
and pulled in more almost as fast as we could work. Back 
and forth through the school we sailed. e\'erybody getting 
excited except the Captain. He had enough to do in 
keeping the sloop going properly, for the sea Avas heavy 
and the Avind a stiff' ocean breeze. 
Suddenly our lines all slackened except that of our 
Dutch friend, Avho was tugging aAvaj^ Avith all his might. 
He stood on the. stern deck, and Avhat Avith the rolling of 
the boat and his exertions to land his fish he seemed 
liable any minute to tumble overboard. 
"Don't fall overboard there !" somebody shouted in real 
concern. 
"Golly! I got a big one," grunted the man, tugging 
aAvay at his line. 
"Want any help?" asked one of the party, starting to- 
Avard him. 
"No, no ; this is mine — mine ! Go 'Avay, an' let wie land 
him. He's a big one 
So Ave all Avatched him fight fiercely with his catch, for 
in the interval all of our lines seemed slack and free from 
any indications of a bite. We all began to speculate upon 
what our friend Avas hauling in, some predicting it was a 
huge catfish, and others an eel, and one sugsested a young 
shark. Our curiosity was soon to be gratified, for more 
than half the man's line Avas alreadv in. and we began to 
peer into the blue water to catch a glimpse of the monster. 
Our eyes Avere thus diA^erted from the fisherman to 
the fish, ^vhen the boat gave an unusual roll, and there 
was a UHlffled grunt, followed by a lotid splasli, Instantly 
