OcT; 13, i9oo: J 
FOREST_AND_STREAM. 
291 
lings are selected for tHis purpose. Each year more than 
will be required ' for breeding fish are selected and set 
apart in a race or pond by themselves. At breeding times 
in the second autumn these fish are gone over carefully and 
the number desired for breeding are finally selected and 
the balance sent out on applications. Eggs from the 
breeding fish are interchanged among the hatching stations 
and fresh blood brought m by obtaining eggs from wild 
waters, and also by the purchase of eggs from trout from 
other States, which are also distributed around the diff'er- 
ent stations to keep up a continual out cross with selected 
fish. ^ 
The State of New York is disposing of its big breeding 
trout of dift'erent species at the various hatcheries, and 
will breed only from two and three year old fish — always 
selecting the strongest fish for the purpose to obtain a 
race of vigorous, healthy trout. The big trout serve 
chiefly for show purposes, and the same bulk of smaller 
trout will produce more and stronger eggs. 
"Pickerel." 
In New York State the pike, Lucius lucvus, is almost 
universally called pickerel, although some concede so 
much as to call it great northern pike. If the word pike 
alone is used, it generally means the pike-perch or wall- 
eyed pike. I have tried over and over to separate the pike, 
the pickerel and the pike-perch by describing them in this 
paper, but have concluded that I will not succeed until 
all the fishermen in the State become subscribers for 
Forest and Stream and read its "iVngling Notes." The 
reason why I refer again to the "pickerel" is that I re- 
cently looked over a lot of fish applications made to the 
Forest, Fish and Game Commission in which "pickerel" 
were asked for. and with one exception I concluded that 
the applicant really wished the pike. The State docs not 
propagate any of the pike familj'- but the mascalonge, but 
it does propagate the pike-perch, and it has distributed the 
pike and the pcikerel on occasions, but always adult fish. 
Great care is exercised when pike or pickerel are dis- 
tributed in Satte waters to place them only where they 
will do no harm to other fish, and that means that unless 
the pike or pickerel arc already in the water the State 
will not as a rule furnish them for planting. Pike and 
pickerel for distribution are procured only when netting 
inland lakes for other fish, and this 3'ear none of the pike 
tribe were taken. They can be hatched artificially, and 
have been in Germany, but it is not necessar}^ for they 
are perhaps the most prolific of the fresh-water fishes, and 
being spring spawners they require but a few days for 
their eggs to hatch, and if they have half a chance dur- 
ing the breeding season fair angling will never materially 
reduce their numbers in a pond or lake, but they have 
always been the mark for the man with spear and gun 
when they run into the shallows to spawn. The late 
Count von dem Borne told me of propagating the pike 
and the black bass in his fishery in Germany, and how the 
pike fry worked through into the black bass pond and lived 
on the bass fry before he knew of the mingling of fishes. 
I haA-^e already given the details in Forest and Stream, 
but from memory T will say that at five months from 
hatching the pike that had been living on black bass 
fry weighed something over 2. pounds, and were 17 
inches long. The State of New York may distribute pike 
— the so-called pickerel — next year, but none will be sent 
out this season, although applications for this fish are 
coming in this fall. A. N. Cheney. 
Propagation of Pacific Salmon. 
BY S. W. DOWNING. 
(Read before the American Fisheries Society.) 
Were I writing this article solely for the purpose of 
reading it before this meeting, I would not presume to 
go into details and give a description of the manner of 
securing the eggs and the methods employed in hatching 
them, as it is taken for granted that all or at least most 
of the members present are familiar with this work, but 
for the benefit of those who may read the forthcoming 
account of the proceedings of this meeting who are not 
familiar with the work, I will give a brief" description of 
the work as carried on at the dift'erent salmon stations 
where I have been located during the last three hatching 
seasons. 
First, it is necessary to know something of the nature 
and habits of the fish in question. In most of the streams, 
and especially those extending long distances from the 
ocean, there are two runs of fish, the first occurring in 
March and April, and the other in July and August. 
The fish coming into the streams in the first run go to 
the very headwaters, reaching the spawning grounds late 
in July and August, where they remain until spent, and, 
in fact, until they die, for it is a fact not generally 
known that all the salmon that ascend the streams any 
distance above tidewater die soon after the eggs are de- 
posited. 
The second run enters the main streams about July or 
August. These do not ascend the streairis to the same 
distance as the first run but they enter the small tribu- 
taries near the mouth of the main streams, apparently 
being more mature on entering the stream, and in con- 
sequence seek a suitable place in which to deposit their 
eggs soon after leaving .=alt water. 
The method employed by the fishculturist in securing 
the eggs is to first find some suitable location on either 
the main stream or -some tributarj'. and throw a barrier 
across, the slats or pickets of which are sufficiently close 
together to prevent the fish from passing between them, 
and high enough to preclude all danger of their jumping 
over, the lower end, of course, resting on the bottom. 
This barrier prevents the fish from ascending the stream, 
and as it is their nature to push their way as far as 
there is water suflicient for them to swim in, and as they 
never cease the stmggle and turn back, large numbers 
congre.gate just below the barrier, which is usuallv placed 
just above a deep hole where the fish He during the ripen- 
ing period before seeking the riffles and shoals upon which 
to spawn. Watch is then kept of the movements of the 
fish, and as soon as they are seen on the riffles, fishing 
commences. The fish are taken either with a seine, or are 
caught in a down stream trap, into which the fish are 
driven by going above them with a seine, and frighten- 
ing them so that they make a rush down the stream atid 
are crowded into the traps, from which they are taken, 
and the ripe ones put into crates, where they are held for 
the next day's spawning. The latter method of taking 
the fish is preferred when the nature of the stream 
will admit of it. The green fish taken are always liberated, 
as they will not go away, and thus the fishing is continued 
until the spawnmg season is over, and practically every 
fish that entered the stream has been handled. 
The need of carrying on this work on as large a scale 
as possible will be more readily understood when it is 
more generally known how totally lacking the salmon is 
in that instinct that prompts the two sexes to seek each 
other for the purpose of reproduction. The writer has 
had an excellent opportunity during three entire spawn- 
ing seasons to study this trait in the salmon, and never 
but once has he seen the two sexes together performing 
the functions necessary^ to fertilize the eggs as they are 
ejected by the female, and in conversing with others who 
have had ample opportunity for 6bserying these fishes for 
years he has never met a" man wh6''%ad ever seen the 
two sexes together at this time, as we so often see in 
other fishes, such as the black bass, catfish, sunfishes and 
many others, and for this reason it is safe to say that not 
one egg in one thousand is fertilized when the fish spawn 
,on the xeefs naturally. 
A feiiiale ^vill select a spot upon which to spawn, and 
if not disturbed will remain there, or nearby, occasionally 
turning upon her side, and, with a pounding motion with 
her tail, and, in fact, with the whole body, eject a few 
eggs. This process'' is kept up at intervals of from ten 
minutes to half an hour or more, until all her eggs have 
been deposited, the time consumed being from a couple of 
days to a week or more. The spawning always takes 
place in a swift current, and where the bottom is gravelly, 
and the pounding motion spoken of loosens the gravel 
itnmediately beneath the fish, and, as the current washes it 
from a few inches to a few feet down the stream, often a 
hole from one to two feet deep is thus formed, and a 
co.r,respandingly large pile of gravel made just below. The 
eggs that haA'e escaped are consumed by the thousands of 
river whitefish, suckers, and the several kinds of trout 
with which these streams abound, as the eggs and the 
gravel are washed down with the current together. 
But' where all this time is the male? Perhaps lying a 
few feet below her, or perhaps a few feet at either side, 
but never once approaching her. The writer has reached 
the conclusion that the only way in which the fertilization 
of the salmon egg has ever been brought about is that 
at those times and places where the fish are so very thick 
in the streams that during the height of the spawning 
period the whole water of these small streams is com- 
pletely permeated with the .spermatozoa of the males; 
and when one realizes that each large male produces a 
quart or more of semen during the season, it will be 
readily understood that large niunbers of eggs could have 
been and undoubtedly were fertilized in this manner. 
But it will be observed that the number of eggs, or the 
percentage: rather, that are fertilized in this manner, is 
just in proportion of the number of fish in the stream 
during the spawning period, and that in the streams that 
but few fish enter the percentage of eggs that are fertilized 
is reduced in the same ratio, and as the number of salmon 
entering the straems is becoming less and less each sea- 
son, it becomes more imperative that the work of propa- 
gation be carried on to the fullest extent, as it is in tliese 
small streams where formerly so many fish ascended, and 
where at one time the chances of fertilization were en- 
hanced by the great amount of semen ejected by the males, 
while now but few ascend, rendering the chances of natural 
fertilization almost nil, that the work of propagating the 
salmon should be carried on to the fullest extent. Every 
stream or tributary that will yield a million or more eggs 
should have a sub-station, and all the eggs possible taken, 
hatched, and the fry returned to the stream, scattering 
them over as much territory as possible. This, in the 
opinion of the writer, Avould be a far better method, and 
the results in mature fish would be much greater, than to 
have large establishments and turn out many millions into 
any one stream, as each stream or portion of it has but a 
limited supply of the natural food suitable for the young 
salmon, and all in excess of the number that will live upon 
the food supply must necessarily perish; and as most of 
these streams are in a broken country where it is almost 
impossible to give the fry anything like a wide distribii- 
tion, they must necessarily be put out over a very small 
area. Thus it will be readily seen that in such instances 
it would be an easy matter to overstock the streams, and 
even if none died from starvation, some would become 
stunted and never reach a normal size; besides, cannibal- 
ism would be encouraged, the larger and stronger ones eat- 
ing the small, weak ones. 
It has been noticed that in the past few years the num- 
ber of undersized salmon that Avere taken was steadily 
on the increase, the last season showing a far greater num- 
ber than any previous season. The only logical conclu- 
sion that the writer has been able to reach is that this 
is the result of overstocking the streams where the work 
of propagation is carried on to any extent, numbers of the 
young fish being stunted for lack of sufficient food, and, 
although they live to mature, they never grow to the 
normal size. 
This line of reason will undoubtedly be objected to by 
some on the ground that nearly all these undersized fish 
are males, but it is known that the fish of any one season's 
hatch do not reach maturity together; that is, a portion 
will return the third year, while another portion will hot 
rcturii before the fourth season, and it is our opinion that 
the males mature, even if tmder size, and return with the 
regular run, while in the case of the female, she does 
not mature until after sufficient time has elapsed for the 
ova to mature, and thus she has one more season's growth 
than the male, and is consequently larger on an average, 
althoiigh there are instances of very small females coming 
into the streams, and some have been taken and spawned 
that have weighed but from 6 to 8 pounds, and the 
eggs from them hatched and the fry seemed strong and 
healthy. ...... 
The writer is aware that this article is • but a crude 
affair, but hopes that the main idea — i, e,, the need of more 
extended propagation of this most valuable fish — has been 
made apparent 
See the list of good things in Woodcraft in our t^dv. cols. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
A Day on the Old Mill Pond. 
There is something magical in the name of the old mill 
pond. We all know it. - We have all been there, many 
a time and oft. It is the same old mill pond, whether 
it was in Maine or Kansas. We all saw it when we were 
boys and girls together,- years more or less ago. Books 
Gould be written about the old mill pond, and good stories. 
Proof good enough of the latter fact is at hand in a 
letter from a friend, telling of a single, simple day with 
children for companions and no far-off country for the 
scene. Sito is the preferred name' of the writer, ^nd 
thus he writes : 
^ "To those, hke us, who love broad,- all-embracing Mother 
Earth, and 'vvonship well with rod and gun' (as a poetic 
friend once wrote to me), the simplest excursion into her 
realms can fill us with a peace and joy unknown, I 
think, to many al] their lives. Therefore a simple account 
of a day on 'the old mill pond' with my children, may 
touch a chord in you, and if you think it worth while, per- 
haps in others of your wide circle, and so I will try and 
tell you of it.. 
"This old mill pond is the scene of many a youthful 
excursion of mine, and hence has for me a peculiar 
charm. I had not seen it for twenty years, and as it lay 
once more before me in quiet baeuty on an August 
day, I was delighted and a little surprised to find it 
lovelier even than my memory had dared to picture it, 
A good deal of travel and considerable experience of 
beautiful scenes in other lands have surely not lessened 
my facilities in the appreciation and just criticism of 
natural beauty, and, as I stood again on the alder-fringed 
mill dam, across which runs the high road, and saw on 
one hand the smooth sheet of water with its thickly 
wooded banks and floating lilies, its clear Avaters and rest- 
ful charm, the old mill, and, yes ! the same old miller 
bustling about, and on the other side the little 'crick' 
below me, almost hidden by rushes and cattails, winding 
away to the bay beyond, I realized that it was not all mere 
boyish recollection of good old times that kept it in my 
mind when half the distance round the earth lay between 
me and it — no; it was, and still is, beautiful. But I mu.st 
tell what I set out to tell. 
"I was with my children and we were 'going a-fishing.' 
Each with a creel slung over the shoulder, a rod case in 
hand and in each heart an innate love of quiet sport and a 
fisherman's anticipations of what might happen as to giant 
fish, 'The gray-haired miller as we arranged with him 
for our boat, told us that the trout were gone, but he 
had planted black bass in their stead, and now- and then 
one was caught, while the yellow perch were as plentiful 
as ever. - 
"We soon put our rods together and rowed out on the 
pond. A 5-inch perch was oUr first game. I tried a 
spinner, and was soon fast in a lively fish. It is, a long 
time since I caught a yellow perch, and this lo-inch fish 
made such a good fight that until he was close alongside 
I really thought it must be a trout. What a fine fish this 
same yellow perch is, and what a good fight he makes ! 
How handsome he is, with his tiger stripes, brsitling 
dorsal and bright red pectorals! If he only ate as he 
looks and fights he would be worthy of a high place on 
the fisher's list. My chicks are good sportsmen, and at 
once set our limit on perch at 9 inches, carefully returning 
all fish below that length. 
"We caught many fingerlings, and each child also had 
the delight of a good fight with the bigger fish— from 
9 to II inches. I have not caught a trout in home waters 
for many a year, but it seemed to me that these perch 
fought about as hard as a trout of equal size. Our light 
rods bowed, the lines cut through the water and the 
gamy fish fought well, often making a second and some- 
tirnes even a third rush after turning on their sides and 
being brought almost close enough for the landing net. 
At lunch time we had a fine string of fourteen, and had 
put back at least a hundred little fellows. We felt well 
satisfied as v/e rowed ashore to eat our lunch under the 
trees, _ I send you a snap shot of the party, joined by a 
boy friend, comparing their fish. 
"After a delightful meal on the pine-covered ground 
and a review of our catch, we were off again, with better 
luck still to come. We nov/ determined to try trolling 
for bass. I, of course, had a spinner or two among the 
varied collection of duffle I always carry with me, and' 
rigging this on a doubled trout leader we rowed slowly 
around the pond. Several perch of large size took the 
bait, and two small b'ass were caught, but put back, for we 
had read up on the law and found 10 inches the limit on 
bass. My eledst boy caught a small perch, and finding 
him hooked through the lip by the large hook of the 
spinner, I told him to leave the fish on the hook and try a 
while wtih this bait, A moment later he had a heavy 
tug, and, after a grand fight, amid the wildest en- 
thusiasm and excitement, I put the landing net under a 
16-inch black bass— a noble fish, and what a fighter ! The 
fighting qualities of the perch faded into nothingness 
compared with his rushes and leaps, and my hand was 
shaking with excitement as I netted him. Now came the 
girl's turn, and in a short time she realized her wish — 
to hear her reel buzz as a grand bass fought for liberty 
with all the reckless dash of his fighting tribe. I think 
we brought him to the boat too soon ; at any rate, when 
about 10 feet away, and as I lowered the net, away he 
went; got a heavy strain on the light leader, snapped 
both its parts and was off with the spinner ! What a 
sighing gasp went up from all! He looked full 2 feet 
long and was so near! But all good fishers are 
philosophers, and my daughter said with a sigh, 'Never 
mind, father. I'll catch another'— and so she did. 
"Dinner time, coming with awful rapid'ty,. found, us 
with four bass of iS to 16 inches. Reluctantly we wound 
up the tackle and rowed through the long shadows under 
the banks to the landing. Our bass would not go in our_ 
srnall creels, so each child took a turn in carrying the 
fine string, and if they felt prouder than their parent they_ 
must h$ve.been puffed up indeed. 
"As the sun sank behind the woods. in. the west, a con- 
tented, happy little party chattered as they trudged to- 
ward home, ' Ah ! 'pleasant, wholesome, hungry trade.' 
