fo rest and stream. 
in* of looks in 
...... i r.sw r,rrtr,oi n<r the steamer served to Keep mf vs 1 - _., _ __ 
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF 
FISHERIES OF MARYLAND. 
mi IE fisheries of Maryland are perhaps of greater Import- 
I ftnce to that State than any similar interests in the United 
States With the Chesapeake Bay and numerous rivers a very 
larce proportion of her inhabitants gain their living by fishing. 
The depletion of her waters, caused by overfishing, having 
been apparent, no other State has paid greater attention to re- 
stocking her waters. . . 
Maryland is fortunate in possessing as Fish Commissioner a 
■gentleman who, to a very thorough acquaintance with the sub- 
ject of fish culture; combines a mechanical skill which has 
facilitated the surmounting of a number of difficulties. The 
eK *s of the shad, when artificially impregnated in order that 
they shall hatch, have given a great deal of trouble. Before 
the method employed in the hatching box invented by Mr. 
Seth Green it was thought almost impossible to briug the eggs 
of the shad to maturity. Fishculturists, sometimes used to 
agitate the boxes containing shad eggs in order to keep the 
germs alive. In the sluggish waters of Maryland, where there 
are no currents, it was found impossible to use the Seth Green 
shad-hatching boxes, as some movement in the water was 
sine qua non of success. Accordingly, Mr. Ferguson, quite 
equal to the emergency, devised a mechanical process which 
rendered him quite independent of currents. The inv""'' r ' n 
consisisina series of vessels in which the spawn is 
combined with a mechanism that will impart motion 
used for propelling the steamer serve* 
might l 
ried to 
iu bicuili OV.I ■■■ - I ■ • (i i 
might Wcolltcwd on bo»rd .live »»d m wodorig untd car 
the batching nurseries. Lust spring on tuc 
M.ihmil %}istori>, 
S€T Correspondents in this and other departments of our 
paper will excuse us for curtailing their favors, as otherwise 
our limited space would prevent their publication. We take 
care to preserve the gist of all articles. 
a small steam yacht employed by the Commissioner over 
1,000,000 eggs were easily kept during fifteen hours until safc.y 
placed in the hatching apparatus. ,i, p 
i Mr. Ferguson says “ that in judging of the efficiency of the 
The invention means t 0 restock our waters with shad, we must not lose sight 
placed of the fact that there has been an alarming and steady decrease 
to the i° the field of shad. • * * * Surely, if the decease can 
- , , * only be arrested, even if there is no marked increase for sever- 
vessels, thus creating the necessary current and change of a , (0 comei the WO rk of artificial propagation, as yet 
The illustrations wc give fully explain the mechan- scarce iy more Ilian yet begun, should be prosecuted with tne 
— - A represent a s*ies of cylindrical vessels made of utmost^nergyd' young 8had were placed in the Pa- 
flheet metal, which are slightly tapering. Each vessel is P tuxtent River and about half as many in the Chester River. 
Tided at its lower end with a bottom, B, of wire cloth, which is Nf|W fi s h cu it u rists are pretty well satisfied that it w the male 
v.ij : n n i ace hv a metal band C. If necessary the top of the g s fi which arrive earliest in the season, though they do not 
wiltia wire doth, pe^ 
latter being put within the vessel, while C is outside. j ftnce lMt in , be Mttry ] a nd waters. These anticipations 
were realized, for in April of last year, the testimony fur- 
nished by fishermen wa°, “that the catch of buck shad had 
been larger than known for many years; in fact, that they had 
not taken as many male shad in forty years. 
During the last two years an aggregate of 1,645,000 young 
of the California salmon have be.n batched aod planted in 
Maryland waters by the Commissioner. A very interesting 
series of experiments with the smelt taken from the Raritan 
have also been a subject of careful study. The report of the 
Commissioner— quite voluminous of the kind— is of a most in- 
terestin'* and novel character, and we particularly recommend 
the many carefully executed illustrations of the spermatazoa 
and ova of fishes. 
American Fisn Cdlturists’ Association.— As we are going 
to press the seventh annual meeting of the association is taking 
place, the Hon. R. B. Roosevelt presiding. The attendance 
is unusually large, and consists of various fish commissioners 
of the States, and of the leading fish culturists in the United 
States and Canada. We shall be able in our next issue to give 
a detailed account of the meeting. 
The vessel A has a handle, a. so that it can be suspended. 
(Fig. 4). In fig. 3 E is the hull of a boat or scow or pier in 
Brook Trout at the Aquarium .— 1 The brook trout raised 
at the Aquarium, in the Ferguson j'irs, are thriving famously. 
The eggs were first placed in the hatching jars on January 2 
Some 48,000 young trout are now swimming about in the most 
lively way. These trout are for stocking Mr. Percy Belmont’s 
streams. Some 5,000 more fish are now being reared for Mr 
Reiche. The whole process of batching and rearing fish may 
be seen at the Aquarium. 
Stocking Esopds Creek— A Supply of Fishes Coming.— 
Seth Green, of the State Fishery Commission, at Rochester, 
has written to George B. Styles that be will, within a few 
days, send on a man with a requisite number of cans, to con- 
tain full one hundred fully-matured black bass, weighinp 
, .. „„„ yv r, between two aDd three poundseacb, and the female to be filled 
each side of which arc arranged a series of levers, D D, pivoted wj(h 8pawn Much credit is due to Mr. Styles for his perse- 
to the boat or pier, with their outer edges projecting a suitable Terance j„ the matter of stocking Esopus stream with these 
distance beyond the tides of the tame. The vessel A thus | and other game fish. Oub Harry. 
hung is so suspended that it is Dever more than two-thirds 
deep in the water. The levers to which the vessels are at- I The Possible Afpearanoe of Salmon in the Mississippi. 
tachfcd are operated by a series of concentrics, 1 1, let at various —The Memphis Avalanche of a late date states that salmon 
Dgles upon a continuously rotating shaft, G, connected to and have been caught in abundance near Memphis. As it is possi- 
b j e (bat tbe g a [ mo quinnat may have grown somewhatin size 
rincc their introduction into the river, we await with a great 
deal of interest the confirmation of the above assertion. We 
only trust it may be true. If salmon are found in the Father 
of Waters it will be the triumph of American fish culture. 
SECURE YOUR LIVE QUAIL AT ONCE. 
Rutland, Vt., Jan. 25, 1878. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Haviug frequently seen letters of inquiry concerning live 
quail for stocking purposes, and as the chances for their pro- 
curement seem desperate, I would suggest that there is oue 
«av in which we of New England may have quail, and I be- 
lieve it to bo our only chance. The American quail cannot 
endure the rigor of our New England winters, at least in the 
northern portions of New England. This fuct will necessitate 
the purchase of a new breeding stock each year. The migra- 
tory quail will, however, escape the danger of destruction by 
such causes. They are a fine game bird, breed enormously, 
and can be easily and cheaply procured. Mr. Geo. H. Owen, 
American consul at Messina, Sicily, will be happy to assist 
American sportsmen to procure them in the spriDg, through 
Mr. D. Bonano. of Messina, who is a large ship owner and 
broker, and will give timely notice of the date of shipment 
and expected time of arrival in New York. Orders should be 
made at once to make sure of the birds this season, and should 
be accompanied by the guarantee of a bank that Mr. Bonano’s 
draft will be promptly honored. The cost cannot, of course, 
be accurately stated now. The birds imported by me last sea- 
son cost about eighteen cents (18 cents) each, delivered here. 
Arrangements should be made at the Oustum-house in New 
York, so that there may he no delay there. An affidavit that 
they are for breeding purposes and not for merchandise, will 
bring them in free of duty. I am well convinced that the 
migratory quail is to be the game bird of New England, and 
that at no distant day. An order is now on the way for more 
of them, to be turned down in this vicinity. The affidavit 
above alluded to can be placed in the hands of the express 
company which is to transport them from New York ; the 
company will thus be enabled to pass them through the Custom- 
house without delay. The company will also pay the ship’s 
charges, which will also include a small fee to the ship’s stew- 
ard for food, care, etc. So much for quail. On another sub- 
ject I wish simply to say now that I am getting together facts 
and figures for an article on dog breaking and dog breakers, 
particularly the latter, to some of whom I propose to pay my 
respects. The article will, I hope, be of interest to gentlemen 
sportsmen having line young dogs which they wish broken. 
Yours, M. G. E vests. 
[Every sportsman must feel grateful to Judge Everts for the 
lively interest which he has taken in this matter, and we feel 
confident that there will be many, especially in New England, * 
who will be only too glad to act upon the recommendations of 
the above note. The interest in this topic, however, is not 
confined to us of the Eust, but is manifested very generally 
throughout the country. In a recent issue of the Chicago 
Field, Ubique, of Winnebago City, Minn., gives some pleasant 
notes on the quail of the Old World, which, in this connection, 
are certainly worth reprinting. While it is not improbable 
that the birds introduced by Messrs. Everts and Hapgood may 
do well, it is certain that more general and widely-extended 
action must be taken before this species can become sufficiently 
abundant to be valuable to sportsmen. We desire, therefore, 
to encourage all who can devote time or money to the under- 
taking, to obtain and turn out at the earliest moment possible 
as many of these birds as may be practicable. The extract to 
which we have referred is as follows :] * 
“ The American Is the finest and best quail I have ever come 
across, but in view of the complaints of his scarcity, which 
are so constantly expressed in your columns, I believe it would 
be well to import foreign varieties of the same bird, even 
though they are not half his size. In India there are two varie- 
ties of quails, the “lobar" and “ buttair,” or the button and 
rain quail. The former are indigenous and breed in the coun- 
try ; the latter are a tritle larger than the native, aud come 
into the country from the far north during the rainy season. 
Neither variety is more than half the size of the American 
quail, but they are wonderfully prolific and delicious eating. 
They breed and live in the tall grass of the open, and thirty to 
fifty brace a day is a very common bag of them in many local- 
ities. They are very easily caught and reared, and become 
quite tame; they are very pugnacious, and the natives keep 
them for fighting purposes, if they cannot afford rams or cocks. 
The Mediterranean quail iB about half way in size between these 
and the American bird. They breed principally in Albania 
and migrate about October to Northern Africa, returning in 
the spring. At these times the whole air seems alive with 
countless flocks of quails aud woodcocks. 1 have bought the 
latter in Malta for I ewer cents than I should have to pay shil- 
1 lings in England at the time of their migration, while thou- 
sands of stragglers of both these kinds of birds drop on that 
island, and are too tired to escape even boys armed with sticks 
alone, and the market is, pro tern., glutted. In Sicily the 
flights of quails are looked tor as giving rise to one of the great 
industries of the island, and I have seen literally millions of 
them caught and caged in and about Messina, from whence 
rotating by a steam engine, or any motive power 
The vessels being cylindrical in form, presenting no angles 
or cornei s, can collect no Bedimcnt or matter deleterious to the 
life or development of the spawn. By this invention of Mr. 
Ferguson the batching of the eggs of the shad can be carried 
on In still waters, or even in waters exposed to storms. 
This invention of Mr. Ferguson of course seems very simple, 
but it has required a good deal of practical judgment 
and experience to perfect it. In the last report of the Com- 
missioner mention was made of a peculiar apparatus consist- 
Troot Farms fob Sale. — Two excellent opportunities offer 
through our columns to any persons wishing to engage in the 
culture of trout— one in this State and another in Wisconsin. 
We can furnish fullest particular of the same at this office. 
they are shipped to London, Paris, St. Petersburg!!, and 
wherever the lover of a “Salmi de Cailles aux truffes ’’ can 
be found. These are the birds that I would propose to have 
introduced to the States. When caught they are placed in 
shallow cages which contain from one to two hundred. They 
don’t seem, to care in the least about captivity, and will trav* 1 
aDy distance. Their cost on the spot is not more than a few 
cents apiece, and a letter from any organization or individual 
to the American consul at Pulermo, Messina or Malta, would 
ensure the sending over a shipload if required, or I would 
gladly arm aDy person or body corporate with a letter of intro- 
duction, which would secure the purchase and careful packing 
and forwarding of a consignment for this country.’’ 
[Aftec the very full details given by Judge Everts, there is 
no good reason why we might not have a thousand or more of 
these birds turned out this spring at various points in this 
country. We hope soon to be able to report some action in 
Ibis mutter on the part of sportsmen in general. — E d.] 
