FOREST AND STREAM 
&sli Culture. 
REPORT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA FISH 
COMMISSION. 
T HE commissioners of this State, in addressing Gov. 
Hftrirnntt on tlio rcRiHt of their labors during the 
past yenr, dwell upon tin 1 difficulty tllcv would experience 
during the short period of their term of office, in restoring 
the fisheries which hnvc become depleted by reason of ox- 
ees«ivr fishing nnd wanton destruction. To remedy evils 
wltieh'hnve existed since the early days of the Common* 
wcnlili, is A work of time; tut Hint they have laid the 
foundation for a restoration is heyond a doubt. Vet this 
improvement, notwithstanding the wonderful discoveries 
recent I v made in the art of propagating fish, will he much 
retarded if they are not supported by the necessary legis- 
lation to prevent the persistent daughter of fishes uow so 
Epmmo't throughout the State. 
' 'I he money appropriation is nmple for the purposes of 
propagation and introduction, but the work will, ns a mat- 
ter of course, progress slower if done while the different 
streams are being fished to their utmost capacity titan it 
would should fi-hing be restrained bylaws which, while 
not compelling a cessation, will restrict it within reason- 
able I Ign i t a 
A severe penalty iriUKt he attached to the use of such de- 
structive implements as fish baskets and set nets. Un- 
der the arts of 1 8T0 and 17T3 no p< unity is attached to the 
erection of t he former implements, and it is simply the 
duty of the sheriff within whoso bailiwick a fish ha hot 
lias heen erect' d. to destroy it when brought to Ids notice. 
It was recommended to « lie last Legislature to make the 
u«e of these basket* n misdemeanor; but unfortunately no 
action was taken. The commissioners now earnestly urge 
notion, anti set forth the destructive character of the fish 
baskets a* follows:— 
‘•Of all Implements for the wanton destruction of fishes 
which have ever been constructed by human skill, the one 
most worthy of condemnation is the ordinary fi»h basket. 
These instruments of extirpation are placed in the mid- 
cbanni 1 of the river, with long arms or wings made of 
atone, extending up on either side towards the shores. 
Every living creature carried by the current is swept into 
these baskets. Young slmd are peculiarly delicate. A 
blow which displaces a scale will lesull in the death of the 
fish, so that scarcely a young shad which succeeds in going 
through the slats of l lie basket will live, while millions arc 
slopped noon l lie basket, and there nllowcd to die. In- 
stances have come to our knowledge where in 1870 and 
1871 parties owning baskets were obliged to shovel out with 
a wooden scoop the young shad that hud accumulated in 
their baskets in less time than one night. In one instance 
the owner of the basket said that ‘he thought iu one night 
lie had thrown trotn liis fish basket more than a cart loud 
of young shad.’ It is not probable that one survived. Is 
it any wonder, considering these facts, that our streams 
have become depopulated? Since the progressive steps 
which we have made in our Commonwealth within the 
past lew ears for the protection of fish, we ate happy to 
report that the baskets have nearly all been demolished. 
We have met with some difficulty on account of the pecu- 
liar construction of the law requiring ten days' notice iO he 
given hy the sheriff before proceeding with a pom coini- 
faint to destroy the basket. We earnestly recommend that 
that portion of the law requiring the ten days' notice be 
stricken ouf, and that the passage of tile law shall be in 
itself sufficient notice. 
“As mi engine used for the destruction of fish the set 
net or tike tiel is surpassed only hy the tisli basket. This 
net is an elongated trap with a large month, set directly in 
the current of the stream. Sometimes with long arms or 
wings of st«ne extending out similar to the fish basket, 
turning the entire current through the net and sweeping 
into it every living creature curried hy the current. These 
nets require no alleiilion and no labor; they are simply de- 
posited and left to care for themselves until the owner is 
ready to take them up and empty them ot their cutcli. 
Occasionally along our large rivers you will find a man 
owning as high us thirty or forty ol' these nets. We rec- 
ommend to the Legislature the passage of such laws as 
will furbid fishing with these nets." 
Attention is also culled to the destructive charnctcr of 
the pound nets which ure used so hu gely lor fishing iu Lake 
Erie. These nets form immense walls, by which the iisli 
ure led along until they are conducted into pounds or traps 
prepared at lulcrvuls along the net. The catch of these 
nets sometimes yield several tons in u single night. Their 
dust met t ve nature is shown hy t lie grnduul decrease and 
final ex.ertniualiou of llie fish at the best stations on the 
likes whore they are used. Pennsylvania alone, without 
the computation ol other States and Panada, can do hut 
little towards preventing this destructive mode of fishing, 
yet such legislative enactment is suggested as inuy ho re- 
quired. 
Tne most, difficult duty of the commissioners was in the 
erection of fishways to allow the transit of slmd across the 
dams of the Susquehanna. Although there i-> not to-day a 
ti mi way iu t lie world Umt is known to Irvcly carry shad, 
el in me Pall ol 1873 tucy completed one which they tie- 
ievc will tie ultimutely successful During the Spring and 
Summer they curelully observed its wot king, and have no 
doom that large num.iers ol suud passed through it during 
high water in t he Susquehanna. At least 3,000 were caught 
in that river above the Columbia dam during that season. 
During the Fall large quantities of young shad which had 
beeu hatched above the duin were constantly seen tuukuig 
their way down the river to the mu. They therefore be- 
lieve they have attained u measure of success iu the urt-c- 
lion of their fishway never befure reached in the history 
ol tois or any other couulry, ami that havin ' bo altered 
uu'* reconstructed the floor ol the fishway as to suit both 
high and low stages ol water it will now allow a free trun- 
tsil at all seasons. 
Tne commissioners regret that the streams of tlieir Slate 
have become so depopulated of such a valuable fish as the 
sliud, but believe that with proper exertions ou tlieir part, 
aided by tbeir legislators, that the time will soou come 
when the fisheries ol the Delaware and Susquehanna will 
yield as much as ever before, This result is to he brought 
anout by urtil.cial propagation aim proper regila ions by 
law a- to catching sliud . the inode ol reproduction is Ue- 
Bctiued, and the advantages of artificial over UulUiul pro- 
pagation made apparent by the statement that by die natu- 
ral process a pair of lcmule shad, yielding 100,000 eggs, 
produce only 2.000 fish, while bv the artificial process they 
will yield 98,000. The great difficulty to contend with is 
the fact that you can only strip the spawn from the fish 
that would deposit it within an hour or two from the time 
of being taken. Thus it will be seen that at times many 
hauls of the net are made, and u large number of shad 
tnken without a single fish being in a condition to be 
stripped. Hy the means of artificial propagation, the in- 
crease of sluid in streams that were more depopulated than 
the shad streams of our , State, have been known to yield 
more abundantly than at any known period in their his- 
tory, ami there is no doubt at all but that by a vigorous 
prosecution of this system of propagation the shad will 
he made as abnndunt in the waters of our Stnte, to which 
migratory fish have acccess, as they have ever been known 
Under the direction of State Suprintendent .Tolm P. 
Creveling. assisted by Mr. Edward H. Bhame, formerly 
assistant to Seth Green, a station for the purposes of arti- 
ficial propagation was established at Little Washington, 
Lancaster county, below the Columbia dam. Owing to 
the peculiar character of the season, the results were not 
ns satisfactory ns could have been wished for; but they 
succeeded in hatching 3,0(15,000 shad. 
A number of requests for legislative enactments, which 
were also recommended in the last report, are repeated, 
and it is to he hoped that New Jersey will join in making 
such appropriations as will enable the commissioners to do 
something this year towards the increase of slmd in the 
Delaware River. 
The increase of black bass is so marvelous, and tlieir 
growth so rapid, that artificial propagation, even if it were 
possible, is unnecessary, and they arc now frequently 
caught where eight years ngo not one was to he found. 
The increase is all owing to the introduction, by private 
enterprise, of a few fish into the waters of the Juniata, 
Susquehanna, and Delaware, and the cure which the bass 
take of their young. They propose to continue the stock- 
ing of the streams of the State witli bass during then com- 
ing season if the necessary appropriation is made hy the 
Legislature. The season for furnishing bass hy the com- 
missioners commences about the middle of July and ex- 
tends until the 1st of November. 
During the past year they have continued the experiment 
of introducing the salmon into those waters of the State 
to which anadromous fish have access. They have con- 
tinued this experiment both with the Snlmo talar, the sal- 
mon of the Atlantic coast, and the ikilmo quinmt, the 
salmon of the Pacific slope. While they have doubts as 
to the introduction of the SiJmo talar, they have none as 
to the Snlmo r/ninnat. The fish, from which the spawn of 
the latter were taken, were caught in the McCloud River, 
California, the water of which is of hr high an average 
temperature ns the Susquehanna or Delaware. 
The United States Fish Commissioner established a camp 
on the McCloud River, in California, under the direction 
of Mr. Livingston Stone, for the pm pose of procuring a 
large number of the eggs of the Salma r/ninnat for intro 
duction in our Eastern waters. They were presented to 
the State hy the United States commissioners. They were 
sent by express, the State paying the expressage and the 
expense of hatching at the State hatching house. 
From these eggs were hatched and deposited in various 
streams I45.00(fyouug fish, besides 100,000 which now re- 
main in the State hatching house ready for transportation. 
Sixty thousand young fish were also received in the Spring 
of 1874 from tlie United States commissioners, and from 
the same source 150,000 eggs of the Salmotalar taken from 
fish caught in the Kennebec River. 
There is abundant evidence of the growth and pros- 
perity of the young salmon, and they have been taken hy 
the hook and line, varying in length from four to eight 
inches, and invariably found to lie in vigorous health. It 
is believed that in a few years more the introduction of 
salmon into our waters will have become an established 
fact, and the commissioners hope that any persous seeing 
or catching any of these fish will impart to them such in- 
formation. 
Considerable attention was given to studying the habits 
of the grayling, and considering its adaptability as a profit- 
able food fish; but it was a question in the minds of the 
commissioners whether the stocking of their waters with 
the grayling would be sufficiently profitable to warrant 
them in making an expenditure for the purpose. They are 
no more prolific than the brook trout, while as a food fish 
they are not so delicate. 
'The experiment of hatching snlmon trout and depositing 
them in the deep large pools caused by the erection ot 
dams on the rivers, wits tried, and 100,000 eggs were pur- 
chased of Mr, Green for the purpose. The result is looked 
for with much interest. The work of restocking the many 
streams of the State with brook trout is one of such mag- 
nitude that the commissioners huve not deemed it advis- 
able at this early stage of tlieir labors to undertake it. 
They recommend, however, such legislative enact meat as 
will more effectually protect this pel of the epicure and 
the sportsman. 
The report concludes with an expression of thanks for 
the manifest interest taken by the people of the Slate in 
the success I til issue of tleir work. A great deal of most 
interesting and valuable information contuiued in the re- 
port wits given hy Mr. Reeder ut the meeting of the Fish 
Culturists’ Association, and having been published in our 
issue of Inst week is omitted in this 
ANGLERS’ ASSOCIATION OF BOSTON. 
'FHE Massachusetts Anglers' Association were recently 
1 treated to an interesting and instructive lecture from 
the Hon. Theodore Lyman. 
The speaker remarked that just after the war the subject 
of protecting the fisheries hud been agitated, and lie had 
introduced into the General Court a bill for the encourage- 
meu of the cultivation of useful fishes, to the great as ton 
islnfieiit of the members. Shorn of its more important 
features, the bill was finally passed; but now public senti- 
ment was such that there was no difficulty in influencing 
the requisite legislation. 
In referring to the causes which are supposed to have 
led to the alleged diminution of the fish supply, the speaker 
look up the subject of trawling, which lie thought hud 
beeu improperly named. It first came to this part of the 
country I rum the Irish Galway- tLbcrim-u, u very hardy 
body ol men, who encounter many hard ships in the prose- 
cution of tlieir trade. The Cuiuline fishermen, ou the 
coast of Spain, have used trawls from time immemorial, 
under the name of the pnlanyre line, and introduced it 
into France. The Cat alines also first introduced the soft 
iron hooks into France, which arc now used on the Grand 
Banks for catching cod. The speaker then drew on a large 
slate n sketch of the trawls, and said they were introduced 
into this country many years ago. About 1850 there be- 
gnu to lie a considerable outcry against this trawling. Not- 
withstanding l lie trawlers, the haddock had increased in 
Boston Bay. In 1830 haddock in the bay was compara- 
tively a scarce fish; in I860 it began to be plentiful, and up 
to within two or three years ago it continued to increase 
in plenty, and became one of the staple fisheries in the 
Winter season. When there is a glut in the market it hie 
been sold at one half cent a pound, and 300 tons of fish, 
of 2.000 pounds to the ton, have been brought in by the 
trawlers in one day. 
Mr. Lyman illustrated the wonderful productiveness of 
mackerel and codfish by statistics, and described the ocean 
as a vast, teeming workshop, in which the fabrics are pm 
duccd and reproduced, and almost before perfection are 
torn in pieces, to be absorbed in other fabrics, and in turn 
to build up new ones. The possible extinction of the sen 
fisheries was considered; but it Is extremely difficult to 
procure satisfactory results, from the impossibility ot ob- 
taining reliable statistics regarding the product and num- 
ber of men employed half a century since. In England 
an investigation was held in 1805, resulting in a mass of 
contradictory and unsatisfactory testimony, which proved 
nothing. Rumhuud conducted one consequently iu France, 
which was much more satisfactory, resulting in a fund of 
valuable information on the subject. A third investigation 
wus that of this State in 1870, when a long inquiry into the 
propriety of using weirs, traps, etc., resulted in no definite 
action on a subject evidently ill understood by the people 
at large. To gain some definite information on the sub 
ject, the State tan for a year the weir at Waquitt. Instead 
of the weir stopping all entrance of alewives into the bay, 
to spawn in the brooks which there find outlet, it was 
found Hint three times as many were caught in the lmy as 
iu the weir, which it was thought would preclude entrance; 
and so in the case of the striped ImsS. Here, then, we have 
definite facts to work upon, undisputed by a great many 
whose theories, so well elaborated, are found to lie worth 
nothing. 
Ram baud touched the great defect in the English system 
when lie showed the absurdity of its action in considering 
fish as a whole, without any regard to different orders, 
habits, etc. His own division, modified to meet our neces- 
sities. may read as follows: — Fresh-salt, such as salmon, 
alewives, and smelt; local, such as tiiulog, flounder, anil 
seup; ocean, such as cod, haddock, and herring. 
The ocean fish, lie thought, did not require any protec 
lion, and everybody knew how the fresh suit fishes could 
lie destroyed. The cod and herring, lie thought, were 
about as abundant now as in old limes. If there was a 
scarcity ou the coast margin it might be caused by Hie few 
number of small fishes; hut on the coast of Newfoundland 
they are as plentiful. He thought if the trout law could 
he altered we would have large it out in the same way that 
we have large smelts. 
Investigation as yet 1ms failed to show quite conclusively 
whether the second or “local" class of fishes does need 
man's protection There have been strange disappear- 
ances ami reappearances of some of the species, such as 
the seup or the UlucILh, all variously accounted for., \Y c 
need facts on this subject ou which to base our theories, 
ami the national investigation, under charge of United 
Slutes Commissioner Baird, can hardly fail to throw much 
light on tiie subject. Mr. Lyman complimented Professor 
Baird on Hie success which was attending his const explo- 
rations, and closed bis lecture with an array of statistics in 
proof of the positions he had taken. 
At the conclusion, Mr. Lyman was warmly thanked, and 
the hope expressed that he would again favor the society. 
Hybrid Fish. — Dr. L. J. Fitziuger has been prosecuting 
some experiments upon the bastard forms of Salnwniilw, 
now so extensively cultivated in the fish breeding establish- 
ments of Germany, and which, us is well known, attain to 
maturity and produce completely formed eggs. However, 
as the result of a careful series of experiments, lie ascer- 
tained under artificial impregnation that these eggs never 
develop beyond the period of the formation ot the eye 
specks, after which they speedily perish. The hybrids 
upon which the experiments were prosecuted were obtained 
from Hie female trout (Trulta Lacaulm) and the male suib- 
ling (Sattno Solcelintia ); and from the female snihling and 
the male trout (Trulta farm). He thinks that Hie intertill 
ty ot the eggs from these hybrids may be considered as 
uu established fuel. In the same article reference is made 
to what is culled the silver trout, or Salmo Schaffer Mullrri , 
aud the opinion expressed that this is a sterile form, but 
that it is impossible to say from what species it is derived, 
or whether it is constant. — Tribune. 
Massachusetts Anglers' Association. — At a meeting 
of the associuliuii, held at their rooms iu Boston on Wed 
nesday evening of Inst week, the committee on legislative 
m'utters submitted a report recommending that the associa- 
tion should endeavor to procure legislation that should fix 
the limit of the size of lobsters to be caught at twelve 
inches, and should require that any person having in hi- 
possession lobsters less than twelve Inches should be pun 
iahed by fine or otherwise, ami that all female lobsters 
caught with the spawn attached— the so-called berry lob 
sters— be returned alive to the water; that t he association 
should endeavor to procure the passage of u law in regard 
to trout, so that the possession of a dead trout during the 
close lime should he prima facie evidence of a violation of 
the statute; all of which was adopted, with the exception 
of that portion referring to “ berry'' lobsters. The question 
of trawling and seining was next considered at some length, 
aud referred for further consideration. Vice President S 
W. Hathaway occupied the clinlr in the absence of the 
President, Dr. Ordway, who was quite severely injured by 
a railroad accident a few days previous. 
■•••■ 
Fisn Preservation in AIaixk. — The corporators of the 
Stato Association for the Preservation of Fish met at 
Augusta on the 12th inst. The act of incorporation was 
accepted. The following officers were elected : John H- 
Kimball, of Bath, President; William 8. Badger, of Au- 
