90 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
to further instruct the fishermen, and show them that it will be for their own benefit 
to become interested in stnrgeon-culture. On the Eider, where many sturgeon are 
caught, no results have been accomplished during the present year. It can not be i 
sui)posed for a moment that mature spawning sturgeon have not been caught in the 
Eider as well as in the Elbe; but the fishermen lack Zealand knowledge, and only tlu' 
persistent labor of many years can succeed in obtaining results on that river. 
There are, even at the present time, many men, and among them fishermen, who 
ridicnle the officers of the association when they stand in the water of the Eider in 
rain and snow to obtain salmon eggs. And still our fishermen see the great results 
of salmon-culture, which enables some of them to get an annual income of 400 to 500 i 
marks [$95.20 to $119] from comparatively small fishing waters. If the German 
Fishery Association is willing to continue to aid us, it will find eager workers, espe- 
cially in the cause of sturgeon-culture in our association. , 
In the name of the board of directors of the Central Fishery Association of ' 
Schleswig-Holstein, 
Von Stem ANN. 
[Letter relative to sturgeon-culture addressed to P. Feddersen, Schleswig, by B. Eisner of the Central 
Fishery Association of Schleswig-Holstein, March 2, 1887.] 
In reply to your letter, which arrived here last week while I was absent on a 
journey, I have to state the following : 
The propagation of sturgeon is a very difficult problem, and many experiments 
will have to be made before we are able to hatch them in large numbers and with cer- 
tainty of success. 
I transmit, herewith, the annual report of our association, in which I have given 
an account of the subject. 
The most perplexing matter is to obtain a mature spawner and milter at one and 
the same time. It is particularly difficult to secure mature spawners, and when one 
is captured most of the roe is generally emitted either while it is being lifted into 
the boat or during its conveyance to the hatching station. If the spawner is not fully ’ 
mature and is expected to reach maturity while kept in confinement, the problem be- 
comes still more uncertain. 
If a mature spawne r and milter are obtained at the same time, the eggs should 
be fertilized at once by holding the former up by the head so that the tail does not 
touch the ground. The roe is then squeezed out into earthenware vessels, but not too 
much in each one. As soon as a vessel contains a sufficient quantity of eggs, some 
milt is added, and the whole is gently stirred once with the hand, so as to distribute 
the milt a mong the eggs. After this, enough water is poured slowly into the vessel 
to cover the eggs, whereupon a person takes a stout feather and gently stirs them for 
about ten to fifteen minutes, so that they may not adhere together. The eggs are 
then transferred to hatching apparatus, which, if possible, is placed in the same water 
from which the sturgeon were taken. If the temperature of the water is 17° Eeaumur^ 
the embryos will hatch in about ninety-two hours. 
I am now having new hatching apparatus made, in accordance with the experi- 
ence gained during our last experiments. 
