2 1 8 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. ii, 1906. 
any kind of pollution is bad for fish. Dr. Bean 
showed how the pollution of waters caused dis¬ 
eases that are deadly to fish, and cited a recent 
outbreak among the hardy brown trout as an 
example. 
An attempt to show that the whitefish and lake 
trout are not disappearing from the Great Lakes 
was made in a paper read by Mr. Seymour 
Bower, who took his facts from the statistics 
of the lake fisheries themselves. He had collated 
the figures of the Michigan statistics and really 
made out a strong case for his side, but the 
members seemed to think that other things be¬ 
sides figures must be taken into consideration. 
Nevertheless, Mr. Bower’s paper served to call 
attention to the greatness of the lake fisheries, 
and also the very great increase in the use of 
nets and boats for fishing, and to the fact that 
from 1891 to 1904 the number of fishermen had 
practically doubled. Mr. Bower made the as¬ 
sertion further that two-thirds of the whitefish 
caught in Lake Michigan are under size and 
illegal fish. 
“Experiments in Propagation of Rainbow 
Trout” were discussed in a paper read by Mr. 
Albert Rosenberg, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, 
who is a specialist in this species. He offered 
the suggestion that low vitality in the eggs 
might be due to overfeeding the brood fish. 
The discussion of the paper showed that all the 
hatchery men had had trouble with this _ fish, 
although they had not previously reported it. 
The session closed with an exhaustive paper 
by Dr. H. M. Smith, of Washington, on “Fish¬ 
ery Legislation Before the 59th Congress.” His 
conclusions were that much excellent work was 
done, but the impression left was that much 
more should have been done and was sadly 
needed. 
In the evening the Society listened to a lec¬ 
ture by Prof. Reighard at the Ryerson Library 
on “The Nest-Building Fishes of Michigan.” It 
was handsomely illustrated by lantern slides, 
showing the domestic habits of the several 
species. 
Officers were chosen at the opening of the 
second day’s session. The vote was unanimous 
for the following: President, Prof. E. A. Birge, 
of Madison, Wis.; Vice-President, Dr. H. M. 
Smith, of Washington, D. C.; Recording Sec¬ 
retary, George F. Peabody, of Appleton, Wis.; 
Corresponding Secretary, Prof. Charles G. 
Atkins, of East Orland, Maine; Treasurer, C. 
W. Willard, of Westerly, R. I. The Executive 
Committee chosen consisted of John D. Whisli, 
Chairman, Albany, N. Y.; E. Hart Geer, of 
Hadlyme, Conn.; W. H. Boardman, of Central 
Falls, R. I.; James A. Henshall, of Bozeman, 
Mont., and S. F. Fullerton, of St. Paul, Minn. 
Erie, Pa., was selected as the place for the next 
meeting. The meeting place was named in 
honor of Mr. Meehan, the Pennsylvania Com¬ 
missioner of Fisheries, and as the big hatcheries 
of the State are close by, it will be an ideal lo¬ 
cation. During the short talks that followed the 
election, Mr. Titcomb called attention to the 
American Breeders’ Association, which has been 
formed to improve the known animals and plants 
and produce better' ones if possible, tie urged 
the Society to help the work by experimenting 
in the hybridizing of fishes, and to report the 
results of crosses. He thought much might be 
done in the way of improvement by selection 
in commercial hatcheries, and referred also to 
the very meager data existing as to diseases of 
fish. President Joslyn also discussed the mat¬ 
ter as one of the greatest importance. Mr. Tit- 
comb turned directly from these remarks to a 
paper outlining the progress made by the U. o. 
Bureau of Fisheries during the past year. The 
O’Malley experiments of last season in deter¬ 
mining dead eggs of the salmonidae have been 
continued, and the proper specific gravity of the 
salt solution has been determined. The method 
is of great service in saving labor where very 
large quantities of eggs are handled. Brook 
trout, lake trout and whitefish eggs can now be 
handled in this way. A great variety of prob¬ 
lems of interest chiefly to fisculturists were re- 
fered to by Mr. Titcomb and discussed by the 
members. Instances were cited where the same 
male bass and sunfish have taken care of no 
less than three schools of fry each in one season. 
Dr. Atkins followed with a continuation of 
his experiments with fasting fry. Dr. Bean and 
Mr. Clark discussed the paper. The former said 
it led to important conclusions as to the trans¬ 
portation of fry for long distances, and as to 
the weeding out of weaklings. The latter said 
he had learned that there is no need for hurry¬ 
ing" out the young fish. Formerly it was the 
custom to plant fry several days before the sac 
is absorbed. Mr. Titcomb outlined several ad¬ 
ditions that could be made to future experi¬ 
ments, especially the number of fish that can 
be carried to advantage in a certain quantity of 
water. 
A general though brief discussion of the value 
of brown trout and the proper waters in which 
to plant it followed. Dr. Bean discussed the un¬ 
fitness of the species for water containing brook 
trout. Mr. Whish humorously spoke of the joy 
which such fishcultural tragedies as the intro¬ 
duction of carp and brown trout indiscriminately 
brought to the lay brother as he listened to his 
scientific associates make their confessions. 
Mr. Meehan insisted that the fault for such 
tragedies lies wholly with the lay brother whose 
demands for unsuitable things the scientific as¬ 
sociate is unable to withstand. 
The session of the morning closed with a 
paper by Prof. Birge on the “Gases Dissolved 
in the Waters of Wisconsin Lakes.” Lake Men- 
dota was taken as a sample and carefully pre¬ 
pared charts shown, giving the data collected. 
The very great value of the experiments was ap¬ 
parent from the discussion eagerly joined in by 
the members, and it was apparent that the sub¬ 
ject was of importance as opening up a new 
view of the conditions of fish life at the greater 
depths in inland lakes. 
Prior to adjournment the Society was briefly 
addressed by Prof. Roth, of Ann Arbor, who 
talked of the importance of forestry to fish- 
culture. 
Bass was the subject of the afternoon session, 
which was held in the open air at the Mill Creek 
Hatchery. Mr. Dwight Lydell showed the 
ponds in which he made his famous experiments, 
and the visitors were shown the practical 
methods employed in feeding and rearing the 
fish. Mr. Lydell’s paper on “The Bass at the 
Mill Creek Station” naturally led the pro¬ 
gramme.. It dealt with the entire subject of 
bass culture, and was the subject of a long dis¬ 
cussion. A letter from the manager of the 
Waramaug Bass Hatchery, in Connecticut, the 
first commercial hatchery of the kind to prove 
successful, was read during the discussion. Late 
in the afternoon the Society adjourned to go 
to the Lakeside Club, where they were enter¬ 
tained at dinner by the Sportsmen’s Association. 
On the morning of the closing day the mem¬ 
bers were up at daybreak to take a train for 
the Paris Hatchery of the Michigan Commis¬ 
sion, where the rainbow trout is a specialty. The 
ponds were visited, the making of fish food in¬ 
spected, and the long race where natural 
methods of trout culture are to be seen was 
given close attention. The session was oc¬ 
cupied with a highly interesting paper by Prof. 
Atkins, who reported the condition of fishculture 
abroad. A number of practical questions sug¬ 
gested by Mr. Leary, of Texas, were fully dis¬ 
cussed.. The Society then adopted the usual 
resolutions and adjourned. A number of papers, 
which could not well be read during the several 
sessions, were ordered fully printed in the 
volume of proceedings. J. D. W. 
Bass Fishing at Dingman’s Ferry. 
Dingman’s Ferry, Pike County, Pa., Aug. 2.— 
That the bass fishing is good at Dingman’s Ferry 
is evidenced by a photograph just taken of a day’s 
catch by Mr. Mishler, of Philadelphia, Mr. Jones of 
Easton and Joseph Layton, a guide. There are 
thirty-eight fish in all, fifteen of which average 
over two pounds each. On the same day, Mr. 
R. L. McLean and Mr. Wm. Stelwagon, of Phil¬ 
adelphia, came in with large catches including a 
couple of five pounders. The fishing here has 
been good all season in spite of the heavy rains 
which have tended to muddy the rivers at times. 
Senator Abis, of Woodbury, N. J., caught a six 
pound pickerel in the Delaware last week. 
Utah Trouting. 
Those vandals who walk the river banks of 
Utah and Idaho with a stick of dynamite in 
their pockets ready to “shoot” the first “likely” 
pool they come upon will find their avocation 
become rather precarious from this time on. 
The Utah Fish and Game Protective Association, 
composed of 300 of the most public-spirited 
anglers and sportsmen of the State, have taken 
a pledge to clean out the entire brood of pot¬ 
hunters, and they are putting up their good 
money to accomplish the result. In their effort 
the Forestry Department of the Federal Gov¬ 
ernment and the Fish and Game Commission 
of the State have joined hands. Uncle John 
Sharp, Fish and Game Commissioner, has 
offered to deputize every angler and sportsman 
in the State, making each a full-fledged game 
warden with power to arrest. Oyer 100 have 
signified their intention of being sworn in and 
making it their business to run down the van¬ 
dals. Furthermore, the fish commissioner is 
now on a trip through Strawberry Valley, un¬ 
doubtedly the greatest natural trout preserve 
in the West, and when he returns three weeks 
hence, he will have invested twenty-five or 
thirty cool-headed foresters with power to arrest 
any evildoer caught on the streams. And these 
foresters are just the sort of fellows who will 
stand no fooling, but will get their man every 
time even if it requires gun play to do the job. 
Some idea of the vastness of this fish preserve 
may be had when one considers the remark 
of Game Warden Sharp, “One man fishing an 
hour in almost any stream can get enough fish 
to feed a dozen ranchmen a whole day.” 
Because of this fact and, furthermore, that 
there are few settlers in the valley and no game 
wardens with power to arrest, the fishermen’s 
paradise is never free from the visits of the pot¬ 
hunter. A fellow who keeps a resort on the 
Provo River and advertises trout dinners for 
75 cents, feeds 200 to 300 people every Sunday. 
These figures are the result of tabulation kept 
by volunteers from the new protective associa¬ 
tion. This resort keeper claims to be the best 
angler in the State, and he undoubtedly is an 
expert. He makes the broad claim that he takes 
every fish he serves his customers right out of 
the Provo, using none but legitimate means. 
While it might be dangerous to call him a liar 
without proper evidence, there are scores of 
pretty fair anglers who cannot accept his state¬ 
ment, and before the end of the fishing season 
comes it is expected that he will be convicted 
of lawbreaking, or at least his sources of trout 
supply will be effectually cut off. When a man 
goes out and kills 200 or 300 pounds of trout in 
the Provo each week with fly, not to speak of 
attending to the other duties attendant upon 
running a popular resort, other anglers are 
figuring that he must be going some. Further¬ 
more, no one is legally entitled to have over 
twenty-five pounds of trout in his possession 
at any one time, nor to catch more than twenty 
pounds in one day. 
Every angler ip Utah is fully awake to the 
necessity of preserving the fishes in the streams 
and of adding to the supply. As a result of this 
determination to preserve the fish from illegal 
destruction, every principal river in the State 
is being patroled by'a score or more of volun¬ 
tary fish wardens daily, and before the close of 
the season many arrests will be made. 
The efforts of Colorado and Wyoming in fish 
preservation have had a good effect in the way 
of example to Utah and Idaho. Wyoming sta- 
istjcians are boasting that in addition to there 
being the finest fishing in the world in that State, 
affording splendid out-of-door sport for her own 
sons, no less than $100,000 is left annually within 
her borders by sport-loving tourists from other 
narts of the world. Colorado rates the revenues 
from sportsmen as fourth in the list, mining, 
agriculture and cattle being in the lead. 
Utahans propose to advertise their streams to 
the outside world, and this step of exterminating 
the hogs and pot-hunters is the first step. 
Another good move inaugurated by the newly 
formed association is the placing of properly 
constructed gates at the intake of every irriga¬ 
tion canal in the State. Heretofore hundreds of 
