March i6, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
333 
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the reports of wardens, the good effects of 
stocking with trout have been phenomenal, es¬ 
pecially within the last three or four years. 
Trout streams declared to be entirely depleted 
are now found to be full of small and medium 
size trout. I have personal knowledge of a 
few streams in the neighborhood of the State 
hatcheries in which the figures since the estab¬ 
lishment of the hatcheries there had been 
marked. The general sentiment seems to be 
that since 1906 up until this summer that trout 
fishing in Pennsylvania as a whole has been 
better than for a quarter of a century. Of 
course the terrible drouth will probably put the 
streams in bad shape for three or four years. 
From what information I can gather I believe 
our streams will be restored to what they were 
in 1907 within three years. Small-mouth bass 
have increased, partly, it is believed, through 
stocking and partly by the sharp protection 
which is given them under the law of Pennsyl¬ 
vania. Pike-perch are more abundant in the 
Susquehanna River to-day than bass, due en¬ 
tirely to stocking.” 
Similar reports come from other States, but 
how does it apply to West Virginia? As an 
example of the success of artificial propaga¬ 
tion, and I only refer to one of many and sim¬ 
ilar cases as a means of stocking the trout 
streams of our State, I submit for your inspec¬ 
tion a photograph of a catch of fish made by 
Hon. Andrew Price, of Marlinton. The fish 
shown in the photograph were caught in Stony 
Creek, a tributary of the Greenbrier River. 
[Picture not reproduced.] I understand that this 
particular stream had, two years previously, 
been entirely fished out and was then restocked 
with brook and rainbow trout, some of which 
were produced at the Government hatchery at 
White Sulphur Springs. I venture to make the 
assertion that ninety per cent, of the fish shown 
in the photograph was produced from eggs 
taken from domesticated fish hatched and 
reared to fingerlings by artificial methods. And 
so I say the tide is turning in favor of the 
angler of West Virginia. I do not claim that 
we can ever successfully compete with Maine, 
New York and Michigan, in attracting tourists, 
but we can attract them in sufficient numbers 
that thousands of dollars will be annually spent 
in the State that would otherwise not result 
beneficially to West Virginians. 
Our Governor, Hon. W. M. O. Dawson, has 
but recently taken a wise step and appointed a 
commission to revise our fish and game laws, 
and favorable results are anticipated from the 
labors of this commission. 
With regard to laws protecting our game 
fishes, I have in mind what I regard as four 
important points. 
First—The sale of all fish classified as game 
fish, particularly the trout, should be prohibited. 
It is a well known fact that in certain localities 
where trout are abundant, a certain class of in¬ 
dividuals make it a business of catching trout 
and selling them at the lumber camps and in 
nearby villages. This same proposition has 
been advocated by some people as suitably ap¬ 
plying to our game animals and birds, and of 
which I approve. Then, if it applies to game 
animals and birds, it will apply equally as well 
to trout and bass. 
Second—The shipment of trout out of the 
(Continued on page 352.) 
Mink Farming. 
The raising of wild animals for their fur is 
a subject of much interest to many persons. 
This is evidenced by the number of requests for 
information that are addressed to the United 
States Department of Agriculture. The depart¬ 
ment has no publication on the mink, but the 
Biological Survey offers the following practical 
hints on mink farming: 
Minks should be kept in the proportion of one 
male to five or six females, and each breeding 
female should have a separate pen. Rutting be¬ 
gins about the middle of February, and the 
young are born about the middle of April. The 
male should be kept by himself except at mating 
time, when he should be admitted to the female’s 
pen for about one day. The females must be 
kept separate or they will be likely to kill each 
other’s young. The male would also kill them 
if he had a chance. 
Bread and sweet milk, corn mush and milk or 
corn mush cooked with bits of meat in it, is the 
best steady food. Meat (which may be of a 
very cheap kind) or fish should be provided 
about twice a week. Feed once a day, except 
females that are suckling young, which should 
be fed twice. Provide fresh water regularly. 
Do not salt the food. Keep pans clean and feed 
only as much as the animals will eat up clean 
at each feeding. 
Pens should be five or six feet square, the 
sides of smooth, wide boards cut four feet long 
and set up with the lower end resting on a foot¬ 
ing of stone or concrete eighteen inches in the 
ground. The sides may be of heavy wire netting 
instead of boards, but in that case the top would 
need to be netted or the animals would climb 
out. Pens may be built economically in groups 
of four or more. The floor of the pen should 
be the bare ground. 
Boxes about two feet by one and one-half by 
one and one-half feet in size should be provided 
for nests, and should have hinged lids so as to 
allow their being opened and examined. The 
boxes may be outside the pens, bolted to the 
fence, with a hole in the fence and box to admit 
the animals. Boxes should be three or four 
inches above the ground, and should be as dark 
as possible, with a hole four inches in diameter 
for the entrance of the minks. A boarded up 
passageway is an excellent device to insure dark¬ 
ness inside the nest box. Fine straw or hay 
should be provided. 
A Hunt on Closing Day. 
Hendersonville, N. C., March 9 .—Editor 
Forest and Stream: February 29 was the last 
day of the grouse shooting season here, so I 
took my setter Nellie, Jr., for a last try at the 
birds. I boarded the train for Brevard, twenty- 
two miles west of this town, that afternoon 
and met two other sportsmen who agreed to 
join me the next morning, the 29th, and we 
arranged for a vehicle to meet us at a point in 
the mountains four and a half miles further 
west and for an early breakfast. 
Between daylight and sunrise on the morning 
of the 29th we were on the tramp, borrowing 
another setter just at the edge of the town 
from a brother of one of my friends, to aid 
Nellie in finding grouse. We tramped till mid¬ 
day before putting up a bird. 
In hunting these ruffed grouse of our moun¬ 
tains one must be all the time on the qui vive, 
and to tramp for hours without seeing one is 
not only trying work, but is apt to make one 
careless. Our new dog kept us very busy. 
She was as wild as a buck, and no amount of 
scolding, supplemented by a number of whip¬ 
pings, kept her from rushing on ahead of us 
and putting up the birds. This was hard on 
Nellie, and she was handicapped, not being used 
to hunting with a dog requiring such treat¬ 
ment. A dozen or fifteen birds were put up 
and three only bagged. I have had only seven 
shots this season and bagged five grouse. 
I gathered quite a large number of galax 
leaves for the ladies at home, many from five 
to six inches across, both green and bronzed. 
The north mountainsides, near the creek runs, 
are carpeted with millions of these beautiful 
leaves. Finally we started for the carriage 
about five and a half miles away, and coming to 
a wood flume with a nine-inch board by it from 
five to 25 feet above ground, we took it in 
preference to the muddy logging road. Now, 
our dogs evidently thought us as a trio of idiots, 
for they would not walk that nine-inch board 
walk, nor would they see us do it; and so after 
a while, on reaching the road again, two and a 
half miles below, the dogs were not there. 
That night they came to the home of the other 
dog and were fed, but Nellie fled back to the 
woods in search of me, refusing to be caught. 
The next morning I walked over to inquire 
after her, thus leaving my trail, and a- little 
after one o’clock in the afternoon she again 
came back, struck my trail and came on to my 
stopping place. 
Nellie is now in durance vile till Jan. i, 1913, 
while some 4,000 curs and hounds enjoy the 
great out of doors the whole of the twelve 
months. Our train ran over a skunk and the 
occupants of the first-class car knew it “immedi¬ 
ately if not sooner.” That skunk was evidently 
a very able-bodied specimen, for all the car 
windows and doors were shut, and I only saw 
one ventilator open, but the odor was very 
much in evidence. Ernest L. Ewbank. 
Birds Numerous. 
Wabasso, Fla., March 10. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Mosquitoes have been so bad along the 
lower east coast this winter that there is little 
pleasure in hunting quail, although they are 
numerous. Deer are getting scarce. Hounding, 
I think, is the main reason. If all goes well I 
am contemplating a little fishing trip along the 
keys next summer, and if I do, you will hear 
from me—if I catch anything, 
I have never seen so many song birds since I 
have made my home in Florida, as I have this 
winter, but ducks are unusually scarce. 
C. A. V. 
