PiEPORT OF Fisu Commissioners. 
257 
ing exceedingly strong and healthy. The eggs were sent by ex¬ 
press from Sacramento, California, and were taken from the Mc¬ 
Cloud river, a tributary of the Sacramento river, under the direc¬ 
tion of the United States commissioners. When full grown they 
vary in weight from fifteen to twenty pounds, and have been taken 
weighing sixty pounds. The only expense attending the ova was 
the express charge — that being equitably apportioned among the 
several states provided with commissioners and desiring the spawns. 
The United States establishment, located at Reservation, Redding, 
California, annually distributes millions of the spawn of the salmon, 
as above stated. The action of the government in this respect is a 
great aid to the states in the matter of fish propagation. 
There have been placed in the ponds, from the establishment of 
Messrs. Mann & Dousman, of Waterville, Waukesha county, and 
where they were bred, 2,000 speckled trout, over two years old. 
Their average weight is about one-half pound each. They were 
received in excellent condition, and are designed for breeders. 
Over 100,000 of the eggs have been secured from them since they 
"were placed in the ponds, and the eggs, at this writing are in pro¬ 
cess of being hatched. Six hundred California salmon, about a year 
old, were placed in the ponds from Mr. Palmer’s establishment; 
from the same source, also, 1,000 Penobscot salmon, and 2,000 of 
the land-Locked. If these last named varieties thrive, we purpose 
to keep them as breeders. With our facilities for water and ponds, 
we hope, in a few years, to be able to take on the ground all the 
spawn we may desire for the hatchery at Madison. 
We need scarcely add, that at this establishment we have all the 
appliances we could desire for fish culture. Without wishing to 
overestimate our advantages, and again referring to our site, we 
think, all things considered, that we have a very superior situation 
for our purposes, and one of the very best of hatching houses. 
The Madison lakes are among the finest bodies of inland waters in 
the northwest. The springs upon which we are located, empty 
their waters into a large bay lying north of Waubesa or Second 
Lake, and with this bay, the entire chain of lakes of the four lake 
country is connected. From the hatching house springs and with¬ 
out ever taking the fry from the ponds in which they are bred, we 
can stock nearly 21,000 acres of water. Being equi-distant be¬ 
tween l.ake ^Michigan and the Mississippi, with the railroad facili- 
17 —A 
