476 Wisconsin- State Agricultural Society. 
boxes, lined with zinc. These are divided into five equal compart¬ 
ments by partitions an inch and a half high, and also two smaller 
ones, one at each end. That at the upper end is where the water 
runs in from the faucet, and at the lower end is the waste-pipe. 
Under each faucet a sponge is placed, which catches the sediment 
from the water. The lower end of the trough is an inch lower 
than the upper end. The process of getting the eggs is as follows: 
Mr. Palmer goes out on the bay with the fishing-boats, taking with 
him some tin pans. When a female fish is taken containing “ ripe ” 
eggs, the fish is held by the gills with one hand, while the other 
hand is passed gently down the abdomen and the eggs run out into 
the pans. The eggs are then fructified by a similar operation with 
a male fish, producing a milky fluid. The eggs are then taken ashore 
and put in the hatching-troughs. They being heavier than the 
water, lie on the bottom, while a continuous stream of water flows 
over them. After they have lain there a few weeks, a minute black 
speck is seen in each egg. This is the embryo fish. After the lapse 
of about 100 days from the time of depositing the eggs, the fish, a 
mere speck, having absorbed the egg, has life and begins to shift 
for itself, lying in the water with its head constantly turned up 
stream. The eggs lie in the trough about 64 to the square inch’ 
from which the total number may be determined with tolerable ac¬ 
curacy. Every day they are carefully stirred up with a feather, and 
any dead eggs that may be found, removed by a pair of pliers. 
The living eggs are almost transparent, while the dead ones turn 
white. 
“It was Mr. Palmer’s intention to put in some salmon-trout eggs, 
but in this he has failed. The trout caught in the bay this fall 
have been almost exclusively males, and it is evident that the fe¬ 
males have gone to some other place to spawn. Up to the time of 
our visit he had secured 300,000 white-fish eggs and if possible will 
put in half a million or more. But three of the troughs are in use, 
and if possible he will put in a million herring-eggs in the fourth 
one. The first eggs have now been in the troughs about two weeks 
and are looking well. Mr. Palmer informs us that the fishermen 
generally, and Joseph Levaile in particular, have been very kind to 
him and assisted him in every possible way. The white-fish are 
generally done spawning by about the 20th of October, but many 
have been found that are not ready yet. 
♦ 
