FANCIERS’ 
JOURNAL 
AND 
POULTRY EXCHANGE. 


WOTe a i 
PHILADELPHIA, DECEMBER 10, 1874. 
Nos. 49 & 50. 


(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
A VISIT TO SETH GREEN’S EXHIBITION OF 
FISHES. 
Jos. M. WADE, Esq. 
Tuesday, the 22d of September, last, our Albany County 
Fair opened auspiciously. It could not be otherwise, as the 
distinguished pisciculturist, Seth Green of Caledonia, N. Y., 
was present, with twenty-four aquaria of game and food- 
fishes captured or hatched in American waters. One aqua- 
rium contained California salmon (Salmo quinnat), which 
fish is of late being introduced in the East. These little fel- 
lows were but a few inches in length. They were very 
pretty and caused the imagination of more than one ardent 
angler to picture a happy future when these beauties, full 
grown, and filled with life and vigor, could be taken on the 
fly at our very doors, and eaten fresh on our table at home; 
thereby obviating the present expensive necessity of leasing 
a river in some of the neighboring provinces. 
There were several aquaria of speckled or brook trout 
(Salmo fontinalis), the fish ranging all the way from an 
ounce to a pound each. 
Some of the smaller ones were from-three to four years 
old. Unless one knows positively the age of a trout, by 
having raised him from the egg, it is impossible to deter- 
mine by his size how old he is, as that depends upon quality 
and quantities of food, quantity and character of waters, loca- 
tion, ete. 
There are streams and lakes where these fish exist in great 
abundance, and are seldom if ever known to exceed a half 
pound each, and there are other localities where they are 
rarely found so small. 
In the great northern wilderness of New York (Adiron- 
dacks), a speckled trout as large as three pounds is not 
frequently taken. The writer has made many trips to this 
wild and picturesque region, using his best endeavors to dis- 
cover the spot where the large fish have their habitat, but 
it is only this present season that he has been successful in 
reaching the wltama thule of his desires, in killing, on the 
fly and six ounce cedar.rod, a speckled beauty of four and a 
quarter pounds. In the language of my piscatorial friend, 
George Dawson, of the Albany Journal, ‘The most. skil- 
ful angler may fish an entire season without striking one; 
as anglers may cast in the waters of the Adirondacks for 
scores of years without meeting with so large a fish.”” Never- 
theless, in the Rangeley lakes, of Maine, the same species 
are captured in considerable numbers every year, weighing 
four, five, six, and even in exceptional cases seven and 
eight pounds. My friend, Mr. Caldwell, of New York city, 
has taken one of eight and a half pounds, and I am credibly 
informed that another gentleman of the same city has one 
preserved that weighed ten pounds. In the Neepigon river, 
emptying into the northern part of Lake Superior, speckled 
trout of from four to six pounds are common. Of all the 
fishes exhibited by Mr. Green that which created the liveliest 


interest was the Michigan Grayling (Thymalis tricolor) ; this 
fish is of the same genera as the European Grayling, but 
is not the same species. Until within a few days they were, 
by many, believed to be identical, but the investigation of 
that very valuable paper, the Forest and Stream, has quite 
demonstrated a different conclusion. All the rapid rivers 
of Northern Michigan teem with these beautiful fish; they 
range in weight from a few ounces to a pound a piece, and 
are sometimes captured weighing a pound and a quarter. 
They rise freely to a ‘‘ well dissembled fly’’ and afford the 
angler fine sport; they do not, however, fight as long or as 
hard as the trout, but after making two or three determined 
rushes give up the contest. 
They are most delicious food, and our best wishes are with 
Mr. Green and others in their attempts to propagate them 
outside their native lands. In one aquarium Mr. Green had 
small-mouthed black bass (Micropterus salmoides), and in 
another, large-mouthed or Oswego bass (Micropterus nigri- 
cans). The bass can be more generally distributed through- 
out the country than any other American fish, with the ex_ 
ception of the pike, pickerel (Hsow seticulatus). As a food- 
fish it is greatly the superior of the latter ; it is thoroughly 
a game fish, rising to the artificial fly when trolled fifty to 
seventy-five feet behind a boat. It can be taken with the 
spoon, spinning rig, live bait, worm, larve of various in- 
sects (notably that of the dragon-fly), and, late in the season, 
with the belly of the yellow perch. It is hardy, grows 
rapidly, and is able to maintain itself against all enemies. 
In another aquarium were gold fish, silver fish, gar fish, 
pike (pickerel), dog fish, dace, chubs, suckers, eels, etc., etc. 
Is it not strange that in as progressive a country as ours 
the matter of fish culture should have so long been held in 
abeyance? But on ali sides we now discern indications of 
increasing interest in the great question, and it is quite evi- 
dent that the time is approaching when the prediction of 
Mr. Green, that an acre of water would be worth more to 
the farmer than an acre of land, will be verified. All should 
unite to push forward the good work. 
av? W. Hit. 
Asta 
ALBANY, N. Y., October 8, 1874. 

CS 
ARE not the Plymouth Rocks, fowl pilgrims? That’s a 
stunner, give it up. 
A PouLTRY fancier, seeing a storm approaching, ordered 
his newly hired man to ‘‘ get the coach in.”’? A few minutes 
afterwards the man returned, very red in the face, and 
perspiring freely. ‘‘ Faith and sure, sir, it’s a sorry job 
that ye give me; I was after cotchin him siveral times, 
but the burrid is not aisy caught at all. I run ’im under 
the corn-house, and I think, sir, he will stay until after the 
storm.’’ ‘“‘ Stupid dunce, I meant get the carriagein.” ‘Oh, 
ho! but ye said get the coachin, and I thought it was the 
burrid with square trowsers on ye wanted.” 
