
FOREST AND STREAM. 
213 


og Se ee TE PELE EEE 
perience of another, then he may skip the whole series, for 
he is much better informed than the writer thereof. 
And if it should seem that too free use is made of the 
first person singular, then it should also be remembered 
that one who has nothing but his own personal experience 
to draw upon, is of necessity compelled to use it often, and 
all the knowledge of trout-breeding that I possess can be 
truthfully said fo have been acquired in that school that 
is reported to be the most expensive of all, and which is 
well patronized by a certain class of whom it is said that 
they will learn in no other; but until quite recently there 
was no other, of any kind. Within the last few years there 
have been several books published of more or less exccl- 
lence, but there are new discoveries and modes of operation 
continually claiming attention, so that a book soon becomes 
old in this new business, and besides this, they are all defi- 
cient in details, and it is in these where men have failed. 
Some of these writers have had but little personal ex- 
perience, have lived at a distance from their ponds which 
have been cared for by an atfendant, who did all the work 
and gaye the proprietor all the information he possessed 
about them; and right here it would be as well to say that 
the writer makes no claim to any scientific knowledge, 
which the much regrets), and as he often has questions of 
yhat nature asked, he is always obliged to refer them to 
more competent authority, but having dug and built his 
ponds with his own hands, taken the spawn and cared for 
it and the fish, without help most of the time, he feels 
competent to give advice of a practical nature. 
It was thought neeessary to state these things in order 
that the readers of Forrest AND STREAM may know exactly 
how much value can be placed on the statements hereafter 
to be made. 
Having had many letters from the Southern States con- 
taining inquiries concerning trout, wherein it was doubtful 
if the writer thereof knew our brook-trout of the north, If 
will say: I do not know the exact southern limit in which 
trout occur. There is a fish called trout everywhere, a 
chub in the James River is so called, and a varicty of bass 
is known in Alabama by the same name, so that it will be 
seen that the common names of fish are almost as badly 
mixed as those of birds, and probably the inhabitants of 
those places who have heard their fish called trout all their 
sives would laugh to scorn the pretentions of our fish to the 
name, and as this paper is not limited in its circulation to 
the habitat of the Salmo fontinalis, I will merely say, that 
that is the name of the fish referred to here, for description 
of which see any scientific work on fishes. It has also been 
called Salmo nigrescens, and Baione fontinalis, but the name 
given above is adopted by Richardson, Kirtland, Mitchell, 
Ayres, Gill, DeKay, Storer, and other prominent scientific 
men. 
It is popularly cailed brook-trout, speckled trout, spotted 
trout, and mountain trout, in different localities. 
There is a vatiety called silver trout which is entirely 
without spots or markings, and whose sides glisten with a 
beautiful silver sheen, not so* handsome however as the 
spotted kind. This fish is found occasionally in western 
New York, in Vermont and perhaps in other States. I 
had both kinds on exhibition at a fair once, and a man 
from Lycoming Co., Pa., after examining the silver trout, 
said: ‘‘ Those are trout, but what are the others?” 
After explaining that they were our common brook-trout 
he looked them all over and said that they must be what 
he had heard called ‘‘black trout,” but had never seen 
them, although he was breeding the silver ones. Natural- 
ists who count but little fer color in fish, as it is so much 
more variable in them than in birds and animals, make no 
difference I believe, between these fish, or it may be that 
the silver ones are albinos; if so, then it appears that there 
are sections where the trout are all albinos. Ihave never 
thought enough of them to try to breed them, and none 
have ever occurred among my stock which originally came 
from streams where they are occasionally found. 
There is a great difference in the markings on our trout, 
not only in the crimson dot, which often varies on the sides 
of the same fish, but in the pencilings on the back, which 
is sometimes mottled, and at others marked with broad ir- 
regular bands; the latter are my favorites and are known 
on the trout farm as ‘‘mackerel-backs,” a name that des 
cribes their appearance exactly. 
A person with more leisure could have easily determined 
if it were possible to breed these fish ‘‘to the feather,” as 
the poultry men say. This is among the possibilities of 
fish culture and willbe accomplished some day. Why not? 
Marks are fixed by selection of breeders in all other live 
stock, and it may require several generations to establish a 
strain that will be true to pattern. 
The lateness of the season, however, demands that the 
different modes of taking spawn should come first in order, 
and therefore we will leave these minor questions and pro- 
ceed to consider those. 
There are three ways by which trout are increased in 
ponds and streams; first: by making spawning places and 
allowing the fish to make their own nests in which they 
‘ spawn, and the young hatch without further aid from man; 
second: taking the eggs from the ripe fish, impregnating 
and hatching them; third: by making nests in the ingenious 
contrivance known as Ainsworth screens, where the fish 
lay their eggs in gravel that rests on wire cloth and it is 
caught on a finer screen below, from which it is taken to 
be hatched in the same manner as those taken by hand. 
In order to clearly describe the last two processes, it will 
be necessary to show how the fish deposit their ova when 
left to themselves. It is always interesting to lie at full 
length upon the board covering of the spawning race and 
¥ 
watch the proceedings below through the cracks, and not- 
withstanding the fact that the writer has done it hundreds 
of times it is not only just as interesting as ever, but as un- 
satisfactory, for there are some parts of the operation about 
which there seems to be as much obscurity as ever. Most, 
if not all efforts at pairing seem to be on the part of the 
males who often appear on the spawning beds several days 
before the females, and when the latter arrive and begin 
the nest-making, each one is appropriated by one of the 
sterner sex who keeps close to her unless driven off by 
some more powerful rival. The female pays no attention 
to these skirmishes, but busies herself in making a depres- 
sion in the gravel wherein to deposit her treasure. This 
she does by turning on her side and whipping the gravel 
with a succession of short quick strokes of her tail which 
causes her to move forward and upward until she is beyond 
its reach, when she again returns to her position to rest. 
The male fish now renews his attentions by rubbing against 
her sides, sometimes going clear around her head, all the 
while trembling with excitement until the spectator can 
almost imagine he can hear a rumbling sound as he rounds 
the point of her nose. 
This is kept up until a nest is made several inches deep and 
a foot or more in circumference, which sometimes occupies 
two or three days. When all is ready she depresses her 
abdomen by bending her head and tail upward and by 
gently pressing against the stones as she moves forward, 
the eggs flow in an amber stream. The male, watchful 
of every moye, seems to know the exact moment, for both 
seem to move by one impwse and discharge eggs and milt 
together, which are then covered up, but whether by one 
or both, I have never been able to determine. Some say 
the male alone does this, but there is always a great flurry 
and a cloud of milt that has prevented close observation. 
It often happens that when two ripe males are battling 
for possession of a female that the fight ends in the death 
of one or both. A tin will be torn out, or scratches on the 
sides from the adversaries’ teeth will have caused a slower 
death from the fungoid growth with which the wounds will 
be covered, 
For ponds and streams where the trout are to be left to 
do their own spawning, all that is necessary is to provide 
eraveled beds in or near a spring if possible, or just below 
an eddy formed by a log or stone where the water is not 
too swift. The beds should be covered over by boards 
which not only prevent their being disturbed by the sight 
of persons or animals passing, but also gives the fish a 
feeling of security. 
The increase is very small by this method as the eggs that 
are laid by one pair are thrown out and devoured by the 
next fish who may happen to choose the same locality for a 
nest, still it is much better than nothing if the owner is not 
able or inclined to do more. The first artificial pond that 
the writer ever saw was managed in this way, and the 
owner took many trout for his own use from if each year, 
besides allowing a limited number of visitors to fish in it 
at one dollar per pound, 
This pond was 80x100 feet, and from one to nine feet 
deep. It was simply scooped out with a plow and scraper 
below a couple of small springs which were made into 
spawning beds, and aditch plowed around the pond to carry 
off the surface water. 
eae a RI 
FRED MATHER. 

—There are 1,500 vessels engaged in the Baltimore oyster 
trade, which in season average 1,200 bushels of oysters 
each trip. These nave mostly suspended operations. A 
short time since pungymen bought oysters at 40 cents per 
bushel at the beds, brought them to Baltimore, expecting 
to realize 60 cents, the price paid when they left, and were 
compelled to sell for 10 to 15 cents. This has had the effect 
of intimidating the oystermen, and hence receipts are light. 
Some of the packing-houses which a‘ this time are usually 
very busy, are doing nothing. A few others again who in 
busy seasons employ 500 and 1,000 men, have from one- 
third to one-sixth this number now at work. It is estimated 
that over 12,000 persons are engaged in the oyster trade, in- 
cluding the dredgers. 
—A lot of minstrels went to a town not far from Boston 
lately, and advertised to give a performance for ‘‘the benefit 
of the poor—tickets reduced to ten cents.” The hall was 
crammed full The next morning a committee of the poor 
called upon the treasurer of the concern for the amount said 
benefit had netted. The treasurer expressed astonishment 
at the demand. ‘‘I thought,” said the chairman of the com- 
mittee, “you advertised this concert for the benefit of the 
poor.” Replied the treasurer: ‘“‘Didn’t we put the tickets 
down to ten cents so that the poor could all come!” The 
committee vanished. 
-—The Emperor said to Nelaton (the famous French 
surgeon, who has just died), when he cured his Prince ln- 
perial in 1867: ‘‘ I thank you, Monsieur Nelaton; you have 
saved my son.” ‘‘ Tam glad of it, sire,” was his answer, 
‘for T have at the same time saved my reputation.” 
—‘Tf you are unlucky enough to sever a man’s carotid 
artery,” said Nelaton, the French surgeon, recently deceas- 
ed, “remember that about two minutes must elapse before 
syncope takes place, and as many moore before death super- 
venes. Now four minutes are just three more than is 
needed for binding a ligature, provided, that you do not 
hurry.” 
—The funny man on the World says that ‘“‘seven cars full 
of eggs were sent to the Milwaukee and Northern Railway 
in one train last week—an unparalled instance of ova-load- 
ing.” 
—A hundred thousand salmon, the eggs being received 
from California, have been hatched at the State Hatching 
House, and will soon be placed in the tributaries to Lake 
Ofttario. 
—A Sophomore at Lewisburg University describes an 
ellipse as ‘‘a circle kinder rounded at both ends.” 
“WANTED”, says a country paper, ‘young ladies who can 
play at croquet without cheating.” 

AWVoodland, Lawn and Garden. 
THE VALUE OF FOREST TREES. 

“Woodman, spare that tree.” ad 
E are much gratified to know that more of an inter- 
est is beginning to be taken in the preservation and 
cultivation of our natural forests, and that a consciousness 
of the necessity of planting out large tracts of hitherto 
waste lands with timber and forest trees, is beginning to be 
appreciated. All thisis a step in the right direction and 
deserves our thanks. So great has been the destruction of 
scme of our large forest lands, that in some sections of our 
country its effects have already been seriously felt. 
Droughts of long continuance, great dryness of the atmos- 
phere, and the drying up of quite alarge number of streams 
—some of them not inconsiderable streams, have in fact 
disappeared altogether, while some streams of water, 
which once made sweet music in their serpentine meander- 
ings through the forest, are dry, and they, like the green 
sheltering forest over their heads, have become a shadow of 
what they once were. We behold no tall green forest with 
its deepening shade making glad the heart of man; no peb- 
ly brooklet murmurs over its many-colored mosaics; its di- 
versified channel lies bare, and a universal dryness of the 
atmosphere has taken the place of the former cooling mel- 
low climate. We sigh in vain for the cooling breeze that 
once swept over these hills, that coursed through these 
evales, bringing comfort and cheer to the weary traveler. 
We sit again upon an old and well known seat—a pile of 
rocks amid the hemlocks—once covered with moss and vio- 
lets springing at their bases. Alas! the hemlock’s shade has 
departed with the hemlocks, the green moss and violets 
have become dried up and withered, and they have left no 
trace behind,where all this beauty had been. 
We might cite many interesting scientific and philosoph- 
ical facts to prove that, wherever a thorough investigation 
of atmospheric and other phenomena attending the cutting 
of our forests has been fully and thoroughly studied, a 
great dryness of the atmosphere in the immediate neigh- 
borhood was always the result. To an observing mind of 
only moderate capacity, the life study of such an one has 
given ample proof of the necessity of preserving our forests 
intact. Said a man of only ordinary intelligence: ‘‘I have 
had no opportunity for studying these occurrences in the 
way you have, I know but of the reason why it always 
follows that when you cut off the wood from a swamp, 
you dry up the brooks; but I know itis so in nine cases 
out of ten. I am satisfied there is something in it more 
than accident.” ° 
“Of what tracts do you speak now in particu- 
lar, and what proof do you give that these swamp 
grounds are not to-day in the same condition as to mean 
temperature and density of atmosphere, as they were at the 
first period of which you speak ?” 
‘Why, sir, I used to be quitea sportsman once; twenty 
years ago, when I was a younger man, I used to go into 
these Henny swamps, as they were called, and in six hours’ 
time, with a good dog—Dash—and myself, used to bag 
twenty woodcock, and then we were not tired in the least. 
T could, had I been so minded, have easily made my twenty 
birds twice twenty in number before five o’clock.” 
‘Why did you not keep on shooting, if you relished the 
sport ? Ishould have found it hard to have stayed my 
hand.” 
‘And this was the case with myself. I confess to the 
wish to have kept up the ‘banging away’ until night, but I 
never was a pot hunter or ‘slaughterer of birds or fish,’ for 
the mere sport of killing the same. I shot what I then 
ranted, as all good and true sportsmen do. I never com- 
mitted bird or fish murder.” 
‘““You once made these Henny Swamps your game 
ground. You would find it difficult now to flush much 
game there.” 
“You are right,” answered my friend. ‘‘You would be 
as likely to find black duck ona July pasture as a woodcock 
in these dry barrens, once fine, damp, shady swamps, just 
the best of feeding grounds tor the woodcock. They are 
gone never to return again, and the brooks are dried up.”* 
Of what benefit, therefore, may or may not be a knowl- 
edge of the temperature of the earth in forest or open 
lands ? 
Ebermaye, a celebrated Bavarian physicist, passed many 
months of his active life in the study of external influences 
upon the atmospheric temperature of forest and plain. 
Among his conclusions pertinent to the discussion of our 
paper, we would note that, upon causing very careful no- 
tices to be made of the temperature of the ground by 
neans of thermometers sunk from the depth of from one to 
six inches, and of one, two, and three and four feet, he 
found in the upper layer of earth, within one foot of the 
surface, the minimum monthly mean temperature, occur- 
ring both in open and in wooded regions, in the month of 
January; and only on the high mountains does the lowest 
temperature occur in February. He also found an increase 
of temperature from February, or until its maximum in 
July; at the high stations only does the maximum occur in 
August. All our observations have convinced us that from 
the months of July or August the temperature decreases to 
January or February. 
These facts, to the common understanding, may seem 
very trivial or scarcely worth the mention, yet, my friends, 
to the agricultural interests of a country they are of great 
*A more efficient argument for the preservation of forests we do not 
remember to have heard recently, although we are in possession of many 
which prove the value of forests, 
