Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/230

 222 FISH CULTURE stocking of rivers and ponds, to the erection of fish ways around falls and dams, and to the procuring of protective legislation forbid- ding the taking of fish during the spawning season, and regulating the use of nets and the more destructive means of capture. In 1867 Seth Green hatched 15,000,000 young shad at Holyoke, Mass., and turned them into the Connecticut river, and repeated the experi- ment the following year. Operations have since been carried on, under the auspices of the Connecticut commissioners, at South Had- ley falls, where more than 90,000,000 eggs were hatched in 1872. The result has been a very great increase in the number of shad taken in that river. Hatching operations have also been carried on by Mr. Green, under the auspices of the New York commissioners, at a point about 10 m. below Albany on the Hudson, where 8,295,000 young shad were hatched in 1871, and 7,498,000 in 1872, which were turned into the river. Experiments made by Mr. Charles G. Atkins in Maine, in 1871 and 1872, have demonstrated the practi- cability of taking salmon in the spring and keeping them confined in ponds until the spawning season, when the eggs can be readily obtained. The fish are caught in the Penob- scot and confined in a pond in Bucksport. In 1872 about 1,500,000 eggs were obtained and distributed among the persons under whose patronage the work was carried on, viz. : the commissioners of the United States, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. In Massachusetts fishways have been built on the Merrimack at Lawrence and Lowell, and hatching operations have been carried on at North Andover to restock that river with shad. The alewife has been reintroduced into many ponds, and fishways built over dams to enable that fish to ascend streams that had be- come impassable. Salmon have been placed in several streams on Cape Cod, in the Mystic river, and in the Pemigewasset in New Hamp- shire, a branch of the Merrimack. An im- proved fishway lias been invented by E. A. Brackett of Winchester, one of the commis- sioners, who has also introduced an improved hatching tray, which has been extensively adopted, in consequence of the saving of labor which results from its being less liable than the ordinary boxes to be clogged with dirt, and from its ease of manipulation. It consists of a frame of inch board, about 18 in. square, with a wire-cloth bottom of eight meshes to the inch, and is coated with paraffine varnish, which ren- ders it proof against the growth of fungus. It fits neatly into the ordinary hatching trough, and is fastened half an inch from the bottom. It possesses the additional advantage of being a convenient vessel for transporting eggs. Lit- tle has been done toward stocking the Connec- ticut with salmon, in consequence of a litiga- tion with the Holyoke water-power company involving the right of the state to compel that corporation to build a fishway around its dam. This suit, however, having been decided by the supreme court of the United States in favor of the commonwealth, a fishway was opened in the autumn of 1873, and measures will be taken in Vermont and New Hampshire to stock the head waters of that stream with sal- mon. Black bass have been introduced into various lakes and ponds in Maine, New Hamp- shire, and Connecticut, whitefish into Winni- peseogee and Sunape lakes, and several inland lakes of Wisconsin, Michigan, and New York, and smelt into Massabesic lake, New Hamp- shire. The New York commissioners have distributed large numbers of black bass, pike- perch, Oswego bass, yellow perch, white bass, bullheads, &c., for the purpose of stocking the small lakes, rivers, and ponds of the state. These fish are taken from the Erie canal at Rochester, ascending from Lake Erie to that ' point, where unless removed they perish upon the drawing off of the water at the close of navigation. As early as the year 1848 Dr. W. C. Daniell of Savannah placed shad in a tribu- tary of the Alabama river, which, with some subsequent additions, have spread until sev- eral streams emptying into the gulf of Mex- ico have been stocked with them. They are found in the Escambia and its tributaries on the east, and on the west in the Mississippi as far up as the tributaries of the Red and Arkan- sas. In 1871 Seth Green transported 10,000 young shad from the Hudson, and placed them in the Sacramento river in California. Young shad have been placed by the New York com- missioners in several inland lakes of that state, and in Lakes Champlain and Ontario ; and the United States commissioner, aided by a con- gressional appropriation, has introduced them in great numbers into various rivers on the At- lantic coast from the Penobscot, Me., to the Neuse, N. C. ; into the Alleghany, the Kan- awha, the Wabash, and into the Mississippi at St. Paul; into a tributary of Salt Lake, into the Sacramento, and into Lakes Erie and Michigan, and other waters. Great interest is attached to these attempts to naturalize the shad in waters not affording access to the sea. A like experiment has been initiated with the salmon, which has been introduced by Prof. Baird into the Grand river, Mich., and the Menomonee, Wis., tributaries of Lake Michi- gan. Efforts have also been made to stock the Delaware river with salmon. In 1872 an es- tablishment was erected by the United States commissioner on the Sacramento for the pur- pose of procuring and distributing the eggs of the salmon of that river, which is a distinct species from the eastern salmon, and which it is believed will flourish in rivers further south. The ova procured that year were hatched at the establishment of Dr. Slack in New Jersey, and the young fish were placed in the Susque- hanna. In 1873 more than 1,000,000 eggs were secured, which have mostly been divided between the New York state hatching house and that of Dr. Slack for incubation. The