The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1870-04-09

I
the spot drives off and sometimes eats up
intrudcrs bravely guards the eggs until
they are Matched, and possibly takes care
of tie young until they are able to take
care of themselves. This excellent habit
of coniusal and parental fidelity is greatly
to his own credit and our prett. The best
way of treating them is to carry natural
fish which bear confinement well in cold
weather, to such ponds as are adapted to
their wants, and to leave them to shift for
themselves.
The various attempts at artificial propa-
CATION have not altogether been remunera-
antly sufficient. As they are ferocious in
their habits. and sometimes called the
Tiger of the waters, care must be taken
to put them only in waters hot already oc-
cupied by some valuable breeds, for they
will utterly destroy and root ont every other
kind except pickerel. Black bass were
lately introduced into the Potomac, where
they are now reported to be numerous
They found their way naturally into the
Hudson river several years ago, by the
opening of the Champlain canal, and have
been acclmated in many of our Northern
lakes and ponds.
PROPAGATION OF TROUT.
The salnaonidal class of fish are more
difficult to raise from the eggs. These fish.
when approaching their time. seek special
spawning grounds: treuts run into little
riyulets or spring brooks away from their
enemies, the cells and perch, where the
water comes fresh and warm
The speaker gave a description of the
method of propagating trout as practiced
10y Mr.. Greene. A basin of pure water of
the proper temperature, is the first requis-
ite The ripe female that is full Of
eggs ready to be deposited is held over the
basin, and her sides are gently pressed with
the thumb and forefinger. The ripe eggs
ooze from her and drop into the BASIN
They must Immediately receive the i'm
ORIGINATING principle. a male fish is held
over the basin, manipulated in the same
manner as the female, and gives off the
milk" which drops into the basin, and
by some mysterious affinity the eggs are
terminated. The eggs of the trout are
heavy. and drop to the bottom of the basin
like shot. The contents of the basin are
then put into troughs divided into compart
ments of eighteen inches each, through
which a stream of pure water flows of a
temperature of so degrees. Should the
temperature rise to GS degrees the eggs will
perish. The sides of the trough are gen
orally lined with glass and the bottom is
sometimes covered with small pebbles, but
this is not essential. In from forty to
sixty days the eggs are Matched and the
little trout, with a protuberace called the
unitilical sack. Ga remnant Of the egg-shell
appear They are fed on thick milk until
they get large enough to eat more substan
tial food, when pounded liver is added to
their bill of fare.
In the face of all these difficulties the
speaker said that Mr.. Greene had carried
mates that ninety nine out of every hundred
trout eggs that he obtains hatch and pro-
duce healthy young. Still both salmon and
trout are hardly fitted to be subjects of
State cultivation. The latter because their
care can be left in the private hands, and
the former because we have but few streams
in which they have been known to exist
naturally. l cannot tell whether Maryland
has waters suited to trout although it is
very possible that some of her numerous
streams may be of the proper character;
but it is probable that no Southern waters
are adapted to the production of salmon
Trout suffer when the temperature of the
water exceeds GJ degrees.
sHAD IN MARYLAND WATERS.
Mr.. Roosevelt then turned his attention
to the shad a fish, he said. which surpasses
all others in its adaptability to cultivation
and whose numbers can be increased with
the least trouble to the most enormous ex-
tent. While trout eggs require from forty
to sixty days to hatch, shad eggs require
but six or seven days. The speaker reeur-
red to the time when shad sold, at the falls
of the Potomac, for g bit as it was then
called, apiece, and said: "That they have
increased in price SO extensively of late is
your own fault, and if they are not restored
TO their former condition soon it will be
your fault hereafter. Yeur territory is cut
up by streams and penetrated in every di-
rection by wafer courses that are adapted
to migratory fishes like the shad and her.
ring. You have the Susquehanna and Bush
rivers and tributaries, draining Hartford and
Cecil counties; Gunpowder and Stemmer's
Run, Patapsce and tributaries, draining
Baltimore county; Patuxent and tributar-
les, draining st. Mary's, Calvert. Charles,
Prince Georges. Anne Arundel, Howard,
Montgomery and Carroll counties; P.to
mac and tributaries. draining st. Mary's.
Charles, Prince Georges, Montgomery,
Frederick. Washington and Allegany
counties: Elk river, draining Cecil and
Kent counties: Chester river, draining Kent
and Queen Anne's counties; Choptank
river, draining Talbot, Caroline and Dor,
chester counties: Nanticeke river, draining
Dorchester and Wicomico counties; POGO
moke river. d aiming Somerset, Worcester
and Wicomico counties.
sIIAD FOR BRAIN AND BEAUTY.
The principal shad and herring rivers are
the Potomac and Susquehanna and the
Patuxent, but with proper management
these fish may be made to run in all the
others. Now, it is said on the authority
of AGassIz, that fish food is the naurish'
ment of the brain; that the PHOSPHORUS il
contains goes directly to supply the waste
of that important organ. without which
man feels quite at q loss. The same phil
osopher states that it is from this cause
that the inhabitants along the coast are
highly intellectual. Hence the Maryland
ers, who are SO peculiarly favored in this
particular, must be wonderfully gifted,
talented and well educated people; if, how